Avi; id think you’d be the first not to compare rishonim/achronim with neviim. If they had written “this is only beshaas hadchak” on the label, I don’t think it would have accomplished their goals at all. It’s up to those who are the baalei mesorah to understand what’s meant ledoros and what’s not. The vast majority of rav hirschs torah is ledoros and i am among his avid fans and admirers. There are, however, certain things that must be understood in the context of the state of german jewry. Modern people LOVE this academic context-oriented approach when it comes to dismissing the chasam sofer etc, or saying that the rambam was just parroting Aristotle cv”s, but when it comes to their own sacred cows…..the payos come out and we can’t question the context of unusual statements made by yechidim that don’t fit the framework of chazal. Why is it ok to say that chazal believed in the existence of the fire breathing salamander “just because the goyim did” but not ok to say that rav hirsch advocated for social justice to win the favor of the masses of german jewry who were falling away en masse? It’s hypocritical snd intellectually dishonest.
I never said that rav hirsch et al wrote about goyim because of his influence cv”s, by having good relations with them. I said that he was doing kiruv and packaging yiddishkeit in a way that’s palatable for newcomers and people educated with progressive and universalist ideology. Think of what aish hatorah does. Did rav hirsch argue with chazal that goyim who dont keep the 7 mitzvos bekavanah have no olam habah? There’s even a machlokes in the gemara in sanhedrin if goyim who DO Keep the mitzvos have it. Did he argue on the punishment of a mechalel shabbos? No, but he didn’t talk about it much either, because he had a goal, which he accomplished – the yekkishe community is along, if not the most staunchly traditional community in the world with their minhagim and adherence to halacha.
The kav hayasher, rav kordenoiver, was the rov of frankfurt a while before the aruch leneir; he probably had good relations with the gemutliche germans too, but that didn’t stop him from writing all about tumas akum, romemus yisroel, etc..
To clarify my position on the meiri and omission; even if the rishonim and achronim didn’t have access to it, fhe fact that the gedolei poskim, asher mipihem anu chayin, do not mention it, means that they learned the sugya differently and that the halacha therefore should follow the overwhelming majority who omit this exception to chazals rule that it is assur to return a goys aveidah. That’s different than the falacy of the omission of the 3 osths (it’s quoted A LOT in the rishonim and achronim…the rambam, ramban, tashbetz, rashbash, maharal, many others) but 5hat misses the point that the 3 oaths ARE A GEMARA, so the question is why aren’t they mentioned, not why are they….here it’s the opposite, here we have a chidush from a rishon…if it’s not mentioned, it’s clear that it’s not halacha. If a gemara isn’t mentioned, we ASSUME THAT A GEMARA IS A DIN, because it’s a Gemara….we then ask why it’s not in the tur and mishneh torah, and there are answers given. Either it’s stam a kefira in bias hamoshiach, as the satmar rov wrote, or it’s not a din per se, but an exhortation not to do it because there will be redifos chas veshalom (rav belsky zt”l), either way the gemara says not to do it so we don’t do it. It’s not like other things that the rishonim say are not nogaya anymore, like the refuos in the gemara which tosfos says are not nogaya, or mayim emtzaiim, there we have rishonim who bring the gemara and say why we don’t follow it. Here by the shevuos no kadmon says that it’s not nogaya.
Yes, if you learned the sugya of hafkaras mamonam and yiush with the rishonim you’d see that the meiri doesn’t fit at all. You seem to be very good at finding mareh mekomos for things, but i believe that your strength in bekius needs to be built around learning sugyos be’iyun, of which I’ve seen little example.
Also, who says the majority of goyim are mayshiv aveidos? I believe that they don’t. I don’t think most goyim put up signs or ads in papers that they found a diamond ring. The only thing theily seem to be careful with is returning dogs. Hamayvin yovin.
Yashrus doesn’t mean we treat goyim like yidden. Hashavas aveida is a special mitzvah, like Rashi says, between yidden. It’s not for goyim inherently, absent kiddush/chilul hashem tangents