Autonomous ruling
Since the rabbi believes that he is the most righteous (it seems to me), does the rabbi really rule autonomously for himself on questions concerning weighty prohibitions such as mixing, eating lean meat, Motzash Rabbenu Tam, etc.?
(The question came to me because I saw that you were asked about Iruv and you said that we trust the lenient ones because there is no choice and you referred me to a halakhic precedent, which was a bit puzzling to me because Rabbi Melamed rules in exactly the opposite way from you)
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These issues are more weighty than others simply because on the one hand they concern serious prohibitions and on the other hand the average person encounters them with great frequency – every Shabbat, or every time he wants to eat meat – and takes the risk every time. With all due respect to insights into spiritual solipsism (which is certainly important and interesting in itself) I would think that the risk of violating Shabbat *every Shabbat* is worth investing some time in order to study the issue, right?
The custom has weight in that you do not have to change if the majority is against you even if you have not studied the issue, but from what I have understood many times it is still recommended for the purpose of avoiding serious offenses, isn't an individual who hangs himself in a zither obligated, much less an individual who hangs himself in his ancestors' lands in the land of the Jews?
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