In Classic Rabbinic Literature
See also: Rabbinic literatureOne of the first expressions of the idea appears in the Talmudic adage found in Shabbos 112b (Soncino):
R. Zera said in Raba bar Zimuna's name: If the earlier were sons of angels, we are sons of men; and if the earlier were sons of men, we are like asses...
The idea is found in many other classical Jewish sources, and underlies the reluctance of the Torah scholars in a particular generation to challenge the legal rulings of a previous generation. Weiss-Halivni (1993) discusses the relationship between the principle of yeridat ha-dorot and the seemingly contrary principal of chate'u Yisrael ("Israel sinned," referring to a failure in transmission of the tradition), an idea invoked to explain cases where derash (exegetical interpretation) trumps peshat (plain reading) in order to restore original intent.
Read more about this topic: Yeridat Ha-dorot
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