Rabbinic authority

Illustration in 1883 encyclopaedia of the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin

Rabbinic authority in Judaism relates to the theological and communal authority attributed to rabbis and their pronouncements in matters of Jewish law. The extent of rabbinic authority differs by various Jewish groups and denominations throughout history.

The origins of rabbinic authority in Judaism is understood as originally linked to the High Court of ancient Israel and Judah, known as the Sanhedrin. Scholars understand that the extent of rabbinic authority, historically, would have related to areas of Jewish civil, criminal, and ritual law, while rabbinic positions that relate to non-legal matters, such as Jewish philosophy would have been viewed as non-binding.[1]

Rabbinic authority also distinguished the practice of Judaism by the Pharisees (i.e., Rabbinic Judaism) to the religious practice of the Sadducees and the Qumran sect.[2][3] This concept is linked with the acceptance of rabbinic law, which separates Judaism from other offshoot religions such as Samaritanism and Karaite Judaism.

In contemporary Orthodox Judaism, rabbinic authority is sometimes referred to as da'as Torah (or da'at Torah) (Hebrew: דעת תורה, literally "opinion of Torah"), and the notion of rabbinic authority in this context is often extended beyond the confines of Jewish law, but to a variety of personal, social and political matters.[4]

  1. ^ Turkel, E. (1993). The nature and limitations of rabbinic authority. Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, 27(4), 80-99.
  2. ^ Hidary, R. (2015). One May Come to Repair Musical Instruments’: Rabbinic Authority and the History of the Shevut Laws. Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal, 13, 1-26.
  3. ^ Hidary, R. (2014). Rhetoric of Rabbinic Authority.". Jewish Rhetorics: History, Theory, Practice, 16.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference kaplan92 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).