Narratives of Enlightenment 145 182-185). This practice contradicted the clear halakhic standard established in M. Berakhot 1:1(Yad, Keri'at Shema 1:9; Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 235:1). See Sefer Hayashar Lerabbeinu Tam, helek hahidushim(ed Schlesinger; Jerusalem , 1959), 422, and(in abbreviated form) Tosafot, Berakhot 2a, s.v. me eimatai.
82. As Professor Yisrael Ta-Shema notes, Rabbeinu Tam “defined the Tosafist method and‘gave it wings’. He also serves as the most extreme example of the innovative potential of that method. He innovated(hidesh) many halakhot and introduced many changes, some of them revolutionary, into accepted practice”; Hasifrut Haparshanit Latalmud, Helek I: 1000-1200(Jerusalem : Magnes, 2000), 77. Ta-Shema surveys(76-81) the opinions of scholars concerning the extent of Rabbeinu Tam ’s creative contribution to the halakhah, and he argues, successfully | think, that the classic focal point of the research— i.e., did Rabbeinu Tam consciously set out to be an“innovator,” or was he just aiming for the correct interpretation of the texts?— is largely irrelevant. Creativity in response to social
and economic challenges, even if not produced intentionally, is still creativity. 83. R. David Zvi Hoffmann, Resp. Melamed Leho'il 1, Orah Hayim, no. 29.
84. See Mordekhai Breuer,« A] Darkhei Hapesikah shel Rabbanei Germaniah Be'idan Ha emantzipatziah,” Sinai 100(1987), 166-186, especially at 169.
85. R. Haim Yitzhak Medini, Sedei Hemed, section mem, nO. 86. 86. R. Shalom Mordekhai Schwadron, Resp. Maharsham 2:156. 87. R. Avraham Bornstein, Resp. Avnei Nezer , Even Ha ezer, nO. 223.
88. R. Yitzhak Ya'akov Weiss, Resp. Minhat Yitzhak 6:100. Among the “outstanding sages of recent times” we might include R. Haim Ozer Grodzinsky, the“Ahi'ezer,” who supports Ettlinger’s decision in his Igerot I, Dibvrei Halakhah, no. 60(cited by R. Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg, Resp. Tzitz Eliezer 13: 14, sec. 4). See also Resp. Ahi‘ezer 3:25, where Grodzinsky cites Ettlinger’s ruling with approval, though he does not mention the term tinok shenishbah. Finally, R. Yitzhak Shmelkes of Galicia (d. 1 906) also quotes from Ettlinger in positive terms;
see Resp. Beit Yitzhak, Yoreh De ah, part 2, Kuntres Aharon, no. 23.
89. R. Ovadyah Yosef, Resp. Yabi'a Omer 1, Orah Hayim, nO. 15.