Before we continue with our topic, I would like to share an email I received last night, which shows the importance of learning Halakha and understanding its mechanics:

Dear Rebbi,

I wanted to share with a wonderful story that just happened in your zechut.

I give a weekly shiur in my home for the last 15 years. A few weeks ago, I discussed your shiur about putting out fires on Shabbat for pikuach nefesh.

One of my regular attendees was invited last Friday night for Shabbat dinner. During the dinner the candlesticks fell and started three fires on the table. The observant people started debating how to place water around each fire…

The person who attended my shiur forcefully opened his mouth and said that the fires must be immediately extinguished because of pikuach nefesh and he then put out the fires.

In your zechut of teaching Torah all their lives were saved.

Shabbat Shalom, Yosy

Yes, Pick and Choose!

In the previous post I wrote “If the answer does not satisfy you, ask another rabbi, and another, until you find your answer”, I was asked if this is not against the principle of not choosing a picking a rabbi, and also, why ask in the first place if you already know what you want to do.

So here is my answer (which of course you can doubt and ask others for a second and a 100^th opinion):

There are two statements in rabbinical literature which are frequently cited, and which seem to suggest that one should adhere to one rabbi and one opinion. Let us start with the simpler one, which in reality has nothing to do with Halakha:

עשה לך רב – Make for yourself [choose] a master.

This statement appears twice in the first chapter of Pirke Avot, once in the name of Yehoshua ben Perahya (1:6) and once in the name of Rabban Gamliel. All commentators agree that the meaning of that statement is that though one should learn as much as possible from everyone, he should determine who is his principal mentor. When the disciple develops enough knowledge and discernment, a true mentor would want to see him thinking for himself and not running back to hide under the mentor’s apron. This is in line with the motto of the Men of the Great Assembly, mentioned in the first Mishna of Pirke Avot: והעמידו תלמידים הרבה – establish many students. The exact translation of the dictum is “have many students and make them stand on their own”. The mark of a great educator is not in being the life-line to his students but in preparing innovative and independent thinkers.

So, in conclusion, that saying from Pirke Avot has nothing to do with adhering to the Halakhic opinion of one rabbi consistently.

The other statement is that one who follows all the leniencies of both Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel is considered a wicked person, and one who follows the stringencies of both is considered a fool (Tossefta Adayot, 2:3). The Tossefta continues to say that one must adhere to either school in all cases. That rule no longer applies because in Talmudic times it was decide that the opinion of Beth Hillel is always followed. Additionally, the rule was made specifically regarding those two schools because they were debating the nature of Jewish Law. Beth Shammai heralded the preservation of the ancient Halakha which was more individual and subjective, while Beth Hillel were innovative and wanted to create a uniform system which will fit everyone. It was not a question of who is more strict or lenient, though in many cases it turned out to be that way.

However, anyone who studies the Halakhic literature thoroughly, and especially the Responsa – שאלות ותשובות, will notice that the poskim always picked and chose. Think about it for a second: if one was not allowed to choose between different opinions since the time of the original statement in the Tossefta, we should have had today only one practice, on every issue, in all Jewish communities around the world. The proliferation of laws, rules, and practices is a proof that rabbis kept choosing, and creating, opinions.

So back to our issue. There are two ways of approaching a Halakhic question. One is that you don’t know what to do and you approach the rabbi for Halakha or for an advice, and in this case, you will do whatever you are being told. Promising that you will obey the ruling and then turning the tables because you don’t like it is a bit unfair, and that is what the Jews did to Jeremiah after the assassination of Gedalyah (See Jer. chapters 42-43). The other is when you know what you want to do, and you want to hear from a rabbi that there is a way to do it, and in this case you can keep searching, or shopping, for rabbis.

To use a Talmudic formula, משל למה הדבר דומה – to what can this be analogized? To considering a medical procedure. You can ask your doctor, whom you trust unequivocally, whether to have a surgery, and follow his advice, or you can decide that you want to have a surgery and keep asking until you find a reliable doctor who agrees with you.

Whatever we choose, I wish us all good health, both physically and spiritually…