Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To listen to the voice of the court at all times: To listen to the voice of the Great Court and to do all that they command us in the paths of the Torah — regarding the forbidden and the permitted, the impure and the pure, the liable and the exempt and in everything that appears to them to be a reinforcement and enhancement to our religion. And about this is it stated (Deuteronomy 17:10), “And you shall act according to the word that they tell you.” And it is repeated adjacently (Deuteronomy 17:12) to strengthen the thing, “According to the instruction that they instruct you and to the judgment that they say to you shall you act.” And there is no difference in this, whether the thing that they see is from their own intellects or is something that they extracted by one of the comparisons through which the Torah is expounded, or something that they agreed is from the secrets of the Torah or they see that the thing is like this in any other way — in everything, we are obligated to listen to them. And the proof that this is from the tally of positive commandments is their, may their memory be blessed, saying in Sifrei Devarim 154, “‘And according to the judgment that they say to you shall you act’ — this is a positive commandment.”

From the roots of the commandments is that which we wrote in the Order of Mishpatim on the commandment to incline according to the many (Sefer HaChinukh 78).

From the laws of the commandment is, for example, that which they, may their memory be blessed, expounded (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Rebels 1:2), “‘According to the instruction that they instruct you’ — these are the decrees and the practices; ‘and to the judgment’ — these are the things they shall teach from the [Torah] law, through one of the methods that the Torah is expounded; ‘from the thing they tell you’ — this is the tradition that they received, one man from the mouth of another man.” And [also] that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 88b) that at the time that the Great Court is in Jerusalem, any disagreement that existed in any court in its place is asked of the Great Court, and we act according to their word. But now that, on account of our iniquities, there is no court there, any disagreement that there be between the sages in our generations — and the ones that disagree be equal in wisdom — if we are not fit to decide among them and we do not know to where the judgment inclines, we should follow the stringent [opinion] concerning a Torah [law], and follow the lenient [opinion] in scribal (rabbinic) law. And that which they said (Mishnah Eduyot 1:5) that a court is not permitted to revoke that which was forbidden by a court that preceded it, even if it appears to its opinion that the thing is not forbidden according to the letter of the law — so long as it appears that the prohibition has spread in Israel — unless it is greater in wisdom and also in numbers (is composed of more judges) than the court that forbade the thing. And about what are these words speaking, that [the later court] can revoke [it] when [the later court] is greater than [the first court] in wisdom and numbers? When the earlier court did not forbid that thing in order to make a fence for the people for [other] prohibitions. And since this is the law, it is incumbent upon each and every court in its generation to examine the matter and investigate much and to pay attention to each [rabbinic] prohibition that it appears the generation is practicing, not to breach and instruct to be lenient about it (to permit it), lest the [court] that was before it forbade it to make a fence for the people, [and] knew that the thing is permissible by the letter of the law. And “one who breaches a fence, etc.” And the rest of the details of the commandment are at the end of Sanhedrin (the chapter [entitled] HaNechenakin.)

And this commandment is practiced by males and females at the time that the Great Court is in Jerusalem, as all are commanded to do that which they instruct. And also included in this commandment is to listen and do like the commandment of the judge in each and every generation — meaning to say, the great sage that is with us in our times. And [it is] like they, may their memory be blessed, expounded (Rosh Hashanah 25b), “‘To the judge that will be in those days’ — Yiftach in his generation is like Shmuel in his generation”; meaning, that there is a commandment upon us to listen to the voice of Yiftach in his generation, [just] like to Shmuel in his generation. And one who transgresses this and does not listen to the counsel of the great in the wisdom of the Torah in the generation, “according to everything that they instruct,” has violated a positive commandment; and his punishment is very great, as this is a strong pillar upon which the Torah rests. The matter is well-known to anyone who has intelligence.