Okay, I think we were still making our way through the English letter on page 276. Hello Rabosai, Baruch Hashem, two weeks since we met. Long time. 276. Okay. Okay, we'll read through the paragraph and then we'll try be-ezrat Hashem by that time to understand a little bit. Since the halakhic gesture is not to be abstracted from the person engaged in it, so the Rav explained that Talmud Torah is essentially a creative act and creativity is inseparable from the person engaging in the creativity. I cannot see how it is possible to divorce halakhic cognition from axiological premises or from an ethical motive. What does that mean? He's going to explain. If halakhic research - and again, the English is, I mean, if you were writing in Lashon Hakodesh I think it would say Talmud Torah - if halakhic research were limited to its interpretive phrase, deciphering some obscure text, such a discrepancy between the logical and axiological judgments would be warranted. Since, however, halakhic thought is creative, original, flowing from the inner recesses and mysterious springwells of the personality where logical, cognitive, and ethical axiological motives are interwoven, any attempt at separation would result in crippling human creativity. From my own experience I know that in any halakhic investigation I have always been guided by a dim intuitive feeling which pointed out to me the true path and this intuition has never been stripped of an ethical intention. Of course in speaking of an ethical moment... the Rav says when he's presented with a she'elah. You get a she'elah not about something which is a meforesher din in Shulchan Aruch. Something which is, where you need to, a new she'elah. He has an intuition that it's inconceivable that the Torah, again fill in the blank depending upon the she'elah, permits this. It's inconceivable that the Torah prohibits this, depending upon what the she'elah would be. Of course in speaking of an ethical moment implied in halakhic thinking, I'm referring to the unique halakhic ethos which is another facet of the halakhic logos. It doesn't mean his own subjective feeling, his own contrived ethical feelings. I do not, however, intend to say that current ethical standards are the determinants. Far from it. Far from it. At times, the halakhic ethos runs contrary to popular ethical notions. Hence one must exercise great caution in isolating the ethical moment of halakhic cognition. Okay, what does this mean? It's not clear to me how to whomever this letter was written could possibly have understood this if he didn't then read all of Ish Hahalakhah and now to unpack this paragraph we're going to read something that hadn't even been written yet when this letter was written, from the Rav's hesped for Reb Velvel where he describes Reb Chaim's method. But let's take... So let's take a look at here if you have the the sheets from this morning Rabosai. Okay we'll we'll from from page 70 here. This is the hesped that the Rav gave for for his uncle for Rav Velvel. It was given here in Lamport Auditorium. ויאזן וחיקר ותיקן משלים הרבה. ייחודו של דודי ז"ל, his uniqueness נתגלה בעיקר בשלושת היסודות in the three fundamental principles שעליהן נשאל האדם כשנכנס לדין which a person is asked about when he has to give a din v'cheshbon. Kavata itim latora, nasata v'nasata be'emuna, tzipita liyeshua. Natchil beyesod hatorah. יחיד בדורו היה בתורתו. He was unique in his understanding of Torah. כאן אני רוצה לייחד את הדיבור על אבי דודי ואבי אבי רבנו הגדול אשר מפיו אנו חיים וממימיו אנו שוטים רבי חיים איש בריסק ומשפחתו. רבי חיים היחיד שבדור וגם בהרבה דורות שקדמו לו שידד את מערכות ההלכה והעלה תכנים חדשים ומידות הבנה והבחנה שלא היו מצויות בעולם הלומדים.
He provided new content, different methods of understanding and differentiation which which weren't present in the world of lomdei Torah. הוא הכניס מהפכה גמורה בחשיבה ובהכרה ההלכתיות. He he effected, he brought about a revolution in halachic thinking and understanding. דבר זה אפילו בר רב דחד יומא ידע. Everyone knows that. במה התבטאה שיטת רבי חיים המהפכנית? How did that express itself? ובמה היה כוחו יפה שמלאי הוא הייתה משתכחת תורה מישראל ולא היינו יכולים להרביץ אותה בתקופה זו.
If not for Rabbi Chaim, Torah would have been forgotten and we wouldn't be able to teach Torah, we wouldn't be able to disseminate Torah in this era. Chazal use that lashon in I think Bava Batra about what's his name, the Kohen Gadol who was the first one to introduce the... it's kind of ironic that I'm forgetting the name. זכור אותו איש לטוב ושמו יהושע בן גמלא שאלמלא הוא נשתכחה תורה מישראל.
That's terrible and I'm forgetting his name, but the Gemara in Bava Batra in the second perek says the the Kohen Gadol who introduced the first system of chadorim, of yeshivas. Until that point, that if someone had a father, and the father could teach him Torah, so then he was taught Torah. And and if a person didn't, if he was a yasom or for whatever reason the father couldn't teach him, so then he fell through the cracks so to speak and he introduced that no, you have to have a cheder where where the the the boys will go to that... Then later the Rambam writes takes this lashon, he he borrows this lashon and and he applies it to Rav Saadia Gaon. He says that for all the Rambam's disagreements with Rav Saadia Gaon, he says that Rav Saadia Gaon's historical role is that אלמלא הוא נשתכחה תורה מישראל. If not for Rav Saadia Gaon, so the there would have been assimilation and Rav Saadia Gaon was the one who who... What does he mean? What does he mean by that? So there is a story. There is a story. I think my father, zichrono livracha, juxtaposes this story to this line here in the hesped, that when Rav Chaim was a little boy, so the Beis HaLevi used to repeat Rav Chaim's chidushim on occasion. He repeated Rav Chaim's chidushim to Reb Salanter. Reb Salanter was the same generation as the Beis HaLevi, so one generation above Rav Chaim. So he would tell them, Rav Chaim already במעלליו יתנכר נער, already when he was a very little boy, so his the difference and the singularity, the uniqueness were already discernible. And already then he was saying Rav Chaim's Torah. So the Beis HaLevi used to have occasion to repeat the chidushay Torah to Reb Salanter. Reb Salanter listened and he said and he said the next generation will learn Torah the way your son does and that will save us from Haskala. That was Reb Salanter's reaction. So lichora Reb Salanter's comment and what the Rav says here are being mechavinim ledavar echad in the sense that the allure of Haskala in exposing people to all the different disciplines of Western thought and culture and people experienced the secular knowledge in a way that resonated more and registered more upon them than they did from the way from their learning of Torah. And Reb Salanter said but when they'll learn Rav Chaim's Torah so then they'll realize that the most profound ideas, the most profound truth is in Torah. It's not in, you don't have to and shouldn't obviously look elsewhere but it's within Torah. And presumably that's what the Rav has in mind here also. מה העניקה ההשגחה לרב חיים? What did Providence with a capital P bestow upon Rav Chaim? מוח חריף ושנון עומקות ודאי הבנה והיקף ברור. Beram teiurim elu, these descriptions, עדיין אינם ממצים את החדש המיוחד והמסוים שביצירת רב חיים,
but it doesn't distill what was new, what was unique, what was distinct in Rav Chaim's creativity. מה הם סימני ההיכר של שיטתו? נשב נא על שאלה זו במטבע פרדוקסאלית מושאל.
We'll borrow a paradoxical figurative description. התורה הייתה נשואה לרב חיים. Rav Chaim's relationship with Torah was that of nisuin בשעה שליתר גדולי דורו הייתה מאורסת. All the Gedolei Hador, the connection, the relationship was one of eirusin and Rav Chaim's was one of nisuin. מתוך הסת זה של הזיקה מתחום האירוסין לתחום הנישואין. Right? Trumah hasset is what when you move something, right? So mitoch haset zeh from moving from the connection from the realm of eirusin to the realm of nisuin, נולדה המהפכה האפיסטמולוגית מתודולוגית, the epistemological methodological revolution הנקראת על שמו של רב חיים, which is associated with Rav Chaim. לפיכך אל יהיה הדבר הזה קל בעיניך. לפרקים התורה נקנית לאדם ונעשית שלו על ידי אירוסין.
and at times מתייחדת עמו ומזדווגת בו על ידי נישואין. All right, so it's already here the Rav is alluding to what he's going to elaborate, the difference between an eirusin connection and a nisuin connection, an eirusin connection is described as a kinyan and the nisuin connection is described as as as as as becoming one, a a a joining of of minds and hearts as opposed to just kinyan. הסוגיה בברכות אומרת תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב אל תקרי מורשה אלא מאורסה. הקשר בין התלמיד חכם ותורתו הושווה לקנין אירוסין.
The connection between the talmid chacham and Torah is compared to eirusin. מצד אחר אנו מוצאים בכתובות שהגמרא מתארת זיקת תלמיד חכם לתורתו בבחינת נישואין. הסוגיה שם דורשת כמין חומר את הפסוק בספר החכמה, ספר משלי, יהי מקורך ברוך ושמח מאשת נעוריך אילת אהבים ויעלת חן באהבתה תשגה תמיד ביחס לתורה ולומדיה.
Barur, it's clear she'pasuk zeh, this pasuk in Mishlei eino oseik be'eirusin ki im be'nisuin. אירוסין ונישואין שני שלבים הם בתהליך חלות האישות. They're two stages in the process of creating ishus. Mavlitim heim, they they accentuate shtei tzurot nifradot, two different forms shel hakesher ha'atik, the the ancient bond הנוצר בין איש לאשה, which is created between a man and a woman, between husband and wife. Yesh havdel mesuyam in the in the process of of realizing this connection. אירוסין מושתתים על קניין. Eirusin is based on kinyan. Ve'hazika, and and the connection, nikba'at, is established על ידי פעולה צורנית הלכתית חוקית, again, through a ma'aseh kinyan. מושרשת היא בהחלטת רצון חופשי ובדעת מקנה ומתחייבת, again, the same da'as which we associate with kinyanim is the type of da'as that's necessary, which is necessary in eirusin as well. You know, there is a machlokes between Rav Chaim and the Avnei Miluim. Al kol pnim, every word is she'madud be'dikduk. The Avnei Miluim, the Avnei Miluim has a I mean he quotes kol ha'shas obviously. But there's there's a Ran in the third perek of Nedarim that that he comes back to time and time again and based on that the Avnei Miluim says that in eirusin, so the ba'al has da'as and the ishah just has to have a nichusa. אין אשה מתקדשת אלא מדעתה. There's no such thing as kiddushin be'al karchah, but it's not that it's not that the ishah's da'as plays the same role as the da'as of the ish. No, the the ish has has has a da'as koneh, koneh, and the ishah has a nichusa, that she consents. Right? That's not the way I don't know the way one would describe a mekach u'memkar. One wouldn't say that the lokei'ach has a da'as koneh and that the mocheir has a nichusa. One wouldn't say that the mekabel matana has has has a da'as has a da'as koneh and the the nosein matana has has has a nichusa that should leave his reshus. No, there's a da'as makne, there's a da'as koneh, there's always a bilateral da'as. So the Avnei Miluim thinks that's not the case by by kiddushin. Rav Chaim in the piece about kiyum hadavar where he's talking about the sugya in kiddushin, you'll you'll take a look, he says and if if you've seen the Avnei Miluim, he's clearly coming la'afokei from the Avnei Miluim, so he says. It says that by kiddushin, the da'as ha'ish and ha'isha, agam that the maiseh kiddushin is performed by the ish, that the da'as of the isha plays an equal role. That's what the Rav says here also, right? Hada'as makneh umischayeves. הזיקה היא קניינית אישותית. Oh, you could push back against that. האישות במצב זה מתמצה בעיקרה באיסור האישה על כל העולם והשלילה שבה מרובה על החיוב. עדיין היא אסורה על בעלה מדברי סופרים. ארוס וארוסה שתי חטיבות אקזיסטנציאליות נפרדות.
The two different existential units. Techumei kiumam, the domain of their existence, mesuyagim heim adayin, they're fenced in. תחום תחום בייחודו המטאפיזי. They're separate. The orus and arusa are separate people and they live in separate domains. האיש בהתבודדותו והאישה בהתבודדותה. הגבול המפריד בין שני קיומים לא נמחק,
the border which separates between these two existences hasn't been erased. היא גרה בבית אביה והוא גר בביתו. And what that represents something very fundamental, right? That living arrangement represents, mirrors something which runs much deeper than that. היעודים שונים הם ומבליטים סימני הכר תוכניים מהותיים משלהם. Bemashma'us psichis chavayasit, on the psychic experiential level, adayin zarim heim, they're strangers. הזיקה היא חיצונית צורנית, the connection is external, formal. ההתאמה הוקבעה על הצד ההלכתי הטכני. The connection is a legalistic one, a technical one. בנישואין אופק האישות מתרחב ומתעמק. The horizon of ishus is broadened and runs deeper. ההתעצמות של הנישואין באה על ידי ייחוד חופה. And maybe we'll come back to the bli neder maybe at some point to these four lines. Let's just skip to mahi, skipping four lines, מהי מהותו של ייחוד חופה. הארוס והארוסה כורכים את חייהם בקיום אחד.
They wrap, they intertwine their lives into one unified existence. Goraleihem mismazgim, their destinies join. יעודיהם מתלכדים ומן הייחוד נולדת היחדות האמיתית. And through the yichud of chuppah is born a genuine togetherness, oneness. יש בייחוד חופה מן הסמליות, it symbolically represents של שיתוף נסיונות הרפתקאות ואתגרים של כריתת ברית מטפיזית אקזיסטנציאלית.
Existential. Okay fine. Let's skip to בה באה הסתגלות עצמית. גם זיקתנו לתורה דו פרצופית היא כאמור בראש הפרק.
Our connection to Torah also has these two aspects. Zikas erusin and kenyan. אדם מישראל יכול לזכות בתורה כדרך שאחר קונה נכסים או מקדש אישה בקניין כסף או שטר.
A person can be zocheh in Torah the way you acquire nechasim. מובן שבשעה שהקניין בעצם גופני או כלכלי מתבטא בפעולה סמלית המעידה על יציאה מרשות מקנה וכניסה לרשות זוכה הקניין בנכס רוחני אינו מתקיים על ידי מעשה צורני כי אם על ידי התמרקות.
It's clear, right, that whereas the way you acquire something physical and economic asset is through a symbolic act which attests to the fact that it's going from the ownership of one to another, acquisition for something for a spiritual asset doesn't happen through a formal symbolic act but through incredible devotion, Yegiya belashon chachamim. בעלותו של היגע בתלמודו נושאת פרי ומתבטאת בידיעת התורה והבנתה.
The person who's yageia betalmudo, who applies himself assiduously, he works hard day in, day out. It bears fruit. Baki hu behalachot, he's an expert in halachot. יודע הוא להורות ומתמצה בענייניה של תורה. He knows how to pasken and he's oriented in all areas of Torah. מנחיל הוא לעצמו בקיאות וגם חריפות. He acquires for himself encyclopedic knowledge and then he can use that encyclopedic knowledge for charifus as well. ידיו רב לו במכמני הלכה והיא שייכת לו במשמעות משפטית ובשם. כבר אמרו חז"ל תורה דיליה היא. דכתיב כי אם בתורת ה' חפצו ובתורתו יהגה יומם ולילה. מתחילה מיקרי תורת ה' ומשלמדה וגרסה הנה נקראת תורתו. בקיצור אדם שקידש את התורה והתארסה לו בכוחו לעלות לדרגה גבוהה של למדנות ולהופיע אפילו כאחד מחכמי הדור.
This erusin connection can even elevate a person to being one of the handful of the chachmei hador. בידו לחבר ספרים רבי ערך ולהישב על מדין. He can author sefarim of great value and he can pasken. תורתו של תפחתפס ובאה מספירת בינה. His Torah flows from in the Sefiros in the eser sefiros from the Sefira of Bina. What does Bina represent? Hahavana haiyunit haashanana. Hamesaderet vehamenasechet, which organizes and formulates and brings order to things. Ulam and here we come to what the Rav was writing about in the English letter. ישנה דרגה למעלה ממנה. There is a level above that. There's a level above having encyclopedic knowledge of kol hatorah kula. לפעמים התורה נישאת לאדם ומזדווגת עמו. At times Torah there's a connection of nisuin. It blends with a person, it joins with a person, it becomes one with a person. Nisu'eha imo. The nisuin of Torah with that person קמים על ידי ייחוד. Again just as in the mashal, yichud brings about nisuin. המביא לידי יחדות שסופה אחדות שלמה. Here too again the yichud brings about a togetherness, a oneness. התורה נקלטת מתוך ניבכי ישותו ומתמזגת עמו. Torah is absorbed into his being's deepest recesses and again it blends with him, it becomes one with him. מי שזכה לכך זכה לנשמה יתירה נשמת התורה שממנה בוקע מעיין הברכה.
One who merits that zacha leneshama yeteira, nishmat hatorah, from this neshama yeteira, this nishmat hatorah, arises, breaks, the spring of beracha breaks through. כשהפירוד בין האדם ותורה מוסת לגמרי מרשותו. When the separation between a person and Torah is totally removed. Niftachim lefanav. What's open before that individual is לא רק מ"ט שערי חשיבה והכרה הלכתיות. It's not just that the person can now engage in halachic thought and understanding, אלא גם מ"ט שערי הרגשה וחזות הלכתיות. He now has halachic feeling, halachic vision. לא נפש משכלת בלבד, not only does he have a nefesh which understands, which cognizes, כי אם נפש בעלת חזון הלכתי נותן לו הקדוש ברוך הוא,
but a nefesh which beholds halakhic vision. החשיבה ההלכית, ההלכתית ההגיונית for this rare, rare individual, החשיבה ההלכתית ההגיונית מתפרנסת, halakhic thought, logical halakhic thought is nurtured מן החזות והחזון הטרום שכליים from a pre-cognitive vision hamitpartzim besaar which which break forth like a storm mimamakei ishiyuto from the depths of his personality שהשראת הקודש חופפת עליה. Into itzia mistorit zo, again he uses the exact same word, this mysterious intuition היא מקור היצירה והחידוש ההלכתיים. This is the source of creativity, halakhic creativity and innovation. אין השכל הקפדני בעל ההגדרה המדויקת והנוסחה הבהירה, the precise intellect which engages, which provides precise definition and lucid formulations, ein hasechel choshev, the sechel only thinks, only produces אלא מה שהנפש החזונית מספקת לו, what the visionary soul provides. איש ההלכה שהתורה ניצת לו ודבקה בו רואה, he sees tochanim hilkhatiyim, he sees, margish, he feels ידיעות הלכתיות כאילו היו תכני כל מראה וריח as though they were sounds, visions, fragrances. הוא חי לא רק בהלכה כי אם את ההלכה, he lives the halakha. כמו שהוא חי בעולם ואת העולם בשלל צבעיו, בצליליו, בריחותיו ובחומיו.
The same way in the physical world so we feel, we sense, we experience colors, sounds, fragrances. And again all that is not an intellectual process. So so too this rare, rare person has that again pre-cognitive connection to Torah. בשלב זה התורה מתגלית לאדם לא רק בבחינת בינה, at this stage Torah is revealed to a person not only in the aspect of binah, of understanding, המסמנת את השכליות השאננה המבררת והמבקרת, the intellectualism which clarifies, which critiques, כי אם גם התורה מתגלה דרך צינורותיה של ספירת החכמה
through the Sefira of Chochma. For those who popularize, I don't mean that lignai, ideas in Kabbalah, so they quote that in Kabbalah the word Chochma is seen as a composite of the two words koach mah. Again if you just reverse the order of the first two letters, right? Koach mah. Mah in the sense of mashahu. That Chochma refers to that refers to when there isn't a fully formed idea that can be translated into words, there isn't a fully developed... conceptual distinction but there's the seed and koach of the mah, there's a seed, there's an intuition. That's what the Rav was describing that when he had a shayla, so before he could tell you, it maybe superficially this case seems comparable to a case which is muttar, but there was an intuition that it isn't. Or maybe superficially this is comparable to a case that is assur, but there's an intuition that it isn't. There's a koach mah. It's pre-cognitive in the sense that at that point it's somewhat inchoate. He can't explain it, he can't defend it. That comes at the second stage when that intuition is, again, through tremendous hard work on behalf of that individual, is translated and is developed and is fleshed out into logical categories and conceptual distinctions. Right away, people have this lehavdil in other fields also. The biggest doctors will have this in medicine. They'll have an intuition about a certain case, about whether a certain treatment will work or won't work, and it isn't one that, again, it's before it's at a stage that it can be articulated yet because it's not even in their own minds it doesn't yet exist as a clearly defined concept or line of reasoning. That's what the Rav is describing, this description. You know, I once heard the following story from רב חיים יעקב גולדוויכט zecher tzaddik livracha, the founding Rosh Yeshiva in Kerem B'Yavneh. So he told the following story: that Rav Velvel used to go for daily walks for health reasons, and he used to take someone along to accompany him on the walks. And in his youth, so רב חיים יעקב גולדוויכט was often the one who would accompany Rav Velvel on the walks. He said, "I was zocheh to that because I knew how to keep quiet." He says, "Others, you know, they had a chance with the Velvele, so they, you know, they talked too much and they thought that he wanted that. He wanted someone to leave him alone and who would only talk if he wanted to talk." So he said, "I knew how to keep quiet," so he was zocheh to accompany him on the walks. So he described how on one of the walks, Rav Velvel was repeating the famous Beis HaLevi on Lo Sachmod. The Beis HaLevi on Lo Sachmod quotes the Ibn Ezra's kasha, the Chinuch talks about it also, רבים תמהו במצוה זו, how can the Torah legislate Lo Sachmod? It's a kind of instinctive reaction. If a person is homeless, rachmana litzlan, and destitute and hungry, and he walks by and he sees, he looks in the window and sees someone sitting in a nice warm home with a plate of delicious food, so how can he not be chomed? So how can the Torah legislate something which is an instinctive—meila action is deliberate. Okay, so we make a decision to do something and the Torah says, "Don't do it." Okay, so decide not to do it. But if something is just an instinctive reaction, how can the Torah legislate? So the Ibn Ezra gives his famous answer that the Beis HaLevi describes as yafeh v'gam na'im. And then he says, "But belav hachi it's no kasha." And he gives the following famous mashal. He says, "Imagine someone who has this tremendous, maybe obsessive taiva, and he can't, or seemingly, can't free himself from the grips of this taiva. And he's—it's wintertime, and he's running across a frozen lake..." because he's very close to attaining whatever it is that he's obsessively focused on. And then all of a sudden he slips and he's falling and he realizes that and all this right passes through his mind in a split second you know that his weight will likely break the ice and that he'll fall into and underneath the ice of the frozen river. So the Beis Halevi says so what happens so he's overcome with this fear. And the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu created designed the human personality is that when fear banishes all other thoughts. He said that's just Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed the human personality that way. That fear that's why the difference between someone who panics and someone who doesn't panic is what you do afterwards right? Is what you do afterwards. But fear initially it chases away all other thoughts. So he says everyone knows everyone knows from experience that what would happen to this person as he's falling on the ice is that obsessive taiva that obsessive chimud that he had is totally lost totally lost. He says the Beis Halevi k'darko says the Beis Halevi so if take a look balashon you're not going to believe this you have to see it inside. He says even if we had a little bit of yiras cheit he said comparable to the yirah that the person has who's falling on the ice a little bit of yiras cheit. He said even if we had a little bit of yiras cheit he said so that yiras cheit would banish the chimud. That's the Beis Halevi's pshat un musar. Right. So Velvel is back to the walk. So Velvel is they're walking and Velvel is repeating this and then he stops he stops you know sort of abruptly and reaches out and grabs onto Rav Goldvicht's arm and says to him you know he says aza pshat he says you don't say with the moach you can only say with the lev. Which ad kan devarav which lechora what that meant was that some pshatim you can only say drawing upon one's own experience. So there's no question right and there's no question that what the Rav is describing here when he's talking about you know how Reb Chaim's derech works there's no question that he was not just drawing upon the moach he was drawing upon the lev in terms of his own experience. Let's read a little bit more here. Again in the bottom of page 74. Again it comes through sfiras hachochma shemimena from the sfirah of chochmah ממנה שוטפת האינטואיציה הגאונית היוצרת the genius creative intuition. החזות המעוף והעומק לה it has sweep and depth. והיא כובשת את ישון ההוויה. האדם שהתורה נספקה לו פותח בתורת הלב וחותם בתורת המוח. הפעולה ההלכתית היוצרת פותחת לא בחשיבה
it doesn't begin with analysis ki im bachazon with a vision again intuition a sense lo benisuach not with a precise formulation ki im be'immanentia a certain restlessness no there's something amiss here right there's something there's something the second line in the Gemara there's something amiss here לא לאור הבהיר של ההיגיון not to the bright clear light of logic כי אם בעלטה הטרום הגיונית but the fog of pre-logic. logical sense. Hahazut matchila lehavheik, it begins כאורות הקוסמים במרחקים בלי אפס like light enchanting flashes of light at an infinite distance. Handlakim vechavim, they're lit and then they go out. Hamitgalim, they're revealed but then vedoechim and then they dim, beleil ofel vesagrir. חסרי רציפות הם האורות הללו, they're not consecutive, they're not continuous, these points of light. ואי אפשר להשתמש בהם, beram mechavnim hem, but they direct et hanoded, the one who's wandering, hamemashmesh who's groping bachasheicha in the dark ומבקש את אי הפלאים האמת. קמעה קמעה הוא חוצה little by little, בעזרת אורות אלה את תחום האפלה השכלית ומגיע למחוז חפצו ההכרה הברורה.
Little by little the intuition lets him ultimately cross the line and come to understanding where he's able to, again, he began with an intuitive sense that these two are different, that the Gemara that's being quoted against the Rambam even though superficially it's exactly the same but really it's different. Leat leat, gradually, הוא מצרף את האורות לשרשרת זוהר רצופה, he's able to combine these again points of light to a continuous chain, hamifitza nogah rav, which sheds much light. That's what the Rav was talking about here in this letter. And that's what he says that part of that intuition inevitably is that lo yitachen that the Torah allows this, and velo yitachen that the Torah prohibits it. But again, but that intuition is only of value when the person has such incredible gadlus in Torah that his instincts are Torah instincts as opposed to because otherwise a person if a person would chas veshalom operate this way without that level of gadlus in Torah, so then a person is just superimposing upon Torah alien values and then looking to make Torah conform to what alien values are. And that's what the Rav means in this last sentence here, I am referring to the unique halakhic ethos which is another facet of the halakhic logos. Hence one must exercise great caution in isolating the ethical moment of halakhic cognition. Related to this, I don't know that it goes as deep but related to this you know there's a line I think it was a Tosafos but you can fill in the blank with any Rishon obviously, the point is the same where someone again this doesn't quite run as deep but it's on the same wavelength lichora where someone once quoted a Tosafos to Reb Chaim and Reb Chaim said no there's no such Tosafos. And he said no there is, I saw it not long ago and again insists. So Reb Chaim says no there's no such Tosafos. So he goes and brings the Tosafos and they look at it and takeh he hadn't read it carefully enough and the Tosafos didn't say what he thought it said and Reb Chaim was right there was no such Tosafos. So Reb Chaim said afterwards, you can believe half of the statement and do what you will with the other half of the statement. Don't think that I know every Tosafos in Shas you can do whatever you want with that he says but it's that I know what Tosafos can say and what they can't say. And what you were quoting Tosfos couldn't say. And that's, it means to have the same instinct, the same intuition, to have the Torah instinct, to have a Torah intuition. So again it means the intuition. Again this, this goes even deeper than that story goes, much deeper, but that's what the Rav is talking about here. Okay, there's, this has more relevance to again not just to the letter but the Ish HaHalacha then and we'll leave that for next time, im yirtzeh Hashem.