Q&A: Commitment to the Early Authorities
Commitment to the Early Authorities
Question
In the third lecture of the series “Faith, Doubt, and Certainty,” the Rabbi spoke about the importance of each person's autonomy, and of making choices based on his own intuitions.
Why, then, are we nevertheless bound by the Tannaim, Amoraim, and so on, who presumably did not include the intuitions of each and every individual?
Thank you for your time
Answer
Freedom too exists within a minimal framework. Total freedom is meaningless. Similarly, freedom in a state exists within the framework of the law; otherwise it is hard to sustain a society. Therefore we accept the authority of the Sanhedrin, and for a similar reason the authority of the Talmud (which we accepted upon ourselves). My autonomous judgment says that it is proper to establish a framework that limits my autonomy. The Talmud is a very flexible framework that contains a great many possibilities, of course.
Discussion on Answer
It is certainly restrictive, but not binding. It carries weight, as is accepted among halakhic decisors, but even its commentators disagree with it more than once.
What about the Shulchan Arukh? Does the Rabbi not define it as a binding framework, or is it simply also not restrictive?