For the source text click/tap here: Beitzah 11
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Rambam writes that "a permitted strategem is called a ha'arama (circumvention), whereas one that is forbidden is called mirma (deception)"
The Rashba on our daf writes that "regarding ha'aramot, we do not say that one is similar to the other." Later in the same passage, he formulates principles to distinguish between legitimate circumventions and those which are forbidden to be used.
Thinking about the last year on this last day of the Hebrew Annual cycle and the way COVID has forced me to choose between rational scientific thinking and magical/mystical thinking in ways I never would have imagined (like not stepping foot inside my beloved unmasked shteibl) I the present the following article….that examines the evolving use of the homily. This popular literary form allows for a more associative combination of halakhah, textual exegesis, and theology, including some of the same sources used by Rema and Maharshal, within a rhetorical discourse comprised of parables, symbolism, and wordplay, addressing itself to the practical question of whether "fleeing plague" is effective. The fluidity of the homily and the fact that it is unambiguously outside the legal realm are not coincidental.
I also present an article I wrote in 2010 about that same plagued city of Prague and the curious crucifix with the hebrew letters of the kedusha hanging from it on the Charles River bridge.