Q&A: Talmud
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Talmud
Question
Hello Rabbi,
If I arrive at a halakhic ruling from the Talmud that is not in line with the accepted custom,
does that obligate me, or should I follow the way people practice?
Answer
Custom has validity when you are in doubt and do not have a position of your own. If you are competent enough
When the Talmud says, “What do I care, by God! Even if Joshua son of Nun had told me this in his name, I would not obey him!”
doesn’t that mean that even if the transmitter of the Torah (they don’t have the nerve to say Moses, so they say Joshua) had said that this is the truth, I still would *not* listen to him? In other words, does true understanding have no significance, and only what was ruled matters??
You see that there is no such thing as saying, ‘I know what the truth is’—rather, you do what is accepted.
Likewise in the story of the Oven of Akhnai: what the Torah’s ‘truth’ is does not matter, only what was accepted.
P.S.
Of course, in their time Jewish law was still being formed, so that is a bit different from ruling today based on them. But the principle is the same.