THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE RABBINATE
78. Ibid., 105a.
79. II Kings 4.42.
80. B. Hullin 134b.
81. B. Ketubot 106a.
82. Kesef Mishneh to Hilkot Talmud Torah 3.10.
83.[When the law]"is flimsy in your hand” is a literal translation of“rofefet beyadekha.” This phrase comes from the Jerusalem Talmud Pe'ah 7.6:“Concerning = law that is unclear to the court, and you do not know what behavior to follow, observe how the community behaves and act similarly.”
84. Psalms 119.126.“Et laasot laadonai, heferu toratekha” means, of course, that desperste times demand desperate actions. There is much discussion in the rabbinic literature concerning this verse and the principle it represents. The grficipls of“voiding the Torah in order to act for the sake of the Lord,” is used
y the rabbis to justify certain actions which may be performed in violation of expressed Toraitic law. Rashi , in his commentary to B. Berakhot 63a, brings forth one of the classic examples of this principle:"Those who do His will have violated His Torah , like Elijah on Mount Carmel, who sacrificed on a non-central altar during a period when that was forbidden, because it was a time to make a fence and a hedge among the Jews for the sake of the Holy one, blessed be He.” See Joel Roth, The Halakhic Process, New York , 1986, pp. 169 ff.
85. See note#85 above. Karo was certainly aware that Rambam himself
recognized the necessity of violating the strict reading of the Torah in order to
Riotect the overall integrity of Judaism . See Rambam 's Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot amrim 2.9.
86. Psalms 119.126.
57.