Q&A: A Coerced Heretic
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
A Coerced Heretic
Question
Hello Rabbi, you quoted the Radbaz in the last column, but I couldn’t find it in the responsa. Could there be a mistake in the reference?
And indeed, the Radbaz wrote in a responsum (part 4, no. 1255):
That someone who errs regarding one of the principles of religion because of his faulty reasoning is not considered a heretic, since he thinks that what his reasoning led him to is true; he is coerced and exempt.
Answer
It should say no. 258. In the Responsa Project it is no. 187.