[Avodah] neglecting the law

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, May 06, 2026 at 06:37:15AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
>  From the recently published Aggadot HaRav
...
> There was another commandment at hand: Joseph, the old grandfather, had
> commanded his family: "When God will indeed remember you, then you shall
> bring my bones up out of here" (Gen. 50:25). Moses was fulfilling this
> commandment.

> Now a learned Jew with a sharp head would stroke his beard and say: Let us
> see, which commandment should one preferably fulfill? The command to borrow
> from Egypt is a Torah commandment, and a valuable one at that.

> On the other hand, obeying the words of the deceased is a Rabbinic mitzvah.
> Furthermore, according to some Rishonim, this applies only to the children
> of the deceased...

I want to blend this discussion with another post.

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 03:51:46PM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
> [R Joel Rich:]
>> "Looking for a write up of the classic question of whether one should eat
>> human flesh or pig meat in a pikuach nefesh situation, in particular the
>> supposed positions of R Amital and R Lichtenstein,

> Rav Amital's opinion appears in print. Though the opinion of Rav
> Lichtenstein is quoted many times, I have not found any original source
> for that opinion...

R Amital quipped that both would eat the pork, but the difference is,
RAL would feel guilty afterwards for violating halakhah.

RYA eating pork is a close parallel to Moshe's taking Yosef's bones,
choosing what our innate morality screams is the better choice despite
the technical reasoning of halakhah.

The difference is, Moshe is a navi. And even not in his own unique sense
of being a navi, he would have far more right to make an eis laasos
Lashem exception to the rules.

But then you get to the following...

On Wed, May 06, 2026 at 06:31:57AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> From the recently published Aggadot HaRav (p. 76)
...
> However, there are questions about honoring parents, educating children,
> giving charity, helping others, guarding one's tongue, general questions
> about faith, as well as various questions concerning thought and feelings,
> that were not necessarily ruled on by rabbis. Simple Jews would render
> decisions in such cases. Do you think that they knew how to learn Gemara? I
> knew Jews who were incapable of reading even one line of Gemara without the
> vowel signs. Nevertheless, I saw their conduct. As a child, I knew a
> certain craftsman. In retrospect, if I visualize his conduct, I see that he
> acted according to the Torah! And that Jew could barely get through the
> weekly Torah portion. Somehow, there was a feeling inculcated in him from
> generations ago, practically an instinct, telling him: Such-and-such is
> Jewish, such-and-such is not Jewish.

It would seem to be a peon to mimeticism, halakhah conveyed culturally,
rather than as a set of formal / textual laws.

Mimeticism lacks the certainty of a navi who we know from that very
ability must have an instinct that is in line with the Divine Will. And
therefore there must be checks and balances when we cannot in retrospect,
see that they are acting in accordance with textual law.

RYME in the Arukh haShulchan often got creative finding how we are
acting in accordance with halakhah even if it means that we -- quite
implicitly -- were following a unique understanding of one rishon
or another.

But he too had limits beyond which he will talk about what we do
baavoseinu harabbim and what we have to teach people to stop doing.
Whether it's teaching people not to pick up chickens on Shabbos or
women covering their hair (even though one may say Shema in front of
them because in a culture where it's commonplace it isn't distracting).


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   man's soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries
Author: Widen Your Tent      about his own soul and his fellow man's stomach.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                     - Rav Yisrael Salanter