Information AboutYeridat Ha-dorot |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT YERIDAT HA-DOROT | |
| hebrew words and phrases | |
| jewish philosophy | |
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The idea is found in many other classical Jewish sources, and underlies the reluctance of the Torah scholars in a particular generation to challenge the legal rulings of a previous generation. discusses the relationship between the principle of ''yeridat ha-dorot'' and the seemingly contrary principal of ''chate'u Yisrael'' ("''Israel sinned''," referring to a failure in transmission of the tradition), an idea invoked to explain cases where ''derash'' (exegetical interpretation) trumps ''peshat'' (plain reading) in order to restore original intent. IN CONTEMPORARY JUDAISM The concept of ''Yeridat ha-dortot'' is particularly influential in Haredi Judaism , which regards not only Halakha but even Customs of old as possessing divine inspiration and wisdom which later generations cannot match. Modern Orthodox Judaism has a somewhat ambivalent approach to the concept, believing that classical positions can sometimes be re-examined in light of modern circumstances but deferentially, and in accordance with classical rules of interpretation, while embracing modern science and secular learning. The Conservative movement, while not expressly rejecting the concept, has endorsed the contrary idea that wisdom grows with succeeding generations, holding that modern concepts of morality and the like are sometimes superior to classical concepts and that Jewish tradition must sometimes be re-examined and pruned from a modern light. Conservative Judaism is a pluralistic movement which accepts multiple positions about the degree of deference to tradition in contemporary thought and decision-making. Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism , as modern liberal movements, reject the whole idea as incompatible with progress, liberalism, and modernity. REFERENCES
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