Public authority
Hello,
I really enjoyed the trilogy!
I wanted to ask, in a situation where a certain public (i.e. the Haredi public) accepts the authority of a rabbi (Rabbi Kanievsky), will the rabbi receive formal authority and then a private person from the public must accept his rulings, even when he himself has no question about it (voting in elections)?
Thank you very much.
Hello.
As I wrote in the book, when a community accepts a rabbi, it has validity, unless a person decides to leave the community.
But when you talk about the Haredi community, there are several communities and several rabbis, and not everyone agrees on one rabbi. Beyond that, when the community is not geographical (such as a synagogue or a neighborhood), I doubt if this has any validity. And finally, the rabbi was not really elected by the community. There were no elections and you had no opportunity to influence. Therefore, in my opinion, you are not obligated. Unless you personally accept him as your rabbi.
Happy and blessed holiday,
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