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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!aecom!alex
From: alex@aecom.UUCP (Alex S. Fuss)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: re: "fences" around jewish laws
Message-ID: <886@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Oct-84 19:12:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: aecom.886
Posted: Wed Oct 24 19:12:38 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Oct-84 06:51:52 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 18


	Someone argued that the rabinic laws set up to protect the
Biblical laws serve no purpose. If one will not heed the latter, he will not
heed the former; if he will heed the latter, the former are superfluous.

	The logic of this argument is faultless, but its underlying premiss
should be exposed. Implied here is that the Biblical laws are constraints to
which believers must conform, rather than guidelines for a better form of
life which believers desire. Seen in the positive way, the rabinic laws
serve the purpose of protecting a person from INADVERTANTLY transgressing
a biblical law. By the same token, fences around manholes protect passers-by
from inadvertantly being injured.
-- 

from the philosophical outlook of:

				       Alex S. Fuss
			{philabs, esquire, cucard, ihnp4}!aecom!alex