MARK WASHOVSKY
17. Examples of such principles:"the Torah was not given to the ministering angels"; hora’at shaah; et laasot; lifnim mishurat hadin; veasita hayashar vehatov.
18. Maimonides , Yad, Hil. Ishut 14:8; Rashi , Ketubot 63b, s.v. la kayafinan la; Tosafot ad loc., s.v. aval.
19. He refers the reader to his book, Tenai Benisuin Uva Get Jerusalem, 1966, where he discusses the issue at length.
20. Hasagat Harabad, Yad Hil. Mamrim 2:2, on the power of the contemporary beit din to annul a long-standing decree whose justification has disappeared; Piskei Harosh, Sanhedrin 4:6, on the right of the contemporary scholar to disagree with the opinion of the geonim; Yad, Introduction, on the fact that all post-Talmudic scholars are of equal legal 20.stature.
22. Berkovits submits Responsa Harosh 43:8 to a forced interpretation. The clear sense of that responsum agrees with the assessment of Asher’s son, Yaakov, that his father rejects Rambam ’s ruling. See Tur, Even Haezer 77, fol. 116a.
23. For a list of authorities see Beit Yosef, Even Haezer 77, fol. 115b-116a. The"commentators" are Magid Mishneh, Ishut 14:8, Helkat Mehokek, Even Haezer 77, n. 5, and Biur Hagra, Even Haezer 77,50..5,
24. R. Ovadyah Yosef, Responsa Yabia Omer III, Even Haezer 19, is an exception that proves the rule. R. Yosef does not suggest that the Maimonidean position is the"correct" one or that, on ethical grounds, it ought to be preferred over the consensus view. He permits coercion in a case of mais alai only because the couple in
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