[Avodah] RMA

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Mon, May 04, 2015 at 06:42:58AM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
: He is now starting a series on religious autonomy. In particular he holds
: that one goes to a rabbi for a psak only if he is in doubt. If one has
: seriously learned the halachaot and is convinced of the "truth" then he
: should follow his own psak and there is no need to go to a "higher
: authority".

Interesting. Does "seriously learned the halakhos" translate to higi'ah
lehora'ah, or something less?

RHS requires a certainly level of general knowledge. See Sanhedrin 5a-b.
But it also fits RHS's hashkafah that halakhah is an inseperable whole.
And so Rebbe doesn't just tell us that night Shema can be said at
sundown, he ties it to the law of tevul yom.

And RHS similarly advises his talmidim to look to gedolim from their own
camp because one with whom they disagree hashkafically is likely to see
even apparenty unrelated halakhos differently. Listen to
<http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/807758> (RAM transcripted
other snippets from this talk for one of our many discussions of da'as
Torah at <http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol32/v32n029.shtml#13>.)

For that matter, 5b talks about the need to get a heter hora'ah even if
one knows enough to pasqen. But then, the gemara is discussing
deciding for others, not only oneself.

OTOH, pasqening for oneself has a major problem that one doesn't face when
answering others' questions -- vested interest vs objectivity. Listen to
R Jonathan Ziring's shiur on the topic at
<http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/826651>.
In particular, his very first source (see link to mar'eh meqomos sheet)
Nissah 20b. Yalta, "Rebbetzin Nachman", asks her mar'os questions of
Rabbah bar bar Chanah and Rabbi Yitzchaq bereih deR' Yehudah, not her
husband. Similarly mishnah Nega'im 2:5 saying you can't pasen nega'im
even of relatives, Bekhoros 31a about judging one's own bekhoros.

So, I would think that not being in doubt is too easily a delusion.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 39th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        5 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Netzach sheb'Yesod: What is imposing about a
Fax: (270) 514-1507                          reliable person?