[Avodah] Seeing G'zeiros Everywhere

[David Riceman]

rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
> Of course most will say Rabbi Wolpoe this are P'saq halachah - not
> g'zeiros!
>
> I say these are g'zeiros and not really P'saq halachah, but we've been
> conditioned to see them as p'saq! This is AIUI due to a faulty ani
> maamim that rabbis lack the authority to issue bans. But in reality d'u
> na rabbosai - they do NOT lack this authority at all!
Kehillos have the authority to issue bans for the members of their 
kehillos (e.g. HM 231:27 in. re. "b'nei ha'ir", YD 228:25 in. re. 
"hakahal"). Rabbis are not kehillos (though see HM 231:28 and see 
Pithchei Tshuva ad. loc. SK 6 who discusses the machloketh about this at 
some length).  See HM 163:1 and Pithchei Tshuva ad. loc. SK 1 (where 
there's no mention of rabbis).

It's not clear to me how the rules for autonomous kehillos translate for 
citizens of secular democracies.  I would hope that contemporary poskim 
discuss this, but I'm not up on the modern literature.  Someone on this 
list should be.

David Riceman