At one time I resided in the idyllic Brooklyn community of Midwood. One of my fellow residents was Rabbi Steinwurtzel a dayan of the Bobover Beis Din and a well known talmid chachom. He used to travel regularly by bus to Boro Park. One day I saw him waiting at the bus stop and offered him a ride to Boro Park. On the way I asked him what the basis of Rabbinic authority was. He replied it was like that of a doctor.
I assumed he meant that just as a doctor is understood to know more than I because of his training and education in scientific research and thus his authority comes from superior knowledge so is is the authority of the rabbi comes from superior knowledge.
However I have recently come to a different understanding. Just as doctors were not automatically seen through history as authorities but only relatively recently partly because of advances in medicine and the need for extensive training and expensive equipment. However a major component of their authority comes from social pressure and taught cultural values. Similar rabbinic authiority requires social pressure and cultural training. [See Paul Starr's book on the Social Development of Medicine]
A doctor has to earn respect. If I walk into the room and announce "I'm a doctor so you have to listen to me," it won't go well. If I tell the patient what I want to do, support it with the literature and guidelines and then work to ensure patient buy-in, it will.
ReplyDeleteSome people don't mind if a guy in a black hat with a long beard walks in and shout "Assur!" Lots of people do mind and want to know what, what the other options are and what the best course for them is.
Also: Ahem! https://garnelironheart.blogspot.com/2008/04/medical-model-of-orthodoxy.html