Avot246

Today's shiur is dedicated by Sol Freedman
in memory of his mother,
Sylvia Freedman,
Surah Sheindel Bas Luzar z"l,
whose Yahrzeit is today, 18th Tevet.

6:
The teachings of Rabbi Yehudah are rather eclectic. His father, Ilai, had been a student of the great Rabbi Eli'ezer (see Avot 126 and the following shiurim) who had been an arch 'conservative'. Some of this must have passed through to the young Yehudah. Apart from Rabbi Tarfon, whom we mentioned in the previous shiur, Rabbi Yehudah looked upon Rabbi Akiva as his main teacher. While Akiva was certainly not 'conservative' he did have a very novel system of hermeneutics (see Avot 087).

7:
On several occasions we have noted the difference between mishnah and midrash. The original form in which the Unwritten Torah was handed down was in the form of midrash, in which the rules that had been derived from textual interpretation remained attached to the original biblical verses. It was the teacher of Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Akiva, who had taken the first steps in 'pruning' midrash into mishnah see Avot 087). Unlike his teacher, Rabbi Yehudah much preferred the old system of midrash ha-Torah. His attitude is encapsulated in his midrash on Isaiah 66:5 –

Rabbi Yehudah expounded this verse thus [Bava Metzi'a 33b]:

So great was Rabbi Yehudah's attachment to midrash ha-Torah that he is considered to be the main editor of the compilation of halakhic midrashim on the book of Leviticus, Sifra – which reflects the teachings of Rabbi Akiva in the main.

8:
But even in mishnah Rabbi Yehudah tried to refine rulings on the basis of midrash. Many times he tries to limit the scope of a mishnah. One way he does this is by adding in a parenthetical clause: "When? – only when…" [Pe'ah 3:5, Megillah 1:3, Ĥullin 6:6 are examples]. Another way of saying the same thing is "When is this the case? – only when…" [Eruvin 7:11, Sotah 8:7 are examples].

9:
For Rabbi Yehudah, interpretation of the Written Torah is essential and anyone who claims to understand it literally is doing a grave disservice to rabbinic Judaism. He teaches [Kiddushin 49a]:

To be continued.

In Avot 243 we described how Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker disguised himself as a pedlar in order learn from the imprisoned Rabbi Akiva a certain halakhah concerning Ĥalitzah.

Part of the ceremony of Ĥalitzah involves the removal of the sandal of her brother-in-law by his brother's childless widow.

Art Kamlet asks:

Is there any possible conflict of interest for a sandal maker, I would guess the one who would make halitzah sandals, saying R Akiva says a private halitzah is OK?

I respond:

I think Art is reading far too much into this incident. Two points should be borne in mind:

Firstly, Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker was deputed to this rather dangerous task by his colleagues. Secondly, the sandal used in the Ĥalitzah ceremony had to belong to the woman's brother-in-law. (Established halakhah requires Ĥalitzah to be performed before a recognized Bet Din which always uses a special ceremonial sandal for the purpose.)