The attached essay reassesses the commonly held view that Rav Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Rabinowitz (Doros HaRishonim) denied any substantive role for derashos in the formation of halachah. In it, we will document and clarify that Halevi’s position is more nuanced, in that while he argues that the Tannaim and Amoraim did not decide halachic questions through The Thirteen Middos, but rather through analysis of mesorah, sevarah, and what he calls the “Y’sod HaMishnah,” his writings also affirm that derashos genuinely reflect the Torah’s intent and serve to anchor halachos in the text. Moreover, he concedes that there was an era in which the Beis Din Gadol did employ The Thirteen Middos to discover halachos and resolve doubts.
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Zvi Lampel