This leads to a cynical, sarcastic backlash, questioning the reliability of people with such intellectual dishonesty.
This is a specious, spurious and vile accusation with no basis in reality. Let us learn a bit of Chumash:
יג וְאִם כָּל עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל יִשְׁגּוּ וְנֶעְלַם דָּבָר מֵעֵינֵי הַקָּהָל וְעָשׂוּ אַחַת מִכָּל מִצְוֹת ה' אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵעָשֶׂינָה וְאָשֵׁמוּ. יד וְנוֹדְעָה הַחַטָּאת אֲשֶׁר חָטְאוּ עָלֶיהָ וְהִקְרִיבוּ הַקָּהָל פַּר בֶּן בָּקָר לְחַטָּאת וְהֵבִיאוּ אֹתוֹ לִפְנֵי אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. טו וְסָמְכוּ זִקְנֵי הָעֵדָה אֶת יְדֵיהֶם עַל רֹאשׁ הַפָּר לִפְנֵי ה' וְשָׁחַט אֶת הַפָּר לִפְנֵי ה'. וְהֵבִיא הַכֹּהֵן הַמָּשִׁיחַ מִדַּם הַפָּר אֶל אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. יז וְטָבַל הַכֹּהֵן אֶצְבָּעוֹ מִן הַדָּם וְהִזָּה שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים לִפְנֵי ה' אֵת פְּנֵי הַפָּרֹכֶת. יח וּמִן הַדָּם יִתֵּן עַל קַרְנֹת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי ה' אֲשֶׁר בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְאֵת כָּל הַדָּם יִשְׁפֹּךְ אֶל יְסוֹד מִזְבַּח הָעֹלָה אֲשֶׁר פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. יט וְאֵת כָּל חֶלְבּוֹ יָרִים מִמֶּנּוּ וְהִקְטִיר הַמִּזְבֵּחָה. כ וְעָשָׂה לַפָּר כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְפַר הַחַטָּאת כֵּן יַעֲשֶׂה לּוֹ וְכִפֶּר עֲלֵהֶם הַכֹּהֵן וְנִסְלַח לָהֶם. כא וְהוֹצִיא אֶת הַפָּר אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְשָׂרַף אֹתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׂרַף אֵת הַפָּר הָרִאשׁוֹן חַטַּאת הַקָּהָל הוּא
There you have it friends - the Torah itself mandates a korban chatas for an instance where the high court, the seventy greatest elders plus the mufla - the Rav Ovadiah Yosef who knows everything - paskened incorrectly and permitted an act that was really forbidden with the attendant punishment of כרת or מיתת בית דין and most of the Jews in Eretz Yisrael followed this errant psak [and there is even a case where they mistakenly permit IDOL WORSHIP for which there is a special korban]. This clearly assumes that great people can make grave errors.
What about Moshe Rabbeinu? In Parshas Shmini we read that after Nadav and Avihu died, the goat offering was not eaten by his brothers but burned. Moshe became angry and thus forgetting the halacha that an אונן one whose relative just died, may not eat kodshim.
"ואת
שעיר החטאת דרוש דרש משה"... מיד "ויקצוף על אלעזר ועל איתמר".
וכיון שכעס נתעלמה ממנו הלכה.
(ויקרא רבה [וילנא], שמיני, י"ג, א).
Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest Jew and Prophet ever, can make a mistake.
Rebbe Akiva thought - incorrectly - that Bar Kochva was Moshiach [Rambam Hilchos Melchim. See here at length]. Rebbe Akiva was greater than Moshe in some ways [see Menachos 29 with the Maharal] and yet he seemingly made a mistake.
EVERY Torah Jew believes in the Chumash and thus that great people can make mistakes.
The explanation is that in Judaism we have no "Pope" who is infallible. [I say - Let the Pope get married and five minutes later he will find out just how fallible he is when his wife shows him:-)]. Only Hashem doesn't make mistakes.
That is why in ALL of the halachic literature throughout the ages we find everybody arguing with everybody in order to discover the truth. Nobody ever writes - "Rebbi Akiva Eiger writes something that is contradicted by a gemara but it is forbidden to ask question on such a great tzadik or talmid chochom". Even though he was arguably the greatest of all of the acharonim, everybody asks questions on him. The Shaagas Aryeh was a "bulldozer" [Rav Asher Weiss' words - not mine]. Even though he was an acharon, when he disagrees with a rishon - he bulldozes him over and establishes HIS opinion as correct.
The intellectual honestly of our chachomim was and is tremendous and all they are concerned with is emes - the pristine G-dly truth without regard to who might be the one who holds a specific opinion. That is why we have so many arguments about everything. Yes, of course people make mistakes. One sefer will write about another "He forgot an explicit gemara" or "אין אלו אלא דברי נביאות" meaning what he wrote is "bobo-myses".
At the same time - one must relate to other authorities with the HIGHEST LEVEL OF RESEPECT AND DERECH ERETZ. Just because they CAN make a mistake doesn't mean that they necessarily DID make a mistake. We ASSUME at the outset that they are correct [or at least that their words have some level of validity] but if after profound analysis we [meaning those who are the level - not every beginner who just bought his first Artscroll gemara] see that they are incorrect, either because of faulty logic or otherwise, we may and must argue - WITH DERECH ERTETZ AND REVERENCE. As Rebbi Akiva Eiger writes after dropping a bomb on Tosfos - וה' יאיר עיני באור תורתו וצריך עיון גדול.
Those who attribute mistakes to a student do so out of respect for the gadol but not because he COULD NOT have made a mistake.
IY"H I would like to further develop this ideas with a series of posts on the topic of אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים.
Keep posted.....:-)
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| בתוך שח"י |
