Da'as Torah - in Contemporary Hareidi Judaism

In Contemporary Hareidi Judaism

Avi Shafran, Director of Public Affairs for the American Hareidi organization Agudath Israel of America, explains the concept as follows:

Da'at Torah is not some Jewish equivalent to the Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility. Not only can rabbis make mistakes of judgment, there is an entire tractate of the Talmud, Horiut, predicated on the assumption that they can, that even the Sanhedrin is capable of erring, even in halachic matters. What Da'at Torah means, simply put, is that those most imbued with Torah-knowledge and who have internalized a large degree of the perfection of values and refinement of character that the Torah idealizes are thereby rendered particularly, indeed extraordinarily, qualified to offer an authentic Jewish perspective on matters of import to Jews - just as expert doctors are those most qualified (though still fallible, to be sure) to offer medical advice.

Similarly, Rabbi Pesach Eliyahu Falk writes:

That which Poskim cannot prove from an explicit source, is decided upon by a thought-process which has been tuned and refined by tens of thousands of hours of Torah study (and with elderly Talmidei Chachamim even hundreds of thousands of hours) which enables them to perceive where the pure truth lies. This process is called Da’as Torah - an opinion born out of Torah thought. Their thought-process has not been affected by secular and non-Jewish ways of thinking ...

Accordingly, Haredi Judaism espouses a belief that Jews, both individually and collectively, should seek out the views of the prominent religious scholars of the generation (called Gedolim, "great ones", or gedolei Torah or gedolei Yisrael) not just on matters of Jewish law or matters "of religion", but in every aspect of life, from issues of health to secular politics.

Further whereas in declaring matters of Jewish law rabbinic authorities are required to render decisions based on precedents, sources, and Talmudic principles of analysis, a rabbinic authority has greater latitude when declaring Da'as Torah than when defining a halachic opinion. While a halachic opinion requires legal justification from recognized sources, simple Da'as Torah is regarded as being of a more subtle nature and requires no clear legal justification or explicit grounding in earlier sources. Indeed, different authorities may offer diametrically opposed opinions based on their own understanding (Feitman 1995).

In Hasidic circles, a rebbe is often regarded as having extraordinary spiritual powers and is sought for personal advice in all pursuits of life by his followers. The views and edicts of a rebbe are considered to be an expression of Da'as Torah.