Audio Roundup Special: Rav Mayer Twersky Halakhic Man
by Joel Rich
Rabbi Mayer E. Twersky-Ish HaHalacha
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1151829
Shiur #1
Halacha provides a total approach to life. The cognitive/emotional dialectic is a source of creative energy in halachic man’s inner being.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1151830
Shiur #2
We need to be fully aware of the mysteries we can’t solve. The more science reveals, the more we realize we can’t understand.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1151831
Shiur #3
Emuna (belief) starts where yedia (understanding) ends. We realize our limitations even as we desire to understand more.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1151832
Shiur 4
The Rambam’s negative theology means we can only truly describe what HKBH isn’t (he has no ribui). When we say HKBH is chanun etc. we mean we see in the briah aspects that we would call chanun at the human level.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1151833
Shiur 5
Halachic man views the world through an a priori perspective. There exists an existential world of ideals (halacha) which halachic man seeks to bring into his practical reality.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1152123
Shiur 6
Halacha (a priori) both regulates and elevates. It also recognizes in this world the aspirational (sanhedrin) and the practical (Melech, makin v’onshin shelo min hadin) elements of halachic life.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1153195
Shiur 7
Majestic man (ish hadaat) falls short because he can’t access the transcendental world. Religious man (ish hadaat) falls short because he has to live in the real world. Halachic man resolves the dialectic by having an ideal system, halacha, which deals with the real (non-ideal) world.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1154110
Shiur 8
We can’t impose our mundane categories on the world of ideas, especially in translation (eg mechitza ≠ wall). Halacha describes its own reality which is not necessarily the same as scientific reality.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1155246
Shiur 9
Halacha differs from other legal systems in that there is a commitment to ideas in addition to a commitment to action. The mesora is a dialog of souls encouraging transmission of the revealed mesora and added chiddush based on individual creativity. This explains why chachmei hamesora may come to different conclusions based on intuition and the same information. (Me- the Nature or Nurture [or different sfirot per the bal hatanya?
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1155953
Shiur 10
True chachmei hamesora have a pre-cognitive (intuitive) relationship with halacha (it’s like nsuin)
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1157077
Shiur 11
Halacha is its own discipline which we shouldn’t historicize or psychologize. R’ Chaim purified it of outside elements and creatively took intuition and developed the ideal (revealed), or aspirational halachic system.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1157827
Shiur 12
Torah (halacha) can only be actualized in this world, every mitzva has something to say about kol hatorah kula and life b’olam hazeh. That’s why halachic men have feared death. We are all about natural and spiritual in this world. (eg Yom Kippur sunset is one of mehila)
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1162691
Shiur 13
Ish halacha brings shamayim down to grets / aretz including bein adam l’chaveiro. Being a stiff-necked people can be good or bad. We don’t connect to HKBH directly through chachamim but they do guide us.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1163740
Shiur 14
It’s kfira to pray to mlachim as intermediaries but just wrong to ask them to pray for you. We connect directly, and only directly, with HKBH. The Torah transcendental order is reflected in our world through Torah applied to our daily physical actions. We create our own kedusha.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1164493
Shiur 15
Shiurim are halacha moshe misinai since they are a quantitative measure of a qualitative concept and thus man setting them would be arbitrary. Subjective religious experience needs to be translated into objective anchored actions in order to be lasting.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1167303
Shiur 16
Hareini na drachecha means HKBH put these midot into the creation of our world such that mitzvot are congruent with our natural world. Similarly, we need to channel the yetzer hara rather than being obsessed with it and trying to escape this world. Chiddush in Torah is also in natural alignment (HKBH as creator) with the briah.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1168113
Shiur 17
R’YBS’s focus on this world may be related to the question of why HKBH created the world. A more Kabbalistic answer would have us focus on the upper worlds. The answer that it’s simply his ratzon focuses on this world and halacha’s translating yearning into quantitative actions. Kavana in mitzvot would be about the mitzvah act, not the impact on upper worlds.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1169027
Shiur 18
The bal hatanya saw shofar as representing a desire for the upper worlds vs. lulav which is focused on this world. Halachic man sees both being focused on this world, not seeking an escape. He aspires to understanding pure halacha in this world.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1172799
Shiur #20
Mesora is also creative, not just handing over the same material. Personal written notes were always allowed, but not fixed, written transmissions. Halacha is this world-oriented.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1173632
Shiur #21
Halachic man’s religious experience is a deep intellectual one which won’t manifest externally (the greater the kedusha the more hidden) but is extremely authentic.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1174638
Shiur #22
Halachic man requires rigorous and precise formulations of speech and writings. Can/should we follow R’ Chaim’s focus on talmud torah (vs maaseh merkava?) or do his unique abilities/character require us to take a different approach? (This is a general question about learning from maaseh rav.)
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1175443
Shiur #23
Halachic man’s reality is set by halacha, thus minhagim have to be grounded in halacha and no baseless rituals are permitted. Halacha becomes innate to halachic man, not something forced. There’s no bifurcation between the beit knesset and the outside world and it’s applicable in all times and places. Chesed is an important element as well.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1175443
Shiur #24
HM rejects any ritual not based in halacha and aspires to internalize halacha such that it becomes natural to him. R’ Chaim’s focus on chesed may have been in response to HM’s focus on halacha which includes chesed but where it is sometimes underrated.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1179324
Shiur #25
Torah is what keeps the world going and so our involvement in Torah makes us a partner in maaseh breishit. Torah = horaah = instruction – even the narrative sections are there for this purpose.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1179189
Shiur #26
Halacha on the atomic level is a necessary condition for holistic achievement. The daily practical halacha sets us up to better deal with existential challenges.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1179197
Shiur #27
For HM past, present, and future are all intertwined religiously. Tshuva doesn’t change their facticity but allows the past to exert a positive influence on the present and future.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1179827
Shiur #28
Actions today are influenced by the past but not bound by it. The reality of nitzchiyut impacts our experience of the past and allows tshuva to redefine our past.
https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1179993
Shiur #29
The Rambam differentiated between species-level general hashgacha klalit (animals are objects animated by general laws of nature, e.g. instinct) and humans have hashgacha pratit (potential) to be nosei [actor] vs nisa [object]. Ish haelokim “creates” himself.