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| Rabbis Aharon Lopianski and Yosef Elefant (screenshot - Agudah convention) |
Near the end of a question and answer session featuring two prominent Torah personalities, Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky and Rabbi Yosef Elefant - the controversial Kol Korei forbidding attendance at the March for Israel last month - came up indirectly.
That Kol Korei was issued by 5 members of the Agudah Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. What Rabbi Elefant said, I think, was intended as a defense of those five members who he felt had been dishonored by the many laypeople who so stridently disagreed and belittled them because of it. He dismissed those laypeople as ignorant of the Torah knowledge necessary to make such decisions.
Rabbi Elefant said that one has to follow Daas Torah. But he also said that that one need not follow the Daas Torah of the Kol Korei. or even the entire Moetzes if they spoke in unison. If your Rav who is considered a Odom Gadol (something a it more than a pulpit rabbi) had a different view, he should be followed. If on the other hand (with respect to the Kol Korei for example) your Rav was one of the five signatories you had an obligation to follow him.
His point was that one must follow someone’s Daas Torah. One should not have the arrogance to say that that decision made by these rabbis was made without their due diligence. Or that you have studied the issue in greater detail and therefore know better - or at least enough to disagree with them.
He made an analogy to Daas Torah often made at an event like this. No matter how knowledgeable one is about a serious a medical issue, having for example researched it in great detail online, one would hardly say they know more than the doctor they are seeing for it. His expertise is obviously far greater than that of a layman. No matter how much research he did. The same thing is true, said Rabbi Elefant, in matters of Hashkafa expressed by the experts in Torah.
This all makes sense. But there was something off about it. I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. But let me try.
First, I don’t think it is that simple. Yes, I’m sure these rabbis do their due diligence on every subject in which they express an opinion. And that their considerable knowledge of Torah is what guides their decisions. It is also true that armchair quarterbacks that think they know everything tend not to know all that much. They should not think their decisions are better than those of these rabbis.
However, there is such a thing as getting a second opinion from another expert. Who may just have a better handle on the issue than does your own doctor or rabbi as the case may be.
How does one know which opinion is the right one? Does being a long term patient of one doctor mean that his advice is the right advice? Or should they be able to decide which advice makes the most sense to them? Not sure how Rabbi Elefant would answer those questions.
And what would Rabbi Elefant say about the rather strong language used by Rabbi Berel Wein upon hearing of the Moetzes Kol Korei? Some might even say he was disrespectful to them by saying they (those 5 Moetzes members) are fighting the battles of 60 years ago! I wonder how Rabbi Lopiansky's disagreement with that Kol Korei is viewed by Rabbi Elefant?
And then there is this. Although he said that it is imperative to have one - what if one does not have a rabbi who is an Odom Gadol and is looking for Torah guidance on a given subject?
Rabbi Elefant implied that the Gedolim (members of the Agudah Moetzes) are by far are in the best position to issue Daas Torah on any matter. I have to wonder how he feels about rabbis whose Hashkafos are in diametric opposition to those Gedolim. Would he still say that their views are of equal Daas Torah value?
I somehow think that he would tells a student looking for Daas Torah to stay away from Rav Solovetchik, for example. This is what I think bothered me about what he said. Even though he never actually said it, it was strongly implied by the reverence he expressed for the Moetzes members.
And another thing. If someone's Torah knowledge is based on he teachings of their Rebbe who is now deceased, he has the right to state his opinion in opposition to the Moetzes members. Rabbi Elefant seems to say that is not sufficient when it contradicts the stated view of the Gedolim who are still alive.
I do not in any way feel bound by any pronouncements or any Kol Korei coming out of the Moetzes. Even when they are unanimous. And although I no longer have my Rebbe to rely upon, my Hashkafos are not the Hashkafos of the Moetzes. My Hashakfos are mostly based on the teachings of my primary rebbe, Rav Ahron Soloveichik. But they are also based on the many other Rebebim that have influenced me along the way. I think that gives me the right to disagree.
OK. Enough Ploitering for one day.