Q&A: Authority of a Community Rabbi
Authority of a Community Rabbi
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I very much enjoyed the trilogy!
I wanted to ask: in a situation where a certain community (for example, the Haredi community) accepts the authority of a rabbi (Rabbi Kanievsky), does the rabbi thereby receive formal authority, such that an individual person from that community is obligated to accept his halakhic rulings, even when the person himself has no specific question about the matter (for example, voting in elections)?
Thank you very much.
Answer
Hello,
As I wrote in the book, when a community accepts a rabbi upon itself, that has binding force, unless a person decides to leave the community.
But when you speak about the Haredi community, there are several communities there and several rabbis, and not everyone agrees on one rabbi. Beyond that, when the community is not geographical (such as, for example, a synagogue or a neighborhood), I doubt whether this has binding force. And finally, the rabbi was not really chosen by the community. There were no elections, and you had no possibility of influencing the matter. Therefore, in my opinion, you are not obligated. Unless you personally accept him as your rabbi.
Have a kosher and happy holiday,