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style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Sages
said “a wayward and rebellious son never was and never will be,” but R.
Yehonatan said, “I saw one, and sat on his grave.” As a rule, Talmudic
controversies center on questions of law and not of fact. R. Yehonatan’s
first-hand testimony was certainly reliable; on what basis, then, did
the other Sages dispute him?<BR>The answer is that they referred to the
juridical aspects of the rebellious son, while R. Yehonatan testified as
to the reality of the phenomenon: “I saw one, and sat on his grave!” He
had seen a child who matched the Torah’s description, although G-d
killed him and not a court.<BR>This explains the identical disagreement,
ibid., concerning the apostasized city described in Devarim 13:13-19:
the Sages said it “never was and never will be,” while R. Yehonatan
said, “I saw it, and sat on its ruins.” It is impossible that the
destruction of such a city by Jewish force of arms could have escaped
the notice of everyone except R. Yehonatan, just as it is inconceivable
that the Roman authorities would have allowed such an action to take
place. Rather, R. Yehonatan testified as to the phenomenon: there indeed
had been such a city, which was subsequently destroyed in whatever
manner. <BR><BR>(From New Interpretations on the Parsha--Ktav,
2001)<BR>Rabbi Y.H.Henkin <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><SPAN
class=006165419-13082009>\Nice pshat but based on what? the but in
the original discussion seems to say they were disagreeing (I agree that
I have never understood the disagreement on fact and the oddity of both
involving the same R' Yehonatan)<BR>KT<BR>Joel
Rich</SPAN></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
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