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<P>RMB wrote, regarding microphones on Shabbat:<BR>>></P>
<P>I do not believe the teshuvos are *based* on the problems. Rather, there was a<BR>gut instinct that it doesn't fit with the gestalt of hilkhos Shabbos. Then it<BR>was a matter of reasoning through why that is.<BR><BR>Which would explain why so many poseqim reached the same conclusion through<BR>such different means -- hav'arah, bishul, makeh bepatish, boneh... The<BR>reasoning is actually ex post facto, justifying something they knew to be true<BR>in some ineffable way, the gefeel of din.<BR><BR>>></P>
<P>In his most recent weekly shiur, Rav Asher Zelig Weiss expressed himself about electricity in almost exactly the same terms as RMB does here: the prohibition was determined first, and then the poskim looked around for a category to fit it into. </P>
<P>He cited a Yerushalmi (which unfortunately I cannot quote pefectly accurately) in which chazal categorized actions forbidden on Shabbat; any activity they knew, apparently intuitively, was prohibited which they could not fit into one of the other categories was classified as makeh-b'patish. This illustrates the concept that in some cases,the prohibition anteceded the classification.</P>
<P>I think it's fair to say that he indicated that this phenomenon is uncommon, but he was emphatic that it definitely exists.</P>
<P>Saul Mashbaum</P>
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