Re: Dates of the Second Temple
Isaac A Zlochower (zlochoia@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:28:15 -0700
Eliezer Gordon offered a gentle criticism of my view that the "age of the
earth" that we count (5757 this Rosh Hashanna) is a convention that has
little effect on practical halacha. He suggested that any attempt to go
counter to traditional views is dangerous, and shows a lack of faith in the
Sages. This is, indeed, the prevalent viewpoint, and I would be remiss in
attempting to refute it. However, I do object to the inaccurate citation
of a verse (Deuteronomy 17:11) in support of this argument. The passage
refers to the submission of a legal question by local authorities to the
high court (Sanhedrin) in the Temple. The verse then states that you must
follow the decision of that court, and not deviate right or left. The
halachic medrash, the Sifri, interprets the not deviating right or left to
mean that one must follow their decision even if you think that they have
made a great error. The Jerusalem Talmud, (Horeot) Rulings,1:1, however,
states that the verse teaches that the high court must be obeyed if they
haven't made an obvious error. The Babylonian Talmud, Horeot 4a, also
quotes in the name of the Amora, Samuel that a decision of the Sanhedrin
that runs counter to the simple, generally accepted understanding of the
Torah is null and void. The difference between the Sifri and the Talmudim
is best explained (see the Torah Temima on the above verse) by assuming
that the Sifri refers to a case in which the court is not making an obvious
error, but is using a completely different line of reasoning than "we"
choose to use. In this case, we must accept their ruling. If, however,
their ruling can be demonstrated to be obviously incorrect, then we do not
follow their error. In contradiction to Eliezer's interpretation, the
above argument shows that a ruling which is clearly non-factual such as
confusing right and left is null and void, on its face. The verse clearly
does not provide a blanket prohibition against going counter to the opinion
of the sages in every case. I understand and sympathise with the
reluctance to openly dispute the traditional points of view, but lets not
deify them.
Shalom, have a good year.
Let's soon hear good news from Israel.
Yitzchok Zlochower