The signature of the Gra on the letter of excommunication is generally ignored even by people that try to follow the letter of the law and have "faith in the wise" concerning the Gra himself.
The reason is more or less connected with Ahijah Hashiloni the prophet who anointed Yeravam ben Navat as king over Israel [i.e. the ten tribes.]
Even though אחיה השילוני Ahijah does not get much space or attention in the Old Testament, he does get an extraordinary amount of attention from Rav Isaac Luria who held he was the greatest of all prophets after Moses. Yet the sum total effect of Ahiah seems to have been negative. He anointed Yeravam ben Navat who then proceeded to make two golden calves which resulted in the eventual disappearance of the ten tribes.
The reason is that sometimes a מכשול a stumbling block has to come into the world for unknown reasons and that itself gets Divine approval.
That does not mean the stumbling block is good. It means that according to some vast Divine plan it has to be there (even though it is evil).
The issue is what can be called a "Consciousness Trap." There are great and important ideas you might hear, but they are placed there in order to trap your mind and heart into the other things which are there to hurt you. It is the Trojan Horse idea. Something that seems great and that you need, but there is a hidden poison inside.
But the fact that Yeravam ben Navat was set up by Ahijah meant that no one could stop it. The strength of the Dark Realm comes from what ever power they derive from holiness. Since the top and peak of all prophets [besides Moses] set it up, no one, not even Eliyahu nor any later prophets could change it.
Just for public information the basic idea of Rav Isaac Luria is that prophecy proceeds from נצח and הוד two Divine traits Victory and Splendor. The prophecy of Moses came from the face of both. The Ari then goes into details how the prophecy of Ahia was one step lower and that of Samuel and Eliyahu one step after that. [Ahiah from the front halves of the two. Shmuel from the front of Victory but not Splendor. Eliyahu from the back halves of both.]]
The basic idea here is the same as in honor of one's parents usually involves doing things that one does not understand, but simply takes on faith that one's parents know best. The idea is whom do you follow? Your own ideas or do you take the Ten Commandments seriously enough to disregard you own ideas and decide to listen to your parents? It is similar here. Do you follow you own ideas or do you in fact have "faith in the wise?"
Nowadays it is common to hear the phrase, "No one can tell me what to do." as an axiom of faith. This is in spite of the fact that it is obviously false. A person gets hired to work at the counter in a grocery store. It turns out he has sticky fingers when it comes to money. The manager comes over and asks him to stop pocketing the money. And he answers: "No one can tell me what to do."
You are on a scouting trip in the mountains, and you do not know how to put up your tent. You have been struggling for hours to make sense of it. Someone with more experience comes over, and tells you, "You are doing it wrong. Let me show you how it is done." And you answer "No one can tell me what to do."
You are in class with Paula who gets straight A's in all her subjects. You know you are bright, but you still just barely manage a B+ average. You get some problem in Algebra that you think you have the answer to. It turns out that Paula raises her hand and suggests a different answer than the one you got. How much confidence do you now have that your answer is right?
[Few people acknowledge or admit that they use their own intellect in deciding who to follow. They might claim they have "faith in the wise,"-- but they use their own intellect about who they call "wise" according to what they want to hear and what appeals to their own interests.]
After thought. The idea that the signature of the Gra has validity in law came to me when I was reading a commentary on the Rambam. The idea I saw there is that חרם excommunication derives its legal status from the law about נדרים vows. The law of vows is a legal category from the Torah itself. The basic idea is that a person can forbid use of his object to another person by saying, "This object is to you like a קרבן sacrifice." And that had legal validity. That is where the strength of a excommunication comes from. That is: a court [even in Babylon where there was no ordination] has the ability to forbid interaction with any said individual by means of a חרם, and that has legal validity in so far as one that transgresses the rule gets on himself automatically the same status. [That is one who ignores a חרם is under the same חרם.]
There was a biography of the Gra that came out a few years back that I think also made this same point. However I never saw it. My conclusions are based on a book that had the actual transcripts and letters of the court at Vilna.
The reason is more or less connected with Ahijah Hashiloni the prophet who anointed Yeravam ben Navat as king over Israel [i.e. the ten tribes.]
Even though אחיה השילוני Ahijah does not get much space or attention in the Old Testament, he does get an extraordinary amount of attention from Rav Isaac Luria who held he was the greatest of all prophets after Moses. Yet the sum total effect of Ahiah seems to have been negative. He anointed Yeravam ben Navat who then proceeded to make two golden calves which resulted in the eventual disappearance of the ten tribes.
The reason is that sometimes a מכשול a stumbling block has to come into the world for unknown reasons and that itself gets Divine approval.
That does not mean the stumbling block is good. It means that according to some vast Divine plan it has to be there (even though it is evil).
The issue is what can be called a "Consciousness Trap." There are great and important ideas you might hear, but they are placed there in order to trap your mind and heart into the other things which are there to hurt you. It is the Trojan Horse idea. Something that seems great and that you need, but there is a hidden poison inside.
But the fact that Yeravam ben Navat was set up by Ahijah meant that no one could stop it. The strength of the Dark Realm comes from what ever power they derive from holiness. Since the top and peak of all prophets [besides Moses] set it up, no one, not even Eliyahu nor any later prophets could change it.
Just for public information the basic idea of Rav Isaac Luria is that prophecy proceeds from נצח and הוד two Divine traits Victory and Splendor. The prophecy of Moses came from the face of both. The Ari then goes into details how the prophecy of Ahia was one step lower and that of Samuel and Eliyahu one step after that. [Ahiah from the front halves of the two. Shmuel from the front of Victory but not Splendor. Eliyahu from the back halves of both.]]
The basic idea here is the same as in honor of one's parents usually involves doing things that one does not understand, but simply takes on faith that one's parents know best. The idea is whom do you follow? Your own ideas or do you take the Ten Commandments seriously enough to disregard you own ideas and decide to listen to your parents? It is similar here. Do you follow you own ideas or do you in fact have "faith in the wise?"
Nowadays it is common to hear the phrase, "No one can tell me what to do." as an axiom of faith. This is in spite of the fact that it is obviously false. A person gets hired to work at the counter in a grocery store. It turns out he has sticky fingers when it comes to money. The manager comes over and asks him to stop pocketing the money. And he answers: "No one can tell me what to do."
You are on a scouting trip in the mountains, and you do not know how to put up your tent. You have been struggling for hours to make sense of it. Someone with more experience comes over, and tells you, "You are doing it wrong. Let me show you how it is done." And you answer "No one can tell me what to do."
You are in class with Paula who gets straight A's in all her subjects. You know you are bright, but you still just barely manage a B+ average. You get some problem in Algebra that you think you have the answer to. It turns out that Paula raises her hand and suggests a different answer than the one you got. How much confidence do you now have that your answer is right?
[Few people acknowledge or admit that they use their own intellect in deciding who to follow. They might claim they have "faith in the wise,"-- but they use their own intellect about who they call "wise" according to what they want to hear and what appeals to their own interests.]
After thought. The idea that the signature of the Gra has validity in law came to me when I was reading a commentary on the Rambam. The idea I saw there is that חרם excommunication derives its legal status from the law about נדרים vows. The law of vows is a legal category from the Torah itself. The basic idea is that a person can forbid use of his object to another person by saying, "This object is to you like a קרבן sacrifice." And that had legal validity. That is where the strength of a excommunication comes from. That is: a court [even in Babylon where there was no ordination] has the ability to forbid interaction with any said individual by means of a חרם, and that has legal validity in so far as one that transgresses the rule gets on himself automatically the same status. [That is one who ignores a חרם is under the same חרם.]
There was a biography of the Gra that came out a few years back that I think also made this same point. However I never saw it. My conclusions are based on a book that had the actual transcripts and letters of the court at Vilna.
