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Can Chachamim prohibit a Torah (תורה) mitzvah (מצוה) like reading Shema after midnight? Rabbeinu Yonah holds they cannot be oker a deoraisa obligation, so one must read Shema without berachos after chatzos. The Ramban (רמב"ן) disagrees, applying the principle of yesh koach beyad chachamim l'aker, making the entire mitzvah prohibited after midnight.
This shiur presents a fundamental machloket between Rabbeinu Yonah and the Ramban (רמב"ן) regarding the Chachamim's authority to override Torah (תורה) mitzvos. The case study focuses on the reading of Shema after chatzos (midnight). Rabbeinu Yonah holds that the Chachamim cannot be oker (uproot) a mitzvah (מצוה) min haTorah - they cannot tell someone not to say Shema after midnight since it remains a Torah obligation until dawn. His only solution is that after chatzos, one reads Shema without the accompanying berachos (which are derabanan), thereby reducing the reward but not eliminating the Torah obligation. Interestingly, Rabbeinu Yonah suggests that berachos actually enhance the quality of the Torah mitzvah by adding kavana (intention), making it a 'better' mitzvah deoraisa when performed with the berachos. The Ramban fundamentally disagrees, citing the well-known Gemara (גמרא) principle 'yesh koach beyad chachamim l'aker davar min haTorah beshvil tasa' - the Chachamim have the power to uproot Torah laws for protective purposes. He references cases like shofar and lulav on Shabbos (שבת), where Chachamim prohibited Torah mitzvos entirely to prevent potential violations. The Kesav Yad questions how Rabbeinu Yonah could be unaware of these fundamental sugyos that appear throughout Shas.
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Berachos 2a
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