Q&A: Make for Yourself a Rabbi?
Make for Yourself a Rabbi?
Question
Happy New Year, Rabbi! What do you think about the common guidance to follow one halakhic approach? There are people who follow Yalkut Yosef / Peninei Halakha / any other book of halakhic rulings on every single issue. On the other hand, I’ve also come across people who generally follow a certain approach, but on a particular topic they are stringent in accordance with a different approach. What do you recommend doing?
Answer
I don’t have a general recommendation. The Talmud itself says that someone who always looks for the lenient view is wicked (the leniencies of Beit Hillel and the leniencies of Beit Shammai). But I don’t think there is any general obligation to always follow the same halakhic decisor (in my opinion, this is not included under “make for yourself a rabbi”). And certainly, if you want to be stringent on some particular issue, health to you.