Igros Moshe (OC 4:3) –While normally in a matter disputed by poskim we rely on the view of Kabbala but this means the views of the Zohar as it is the view of Tannaim but not the Arizal who in spite of his greatness is viewed as only one of the poskim
Where does this shitah come from? The SA? Or the Rema?
ReplyDeleteKnesses Hagedolah OC. 25.
DeleteRav Moshe Shappiro told me that Rav Moshe's view might be an expression of the Gra's view as expressed in the letter of the Baal HaTanya to his chasidim in Vilna
DeleteWhat is the other option? That the Ari is of greater weight than standard poskim, or that he is to be disregarded entirely?
ReplyDeletethe other option is he is as authoritative as Zohar
DeleteI believe the Chasidic line is that he revealed the true secrets of the Zohar so he might as well be as authoritiative.
DeleteWhat does Arukh hashulchan say? Is he a greater authority than igros Moshe?
DeleteI once heard a good explanation for the Talmud/Zohar balance - the Mechaber and the Rema knew Kabbalah. If they put in an opinion from the Zohar, it's because they thought it a valid halakhic opinion to be followed. If they didn't, it wasn't. so trust them.
DeleteIf by "as authoritative as Zohar" you mean not authoritative at all, I can definitely get behind that. If you mean that in a halachic discussion, the Arizal should be regarded as greater than a rishon (or greater than all the rishonim) that is totally bananas.
DeleteWhy doesn't Rambam bring opinions from the Zohar?
DeleteSome people say "oh he didn't know about it"
But in his guide for the perplexed he says there are no more new revelations or extra parts of the Torah.
I had been told that the Torah was transmitted from generation to generation. So I once asked a junior rabbi where's the mesora of the Zohar before Moshe de Leon wrote it? It is apikorsus! I was told.
It was good to learn somewhat later that the Noda bYehuda asks the same question 😂😂
Either the Rambam didn't know about the Zohar (and if it existed, that's unlikely), didn't consider it a relevant halakhic source when drawing up the Mishnah Torah, preferring to use the Talmuds exclusively, or the Zohar as it was later "revealed" didn't exist.
DeleteI once asked the question of a pro Chabad rabbi who was more Misnagid.
DeleteRambam is the gadol hador and of many dorot, so how couldn't he know about the Zohar?
His feeble answer was that Rav shach is (in the 90s) gadol hador, and he doesn't learn Kabbalah.
It's very much like the book of Mormon. Oh it existed all this time but was mysteriously hidden somewhere.
Rambam didn't just appear in a vacuum. His (father's) teacher Ibn Migash was the RIF's greatest Talmid. To say rambam wasn't aware of the Zohar, means essentially sefardi hachamim had no such tradition.
DeleteSome claim the Rambam did in fact utilize the Zohar
DeleteThe excellent dayan, the Noda bYehuda does not rule halacha according to Zohar :
DeleteFurthermore, since our generation has seen an increase in the heretics of the sect of Shabbatai Tzvi...it would be proper to mend a fence and prohibit the study of the Zohar and the Kabbalistic texts...in any case, we do not rule Halacha from the Zohar...I do not deal with hidden secrets but merely reflect on that which has been permitted to me.” [11]
https://www.kotzkblog.com/2018/06/181-why-did-noda-biyehudah-ban-study-of.html?m=1