Charismatic Personality and Halachah part 1

When I first returned to the U.S. from Israel, I found, as I have written, a position in a small Long Island congregation. But I was soon faced with a problem. Their services began at 9:30, and ended about 11:45. That was fine for the Summer. But when Fall came, there was, for me, a real problem. In Ashkenazic tradition, the "Morning Meal" can literally be held at any time. But in Sepharadic tradition, "morning" means "morning". At midday, one would lose the mitzvah. In New York, in early November, midday comes out at 11:37. As November approached, my heart began to sink. Finally, I discussed my problem with the heads of the congregation. They were responsive to my concern, and moved the services up half an hour until December, when midday becomes sufficiently later. I mentioned this to Sima's nephew, who was studying at a Yeshiva in the area. "What's your problem? Reb Moshe 

(Moshe Feinstein, the doyen of the American Lithuanian Jewish community) writes that midday is NOT the midpoint between sunup and sundown, but a fixed time in each place. In the case of New York, it is 12:04. I had been aware of that view. In fact, it had been a debate in astronomy for centuries. Considering that the Sun arcs differently in different places, is the zenith at the midpoint, which varies, or a constant throughout the year? I had, in fact, years before spoken with three astronomers about this, including one from the prestigious Mt. Palomar Observatory. They were unanimous that the view that claims a fixed time throughout the year was in error. There was no question. It had been measured with the best instruments. I told this to Sima's nephew. His response threw me for a loop. "Of course it's wrong, but it's Reb Moshe!". He was telling me that the opinion of a prominent rabbi, with no scientific education, with no officially recognized position (other than being the head of his own Yeshiva, and being the President of a Rabbinic organization), could declare a scientific fact to be incorrect, and that becomes halachah???? My mind flew back to the era of Popes who declared that the edge of the world was Persia, and contrary to reports, there was no China. People had been put on trial, tortured, and even executed for questioning that. Does this really exist in Judaism? (There was recently a curious debate about whether or not the rabbis of the Talmud knew the value of pi, and what the implications of that are.) Even my teacher for Sofrut (Scribal law), the son of a prominent Bnai Brak rabbi, would often say "S'iz shver tzu dingen mit a metzius" (It is hard to argue with a fact). Where did this attitude of blind acceptance of a rabbi's opinion come from? I did my research. I began to see that different communities, and different authorities, had greatly different approaches to dealing with the enormous mass of rabbinic opinion, stretching back some 1,700 years. One minority approach was that individual great rabbis could, indeed, declare something to be right, and they were to be seen as infallible. (The Talmudic dictum of accepting a ruling even if illogical, is speaking about a duly authorized Sanhedrin. But even that is debated between the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds). In recent decades, this has, sadly, become standard fare in wider and wider circles. Thus, we have the conversion crisis, as well as a kashrut industry that a colleague of mine calls "a sewer". I will analyze the progression of this debate, and its alternatives, in my next post.