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Saying Purim Torah, funny (or unfunny) puns based off a misreading of a verse, is an age old tradition in the spirit of Mishenichnas Adar Marbin Besimcha. However, the Gemara in Sanhedrin 99b states:

המגלה פנים בתורה שלא כהלכה אין לו חלק לעולם

He who interprets torah not like the Halacha has no share in the world to come.

Thus I ask, what is the basis for saying over Divrei Torah that are clearly off the mark in its interpretation?

Furthermore, I found that Rav Ovadia Yosef in his Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Volume 1, 684:17), speaking about the age old practice in yeshivos to appoint a Purim Rav1, excoriates this practice as being a Bizui Talmidei Chachachim - a tremendous disrespect of Torah Scholars.

Is there a blanket license on Purim for these types of practices like we find in the Rema Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 696:8 that men are allowed to wear womens clothing on purim, or unintended damages during the seuda Rema (695:2)?

1. Rav Moshe Heineman, a talmid of Rav Ahron Kotler, was for many years the Purim Rav in Lakewood.

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Shoel U'Meishiv
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    Fascinating. I've always understood it that "magaleh panim shelo kehalacha" was a zaken mamrei type concept - someone actively teaching in all seriousness that "The Torah says/wants us to do X" when the halacha is Y. Otherwise, you can loose your Olam Haba by accidentally making a bad D'var Torah? Seems unduly harsh. It would only make sense of the person was "ra'uy lehora'ah" like in Zaken Mamrei, and the audience takes him seriously. All things that don't apply to our lay-person Purim Torah. – Isaac Kotlicky Feb 20 '15 at 12:21
  • @IsaacKotlicky i once heard from a student of Rav Baruch Ber that before he gave shiur he would daven with intensity that he shouldnt be over on the issur of Megaleh Panim Batorah- i dont think Rav Baruch Ber was purposely trying to teach something antithetical to the pshat. but that could be an aswer, and you may enter it as such – Shoel U'Meishiv Feb 20 '15 at 12:27
  • Well, there's the common prayer mentioned in the gemara about what to say when beginning to learn, part of it appears to include just such a sentiment - that one not unintentionally mix up the halacha. In Rav Baruch Ber's case, a major concern would include being machti es harabim, which is very much related to our megaleh panim question, but similarly would only apply to one who is in a position of hora'ah. – Isaac Kotlicky Feb 20 '15 at 12:37
  • could be, but i think there is a diff between making a mistake and (what my questions thrust is) intentionally twisting pshat even with the intention of Marbin Besimcha – Shoel U'Meishiv Feb 20 '15 at 12:39
  • So... after reading the full kitzur and thinking about it, it's clear that the minhag ha'olam doesn't paskin like him. That happens. In all probability, he was dealing with a situation in which there was very little kavod hachamim, and impugning on their honor further in public fora would cause even more disrespect to Torah. Regardless, the section you quoted *doesn't* call this megaleh panim, he calls it mevazei talmidei chachamim, an entirely *different* set of issurim. – Isaac Kotlicky Feb 20 '15 at 13:04
  • Yes noted I got mixed up and added it. I edited it out – Shoel U'Meishiv Feb 20 '15 at 13:07
  • On a technical note: neither were the Yalqut Yosef, nor the Qitzur Shulchan Arukh based on it, written by R. Ovadia Yosef himself. On the other hand, the responsa in the cited Yechaveh Da'at was written by him. – Tamir Evan Feb 20 '15 at 13:13
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    Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/6306/can-purim-torah-be-heretical – Isaac Moses Feb 20 '15 at 14:29
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    Nafkamina, great question, with great sources! Please try to avoid including pictures of text. In this case, you already paraphrased the relevant part, so I just took out the picture. If you need to quote a large part of text, please blockquote (using a > as I did for your Talmud quotation) and paste the text in. That'll make it a great deal easier for people to read, search, and interact with the text. – Isaac Moses Feb 20 '15 at 14:32
  • @IsaacMoses i have an answer to this question, why cant i answer? –  May 13 '15 at 10:30
  • @MOKAY, you can post an answer to the previous question that this one is a restatement of:http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/14538/what-was-the-attitude-of-rabbonim-regarding-purim-torah – Isaac Moses May 13 '15 at 12:19

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