[Avodah] Asking your own shailas

[David Cohen]

R' Liron Kopinsky asked if one can rely on a shaila asked by another, or if
"you always need to find out how your particular LOR paskens."

I have heard the assertion made that one needs to pick one rav and follow
him in everything, but I'm not sure what the source for that is.  When I
moved into our current community (RLK and I are neighbors), I adopted our
LOR as my posek, meaning that I ask him any new questions that I have.
 However, coming in with longstanding practices in many areas that are
subject to dispute -- some from family tradition, some from my own sevara,
and some from pesakim previously received from other rabbanim -- I did not
feel obligated to reevaluate all of those practices and make sure that they
match the positions of my new LOR.  (I am referring to things done in
private; obviously, one should not go against known positions of the mara
d'asra in public.)

That being said, if there is a question where you know that different
rabbanim have different opinions, and you want to know which position you
should follow, then I don't see much relevance to the fact that a friend
received a pesak from a rav with whom you have no connection.  That data
point simply tells us that there exist rabbanim who pasken that way, which
we already knew.  If you want a pesak, then the only relevant information
is what your posek holds on the matter.  On the other hand, if you were
told the *reason* for the pesak of your friend's rav, and are confident
that this information makes you knowledgeable enough about the topic that
you are now competent to decide for yourself based on sevara without asking
a shaila, then that's a different story.

-- D.C.
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