Story:
I would like to share a story about the Yeshiva of Hartford circa 1965. One of its pillars was an arch-Hebraicist, a zealot for IvriS, Mr. Morris Perkel A"H - known as "Mar Perkel", he having no s'michah
One day in the corridors of the Yeshivah, MP engaged in a bit of Yiddish Banter. One of his colleagues, questioned him
Ploni: You! Mar Perkel! Talking in Yiddish? You're such an ardent opponent....
Mar Perkel: [paraphrase] That was THEN when the State of Israel was NEW. I was concerned lest they adopt Yiddish as the official language! Nowadays, with Hebrew established, I'm no longer concerned!.
Lesson: some g'zeiros, ch'shashot, etc. are contextual.
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Analysis:
We can find several examples of Poskim chaning their minds
EG
•The Rambam from Peirush Mishnayot to the Yad,
• The BY to the SA,
• The Kessef Mishnah re: the Rambam on T'fillin on Hol Hamoed [the Ba'er Hetev points this one out]
We can probably think of CONTEXT changing p'sak. EG nowadays we read on Friday Nights w/o concern of Shema Yatteh. Since our context is using electric light, we view this g'zeirah as no longer applicable.
In some cases, there may be a "L'migdar Milta" aspect. EG Kashrut in the 1950's might have needed more Hizzuk then than now, when Humrot are more common. So a strict P'sak THEN, might be revisited now in light of a changing reality. It doesn't mean it WILL change, but it COULD change.
Shalom and Regards, RRW
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