<div dir="ltr">R' Joel Rich asked about the Talmud's reluctance to pasken on "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">Hilchta Lmishicha."</span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">I think that this could be related to the issue of whether we "pasken" in matters of aggadeta. See the approach that I associated with the Rambam's view of machalokes here: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><a href="http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol16/v16n020.shtml#05">http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol16/v16n020.shtml#05</a> (though 4 years later, when rereading what I wrote, I'm not so sure that it's correct to associate this with the Rambam...)</span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">In short, this school of thought says that pesak (in the sense of picking between multiple legitimate positions) is a "necessary evil." Really, "eilu ve'eilu divrei Elokim Chayim." but when it comes to practical halachah, for the sake of uniformity of practice, we are forced to pick a side. When this concern is not relevant, as in matters of aggadeta*, we have no need to pick a side. When this concern will only become relevant in yemos hamashiach, we can "cross that bridge when we come to it." Why engage in the "problematic" task of pesak before we're forced to?</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">(* Matters of aggadeta can, of course, be very relevant as far as general approaches that one takes in his avodas Hashem, and each individual can adopt the aggadic position that he finds more compelling, but I don't think that there's necessarily inherent value in uniformity in this area in the way that there is for solid halachic details. In other words, the hashkafah mosaic of chassidim, misnagdim, religious Zionist, etc., is an asset to Am Yisrae'l. Having a situation where some people use the eruv and others don't, on the other hand, is unfortunate.)</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">-- D.C.</span></div>
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