Compromise and Inclusivity in Establishing Minhag and Halakha: Contextualizing the Approach of R. Meir of Rothenburg

Abstract

In two places within the Talmudic corpus, the Amora R. Nahman bar Yizhaq enunciates the principle that a God-fearing person should seek to fulfill both positions in a halakhic dispute or debate: “One who fears Heaven will acquit himself according to both views” ( יר אמי ש םו י צ אדי שניהם ).¹ A similar strategy is employed in a number of instances by the Amora Rav Pappa, who suggested combining two competing liturgical variants into one inclusive statement or blessing הי לכ ךינמרי נה ו לתוי ר י)ו ה ) in situations ranging from the blessing to be recited after a public reading of the megilla on Purim, to the proper text of the modim prayer recited during the repetition of the amida מודי םדרמב)ן נ ).² Rav Pappa also advocated this methodology for resolving several halakhic issues.³