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<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">'<span style="color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">There is
an enormous difference between what the acknowledged leaders of </span></span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">all Jewry can do -- such as
during the time of the Gemara -- and what </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">can be done today. When members
of the left claim that brachot should </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">be thrown out and other fundamental
practices should be modified on the </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">basis of "kavod ha-briyot",
for example, they are not using "kavod </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">ha-briyot" as Jews have always
used it, but rather using it as a label </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">to apply to external cultural
norms that aren't even a century old.'</span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
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No argument there at all. The point was really to buttress the truism that halacha and Torah are not synonymous. Halacha works within the larger structure of Torah and is guided by principle and values.
<div>Your point that this idea is mangled and misused throughout heterodoxy is well taken though. I was not suggesting that someone can pick a favourite value, decide that it doesn't shtim with a particular halacha and proceed to mangle the halacha into submission.
Not for a moment. <br>
<br>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">'The question is what you mean
by "ethical vacuum". If you mean that the </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">system of halakha doesn't and
can't operate without paying heed to the </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">ethical imperatives of the
society surrounding us, I have to </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">respectfully disagree. The
ethics must themselves come from within our </span><br style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px; color: rgb(114, 50, 173);">own cultural framework, based
on our own traditions'.</span><br>
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Again, agree 100%. Don't think I suggested otherwise. I'm a neo-Hirschian after all. What I was taking issue with was your contention that it is <span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">'It
is extremely dangerous to attempt to use non-halakhic elements of </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;">Torah
in a way that gives them primacy over the halakha.' <span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">That's true for the heterodox tendency to sidestep halacha (or worse) due to what they consider to be ethical issues. But it doesn't take into
account the centrality of of values in the whole system of Torah, including underlying TSBP. </span></span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just
for example, Pirkei Avos is not halachic but it's vital and has implications for halacha. </span></span></span></div>
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