In this class we look at the machloket about the nature of machloket.
If the entirety of Torah was given to Moshe at Sinai, and was transmitted faithfully to the leaders of each generation, how did we end up with different opinions in halacha?
I discuss three possible answers, each of which is espoused by a Rishon (medieval rabbi):
- There is virtually no dispute at all. Everyone agrees about the fundamentals. Dispute is only on the details, and because those details were forgotten or not learned properly.
- Very little of the halacha comes from Sinai. But there is no disagreement about the halachot that were given at Sinai. However, most of the halacha is derived from principles that were given at Sinai, and different rabbis applied those principles in different ways.
- All the various opinions were given to Moshe at Sinai. Whatever any later rabbi says was already said at Sinai. The task of the rabbis is not to remember and pass on the halachot, but to rule, based on majority, which of the heavenly opinions to follow.
I then look at ways this dispute about dispute plays out in the modern era, with different approaches to Torah and dispute.