Can Special Cases be Generalized? Problems with the Generalization of the Special Cases in the Halakhah

The understanding of the Torah and fulfilling the commandments of HaShem is not quite simple. According to the traditional counting, there are 613 commandments in the Torah. It seems like a large number, however the number of life situations in the world are infinite. Thus, the rabbis have to make conclusions from the 613 commandments to the new issues. There are several rules of reasoning of Halakhic Midrash by which the rabbis infer. In this presentation the binyan av rule is explored.

The principle of binyan av is a rule of generalization, by which rabbis infer a general law from one or more special commandments. This rule is a mixing type of analogy, causal reasoning – in which the inductive generalization is also important –, and it works by an abductive process. At the same time, in the case of analogy, causality and abduction, it can be seen that none of them leads to a compelling conclusion, and several unceartain factors can influence the strength and correctness of the conclusion. Almost all of the problems are metaphysical in nature: similarity, correlation vs. causality, mathematized vs. intuitive emotion-conscious conclusion.