http://torahweb.org/torah/special/2003/rsch_masorah.html On the Matter of Masorah In general, masorah plays a most important role in establishing the halacha.

Rambam writes that in his opinion, we ought to not simply establish every seventh year as a shemittah year, but rather must have fifty-year cycles, with the 7th, 14th, 21st, etc. years observed as shemittah, and the fiftieth year being blank. (The special mitzvos of yoveil, the fiftieth year, only apply when the majority of the world Jewish population is located in Eretz Yisrael). However, the Rambam (Hilchos Shemittah V'Yovel, 10:5) continues to say, that the Geonim who lived in Eretz Yisrael and observed the laws of shemittah, clearly followed the practice of simply observing every seventh year as shemittah, and did not leave the fiftieth year blank. Although Rambam thought that this does not make any sense, he said that this practice should nonetheless be followed because masorah is most crucial in determining what the halacha should be. We ought to assume that there certainly must be some good explanation for this practice, even though Rambam thought it did not make any sense at all. [We] assume that a centuries-old halachic position, accepted and observed universally by all of Klal Yisroel, does not lend itself to reversal. The tradition makes room for, and even encourages, chiddush, but not for shinui (see Nefesh Harav pg. 64). According to Rambam, the binding force of the Talmud is precisely due to the fact that it was universally accepted by all of Klal YisroelA matter of halacha which has been accepted for centuries can not be overturned, unless one can demonstrate that there simply was an error involved from the very outset. http://torahweb.org/torah/2007/parsha/rsch_korach.html Its Just Plain Common Sense A layman who is not familiar with the intricacies of physics or biology will often be mistaken if he will apply common sense to those disciplines; and the same is true of the self-contained discipline of Torah. But very often we will use common sense in establishing halacha! The Talmud tells us that by way of sevorah we can establish a din deoaraisa! I recently met a young talmid chochom who insisted that a certain halacha in Shulchan Aruch must be understood literally, as applying in all cases, even when it made no sense. I argued that it was self understood that one use his common sense, and only apply the halacha when it indeed did make sense. This young talmid chochom told me, no, we may not use common sense at all, and even though the halacha as he misunderstood it made no sense, he has emunas chachomim. I told him that this was a Christian concept (the principle of the infallibility of the posek). ..In our religion, are we not permitted, or better yet obligated, to ask questions when we come across a halacha that makes no sense? Our Torah is a Toras emes: it corresponds to reality, and does not contradict it! If there are two ways to understand a halacha, one which makes sense and the other does not, of course we should choose the interpretation that makes sense!...Yes, indeed, emunas chachomim is a very fundamental principle in our faith: we believe Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give divine assistance to an honest and deserving talmid chochom that he should be above his personal negios in issuing a psak; he will not have an agenda. But it doesnt mean that we should believe in nonsense. Every exaggeration is by definition not true. It does not correspond to reality. Rav Schachter, 1/30/09, explaining why his two articles (excerpted above) are not contradictory: When were dealing with a fact as it impacts on the halacha, we use our common sense and do not apply the halacha in case A if it makes no sense to apply it in case A. When were dealing with the internal dynamics of the halachic system itself, ones own conclusion will yield to the minhagim and kaballos. Even here, its not surrender to that which we know is incorrect; its surrender to that which is correct for an as-yet-unknown reason.