Q&A: The Binding Force of a Sage’s Ruling
The Binding Force of a Sage’s Ruling
Question
(Regarding what you’ve written more than once about the responsibility resting with the person asking the rabbi, and that the rabbi merely arranges the data so that the questioner can decide: are you familiar with the Ritva on Avodah Zarah 7? Do your remarks fit with it? You don’t have to make your remarks fit with it, of course, but still… from his words it seems that the ruling of any sage qualified to issue rulings has binding force to require stringency, and on the other hand permits leniency—and that seemingly does not fit with what you said.)
Answer
In the Ritva there, a great many things are written, and it’s hard to extract a clear conclusion from it. There are also many possible interpretive setups: whether the questioner has his own position or not, whether he is greater than they are or not, whether he is himself qualified to issue rulings or not, whether he gives rulings for the public or not, whether this is a ruling about a particular piece or a general legal ruling, and so on.