Against the Mainstream
The Gemara in Brachot states: “Just as everyone’s face is different, so is everyone’s opinion different (Berachot 58a).” Join Rabbi Dovid Fink as he explores when we should stand fast with our maverick opinions, and when we should conform to the mainstream.
Against the Mainstream: Against the Mainstream
First, we will focus on tension between the way that a maverick, as an individual, relates to the facts of the world and the way that most others relate to those same facts.
For example, what a maverick finds pleasurable others might find repugnant or mutatis mutandis.
Primary sources are available through the links in both WORD format and pdf. In class we will translate and explain these sources.
(In our second session, we will focus on the tension between maverick or minority opinions in halacha and the mainstream or majority opinions.
To what extent are minority or maverick opinions acceptable?)
Against the Mainstream: Against the Mainstream
When must you conform to the majority, mainstream view of the poskim, and when is there no objection to embracing a minority, maverick opinion?
Primary sources are available through the links below in both WORD format and pdf. In class we will translate and explain these sources.
In addition to being one of Rabbi Brovender's first students, Rabbi Dovid Fink is an outstanding expertﾠand teacher of Halacha. Rabbi Fink received his Rabbinic ordination from ITRI and the Mir and was awarded his Ph.D in Semitic Languages and Linguistics from Yale University. Rav Fink has taught thousands of students from all over the world for over 35 years.