Q&A: One Who Is Mistaken About the Commandment to Heed the Words of the Sages and the Authority of the Sages
One Who Is Mistaken About the Commandment to Heed the Words of the Sages and the Authority of the Sages
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In the latest lecture series in Petah Tikva, you taught us that even where the sages are mistaken in Jewish law, they still have formal authority and therefore one is obligated to heed them. But on the other hand, in the Talmudic passage about one who is mistaken regarding the commandment to heed the words of the sages, it says otherwise: that where a sage qualified to issue rulings understands that the religious court erred, he is forbidden to heed them. How can this be reconciled?
Best regards,
Answer
It seems to me that I mentioned this there, and also here several times (just now I repeated it in one of the threads in response to Tama), that I am not entering into the question of one who is mistaken regarding the commandment to heed the words of the sages. Although even about that there is a dispute of opinions, and there are many approaches.
I’ll repeat what I wrote just this morning to Tama. My claim is that the concern that perhaps there is an error—and this is a very reasonable concern; I am convinced there are errors in the Talmud, just as every person makes mistakes—is not enough to negate the authority and the obligation to obey. That is the meaning of formal authority. True, if there is a specific halakhic ruling regarding which you have reached a clear conclusion that the religious court erred, and if all the conditions are met here (each view according to its own criteria) such that there is no obligation to heed the words of the sages—then do not listen. But that is not what I was discussing.