Reply To: Corporal punishment must remain an option for teachers

It’s about following Divrei Chazal without picking and choosing. They never advocated corporal punishment.

TLIK: This is blatantly false. Tanach itself tells us to use corporal punishment. And Chazal, Rambam and the Mechaber all directly pasken this is Halacha. You’re the one cherry picking. But you’re doing even worse. You’re taking Chazals that are about other matters and trying to use them to dismiss Torah and Halacha that directly deals with the issue, saying farkert of what you’re saying; namely a total ban on corporal punishment.

Phil: A rebbi has the same halacha as a father.

Rebbeim commonly — though sparingly — used petch during the lifetimes of most readers here. Just as they had since the time of Har Sinai. The concept of a total ban on petch by rebbeim is very very new; something that only developed during the last generation or two (or three – no more.)