For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 90
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Can rabbinical law uproot Torah law? The rabbis continue to argue this question.
Today they begin with a case where one provides payment in teruma to a kohen. The teruma is ritually impure.
The rabbis consider intentionality: did he mean to give ritually impure (ie. forbidden) teruma to the priest? Or was it an accident?
The rabbis are stringent in their rulings: the teruma must be replaced by ritually pure teruma. Torah law is more lenient.
A kohen is even allowed to marry a woman using this ritually impure payment!
And so, the rabbis argue, this is a case where rabbinical halacha uproots Torah halacha.
We continue this exploration with Rav Lichtenstein’s essay on egalitarianism as well as Chaim Trachtman’s Rabbinic Moral Psychology.