Degree of halakhic obligation
Hello Rabbi,
I read from the last book you published – “Walking Among the Standing”, and there you distinguished between different levels of obligation in halakha: the commandments of the Torah, rabbinic, and tradition. In addition, you also provided sources for each level of obligation. However, you continued to say that a person can rule for himself halakha from the Talmud, and I did not find what his level of obligation is for doing so. In other words, when I rule for myself halakha from the Talmud, is its level rabbinic because all Israel accepted the Talmud as the Great Court, or does it have a lower level? I would appreciate an attached source.
Have a good day.
There is no general answer to this. Every law you rule on comes as an interpretation of some source. If the source is a verse or the Talmud, then it is a law from the Torah, and if it is a regulation, then it is a rabbinic law. It has nothing to do with the source of authority of the Talmud.
If you take an example, you’ll see the answer right away. When you phrase it as a general question, it seems like something that needs discussion, which it doesn’t.
This seems strange to me because if there is no obligation on my own behalf, then the regulations that the sages fixed would not have been binding on them (because they have no source), but we are (because of "you shall not depart").
I don't understand what's strange. When the Great Rabbi (and the Talmud is considered the Great Rabbi in this matter) corrects it, it is binding, and when someone else who has no authority corrects it, it is not binding. That's all.
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