Reply To: The world is in a state of Geula- and don’t misunderstand us!

Rso

“Please supply a source. And if you manage to do that please explain how you can then say that just as Rashbi was an exception so is someone else who I choose.

That’s like saying that since Chazal explained that cooking on Shabbos is forbidden I extend that and say that cooling things down is also forbidden.”

I think you’re misunderstanding the idea especially by the example you cite. But al rishon rishon: regarding Rashbi it is written that he was so beyond his colleagues that they couldn’t understand the extent of his greatness, they couldn’t even relate to him at all. Classical source. Probably gemara. Don’t remember offhand sorry. Maybe someone else would.

Here’s one i do know offhand: Regarding the Rambam it is written “MiMoshe ad Moshe lo kam kMoshe”. Hey. How can you say that if yeridas hadoros is a halacha or an ironclad rule?

Well it obviously isn’t. It’s not ideal and not something we strive to do like halacha (as in your example of hilchos shabbos). Rather it is a statement of observation of fact.

Fact: the term Gaon today and Gaon in the Gra / Alter Rebbe’s times mean completely different things due to yeridas hadoros.

But no one told each generation to lower their standard of learning and greatness. We strive to be the best we can. Just in an overall generational sense, each generation is lower.