Dave, I never try to pretend that the theory is more correct than fact. I do think that even the best helicopter aerodynamicist ultimately admits that the helicopter just "beats the air into submission". The goal of helicopter aerodynamics, in my opinion, is to try to understand what is already happening. Nick et al have the inside scope on what is happening, how it is happening is gradually becoming to be understood.
My goal in this whole process is to learn more about the aerodynamic processes and to help educate on the physics.
Rather than taking the extreme of an infinite mass, consider what happens with a finite but very large mass. You apply the upwards force to the tail, a moment is created, angular momenta are summed, and the helicopter rolls a very small amount to the left. Since the mass of the helicopter is now very large, the effects I discussed in the last five paragraphs dominate. True precession of mast axis takes place.
I keep talking about summing angular momenta, but I haven't specified where you can and where you cannot do this. Don't try it with offset hinges. Teetering and rigid heads should be fine. What is best is understanding why angular momenta are summed the way they are. Once you know that then start considering Lock's number and blade flapping frequencies, apply that to the rotational physics, and phase lag jumps out at you. I think.
Matthew.