Journey to France: Troyes - Preparing For Rashi's Burial Site, Was Rashi a Posek?

This Torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com. Okay, good morning everyone. For those of you who are up Um, I want to take the opportunity just to really put ourselves in the right frame of mind and preparation for what is the most important day of our trip. Uh, the primary reason we came to France is for today. Haftest Kamos the yard site of Rabon the Avraham shall Yisrael the yard site of the Rebbe and the father of the Jewish people, Rashi. And we don't use those words lightly. Rashi of course is the great Rebbe of Klal Yisrael. If not for Rashi, the Shas would be a safer a safer chasam. It would be a sealed book. Who could make heads or tails of Shas? We wouldn't know not what a question is, not what an answer is, not what the meaning of the lines of the words in the Gemara, not the translation of the words in the Gemara and not the signon, the flow of the Gemara. Rashi opened up the backbone of the Jewish people to the Jewish people. Yes, today we have all kinds of aids to learn. We have the Artscroll, we have the Mesivta, but none of those would be available if not for Pirush Rashi. And then of course Rashi al ha Torah. Rashi on Chumash is so important. The Chafetz Chaim writes in our generation, Rashi has supplanted the importance of the Targum. While it once was "Esnayim Mikra v'Echad Targum", today the Chafetz Chaim says, "Esnayim Mikra v'Echad Rashi". And we see the importance of Rashi from the number of super commentaries that were written on Rashi. More than 200 perushim were written on Rashi al ha Torah. The Mizrachi writes, "Every word of Rashi is laden with so much meaning." So now on the bus uh, I I I would like to uh, present to you two short um, segments. One will be about what Rashi's intention was was in writing his Pirush and then one a little bit of a legend. Um, you know, there's an interesting thing. Rashi tells us in Bereishis Perek Gimmel Pasuk Ches. Rashi says, "There are a lot of Midrashim about the subject. The Chachamim have already arranged them in the Bereishis Rabbah and Rashi utters the famous phrase, "Va'ani lo basi ela l'pshuto shel Mikra." I've only come to tell you the simple interpretation of the psukim. And this is a very important yesod. Rashi is not a Tosafos. Rashi is not here to make the sugia complex. He Rashi is not giving you an in-depth analysis of how this Gemara could be reconciled with other Gemaras. Rashi is trying to tell you both al ha Torah and on the Gemara pshuto shel Mikra. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean Rashi was not a posek? Now, this is a very important discussion. The Radvaz in Siman Kuf Tes writes in a Teshuvah "Yesh b'yadeinu klal gadol ki Rashi mefaresh hu v'lo posek." We have a principle Rashi was a commentator. He was not a posek and therefore we need to rely more on Rambam, Rif, Rosh than we rely on Rashi. This goes so far as the Beis Yosef himself in Orach Chaim Siman Yud says that we have a machlokes the Rosh and the Rambam. Even though Rashi sides with the Rosh we are going to pasken like the Rambam because Rashi was not a posek. Rashi was a mefaresh. Rashi mefaresh hu v'lo posek. By the way, the Ibn Ezra uses a very uh, interesting expression in describing Rashi. The Ibn Ezra says Rashi is parshan dasa. Like from the Aseres Bnei Haman, parshan dasa so he would explain the law. But Rashi was not a posek. Therefore the Beis Yosef says, "We will follow the Rambam even though it's the Rosh and Rashi versus the Rambam because Rashi's out of the equation and the Rambam is more mustaber in this issue." And that is the conclusion of the Beis Yosef. The Chida in the Shem HaGedolim discusses what seemingly is disparaging to Rashi. To say Rashi was a mefaresh and not a posek, Rashi was a commentator and not a halachic authority. So the uh, the Chida offers the following analogy. There's a Gemara in Bava Basra that Rav Assi said to Rav Yochanan "Rav Yochanan, when you tell us the halacha how should we act?" So Rav Yochanan said, "Don't act until I tell you it's halacha l'maaseh. It's not enough when I tell you it's a halacha. If I tell you this is the halacha you can't follow it. Only when I tell you it's halacha l'maaseh." Rav Nosson Werdiger is going to make a siyum today on Horayos, yeah? In Horayos we find the following Gemara. That if someone is giving a shiur and you listen to the shiur and you follow it l'halacha and the person giving the shiur did not say it accurately, you are a mazid. The onus is on you. You cannot follow Jewish practice based on something you heard in a shiur. Moreover, if somebody asked a rabbi a shaila and you overheard and you followed the psak of that rav you are negligent. The rav did not give you the psak. Only when the rabbi says, "This is the halacha relevant to you in your particular circumstance," only then you can follow the halacha. So the Chida says there's no question that when Rashi explained the sugia he felt that at a at within a certain perspective of reasonability the conclusion that would come out based on the way he explains the sugia is correct. But Rashi never intended to explain the sugia halacha l'maaseh. That was not the intent of Rashi. When the Beis Yosef says Rashi is a mefaresh and not a posek what that means is not that Rashi is not capable of being a posek. It's Rashi never intended to be a posek. Says the Chida, "If Rashi writes a halachic ruling in the Sefer HaPardes or the Sefer HaOrah, that would have just as much credibility as the Rambam and the Rif. It's just that that was not Rashi's kavana. What is Rashi's kavana? Like Rashi himself articulates "Va'ani lo basi ela l'pshuto shel Mikra." That is the opinion of Radvaz. That is the opinion of the Beis Yosef. It's important to point out that that opinion is not unanimously maintained. The Yeshuos Yaakov in Hilchos Ketanos Chelek Beis Siman Kuf Tes Zayin, he disagrees with Beis Yosef. He says if Rashi explained the sugia a certain way, that means Rashi it recognized and realized that if this is how he explained the sugia, the following halacha would come out and Rashi means you could rely on him l'halacha just like the Rambam and the Rif. But in general, we do follow the Beis Yosef that Rashi was mefaresh hu v'eino posek. This is not lignai of Rashi, but this was the area and the realm in which Rashi's commentary is used. As we mentioned, Rashi is Avraham the Rabbon shel Yisrael which we will discuss further. And here we're all going. You know, when people travel to Eretz Yisrael to Kever Avos, people travel all over the world to the graves of their ancestors. At least for Ashkenazim, Rashi in all likelihood is uh, your great-grandfather. As we mentioned, in the 11th century there were only between 5 and 10,000 Ashkenazic Jews and almost 80% of Ashkenazim come directly from Rashi. So Rashi is not only Avraham shel Yisrael in a figurative sense, Rashi is actually Avraham shel Yisrael. Okay, so that's just um, some important thoughts about Rashi's role as mefaresh. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com.