Authority of Gedolim I – Or why RaP is wrong about the Syrian Takana

Perhaps no word is used more often in religious debates then the term “gadol” and yet I think few actually understand what it means. In fact it is used primarily as a weapon in religious debate to get the other side to concede. Gedolim are viewed as the ultimate authority.

1) Some people will try to end an argument by referring to the Gedolim. “How can we disagree with the gedolim?”

2) Some try to defend against this argument by saying – “he isn’t a real gadol.”

3) Or there are more gedolim on my side than on your side.

4) Or my gedolim are bigger than your gedolim.

5) Sometimes the debate between the Chareidi world and MO comes down to – “you don’t think for yourself – you are robot who automatically obeys the gedolim.

6) While the other side says – “of course you would say that since MO don’t have real gedolim.” MO replies, “Well of course we have gedolim – but the Chareidim don’t recognize our gedolim – they only recognize Chareidi gedolim.”

Gedolim – what are they, who are they, and what makes a person a gadol?

1) He has superior knowledge or reasoning.

On the simplest level, we assume that a gadol knows more than the rest of us. Thus his authority comes from his superior knowledge. Alternatively, he knows how to think more clearly than the rest of us and his authority comes from his superior reasoning.

2) He is infallible because he has ruach hakodesh

Sometimes we assume that they are infallible because they have ruach hakadosh.

These two assertions are refuted by simply noting that:

1) Torah is not in heaven

Rambam says that a prophet who claims his halachic understanding is correct because he has prophecy – is a false prophet and is killed.

2) Why do gedolim disagree with each other – if it were simply knowledge or logic – then all would agree.

I assert that a gadol's authority comes ultimately from the fact that he is accepted as a gadol by the rest of us. Now it is reasonable to assume that one of the major reasons why he is accepted is because of his great knowledge and intellect. However that is not enough to be a gadol.

In fact, in the 20 years since I published the Yad Moshe to the Igros Moshe – I have heard of many who strongly disagreed with Rav Moshe’s reasoning, or his sources – but nevertheless accept his psak – because he is the gadol.

Modern Orthodox by and large don’t have gedolim because they tend not to view that they exist. Thus since there is not a mass acceptance of their rabbis – it is not surprising that Chareidim do not view their rabbis as gedolim.

Perhaps a simple way of summarizing the above points is :

A gadol is someone whose authority transcends his footnotes. He is a rabbi that we accept what he says - because he said it – not because of the sources and reasoning he marshals to buttress his arguments.

All this leads to my rejections of the lengthy arguments that RaP has been making regarding the Syrian Takana. He invariably does not cite any sources – other than his own opinion. And yet he expects the rest of us to accept what he says because he says it. He is acting as if he were a gadol – but none of us accept him as such. Until he presents convincing arguments based on clear citations that the Takana is against halacha and violates the Torah obligation to love gerim – he is just spitting into the wind. As I have stated before – I have found not a single statement by a recognized gadol – that agrees with the views expressed by RaP. The burden of proof is on him – to convince us. He is not a gadol.