Mesorah and Machlokes

Question

How is there Machlokesim in Halacha if we can just go back two generations to find out the answer?

Examples:

Rashi vs Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin, Just find out what people wore 100 years before

Beis Hillel vs Beis Shammai Vis a Vis lighting menorah, or Yaknahaz on Yom Tov what did they do before Hillel and Shammai

Thank you in advance for your reply and have a Good Shabbos

 

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Yours is a fascinating question that the authorities have discussed and grappled with for generations. For example, Rabbi Sherira HaGaon, in his Iggeres, writes that after the destruction of the Second Temple, the religious leadership were spread out through the Holy Land by the Romans. Prior to the Temple’s destruction, there were few disagreements about the Halacha because the Halachic authorities and their Yeshivos were easily accessible to everyone. After the destruction and the dispersion, the capability to maintain a universal approach to the Halacha and the Mesorah was vastly reduced, and as a direct result many disagreements resulted. The Rambam, in his introduction to the Mishnah Torah, uses the approach of Rabbi Sherira HaGaon to explain the discrepancies in Mesorah.

    The lack of uniformity was actually the underlying reason why Rebbi – Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi – created the Mishnah by redacting all the various opinions.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team