Directly to the truth

R’ Avrohom, who was a talmid chochom of note, was in yechidus by the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe showed him a teshuva of the Maharam meRottenberg, in which he establishes a certain premise, and brings a support for it. The proof that he brings seems rather weak.

The Alter Rebbe turned to the chosid, and asked him: “Can you bring other, perhaps more solid proofs for this premise?” The chosid considered it briefly, and then presented 5 strong supports for the suggestion of the Maharam meRottenberg. The Alter rebbe then shared with him an additional 6 proofs of his own. “Why then”, the Alter Rebbe asked the chosid, “when there are 11 solid proofs to the position of the Maharam, does he have to base himself on one weak foundation?”

When R’ Avrohom had no response, the Alter Rebbe went and refuted all of the 11 proofs, so that all that remained intact was the one passable support that the Maharam himself had put forth. The Alter Rebbe then explained to the chosid: “Do you think that the Maharam considered the 11 proofs, thought about the flaws in each of them, and therefore went to his own (flimsy) one? Not at all! Rather, the way of the rishonim was that they went directly to the truth, without having to first go through unsuccessful attempts”.