Halacha and there is no teacher like that
I heard the lessons on halakhic rulings. I really liked the lessons. Thank you, Rabbi.
At the end of the lessons, the rabbi made a claim that I find difficult and difficult for me to accept. The rabbi said (maybe not in that language. At least that is my impression) that the role of the posek is not to educate the public. He has no public responsibility. He is a technical expert in halacha. Moreover, the rabbi said (and I remember this for sure) that the rabbi should bring all the opinions and the ordinary person who is not the best at ruling will choose the path that suits him according to the pressure he feels. It is a strange thing to rule halacha according to a pressure criterion. Which will ultimately become a criterion leading to ruling halacha for the ordinary person. Something I am not willing to accept. The rabbis today see the posek as a guide, he must get to know the person and accordingly rule halacha. It is not technical.
I found evidence for this! After all, the Gemara wrote that there are cases where it is halakhic and there are no teachers who teach it. That is, they will tell the public that it is forbidden. And they will not allow it. Even though that person may himself sharpen the knife on a Yom Tov. Because in his opinion, it is permissible to do work for mitzvah instruments. But he will lie to the public and say that it is forbidden. From this we see the public responsibility of the posek. How can the rabbi say what he said when this is what is written in the Gemara?
I heard from Rabbi Eliyahu Rahamim Zini that there is a place in Europe (I forgot the name) where rabbis have made it easier, according to halakhah, for example, to use a harp in the synagogue. Because even though from a halakhic perspective it is dry, it is permitted (and indeed among the Sephardim some have introduced it), you need to know where it comes from and since they have a Christian influence, therefore it should be prohibited. But they allowed it. And they allowed it like that even though they were great sages. And the result is that all Judaism from these communities eventually disappeared. This shows how important halakhic rulings are. And it is not just halakhic expertise.
A posak is forbidden to lie even if it is useful. Usually it is not useful, except perhaps in the short term. When a posak teaches an incorrect halakhah, the halakhah is not that. It is not within his authority to do so. When the Gemara did this, it could be a rabbi in his place or someone who has the authority to determine halakhah, as in the Sanhedrin. But a posak has no authority. He is only a halakhic expert. The Gemara, which has authority, can also determine that there is a halakhah that is not being taught. This is itself a halakhic determination.
Rabbi Zeini’s “proofs” are pure demagogy. The results prove nothing. There are situations where good teaching leads to bad results and vice versa.
In general, I mean that apart from the essential argument that lying is forbidden, lies are a very bad way to achieve results. Maimonides, in the introduction to the teacher, speaks in praise of esoteric writing (concealing the true opinion) which is a type of lie. Go and see how much his commentators and scholars disagreed, because after he says something like that, it is always possible to say about his ruling or statement that it is an esoteric lie. You can no longer learn anything from what such a person says or writes. And in our day and age, where everything is visible (the Internet and the various rabbis, all of whose words are distributed to everyone), lies will always be discovered in the end. Therefore, today, lying is foolishness even on a tactical level. It will only spoil things. But as I said, in my opinion, it is forbidden even where it is beneficial.
Indeed, poskim are not educators. Knowledge of halakhic law does not qualify you to be an educator and does not give you the authority to do so. As we can see, most poskim these days are experts in halakhic law and nothing more. I would not let them educate anyone.
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