That the article mentions would not apply to your community, but it would apply to Ashenazi communities in North America and Israel.
It is true what the Rav said about psak halacha in Ashkenazi communities in the past 150 years or so. He is not the first individual do discuss this issue. It used to be that every community leader issued psak from his community as he saw fit according to torah balanced by the needs of his community. Rather the yeshiva has the biggest influence in psak halacha and determination of exceptable norms. In the United States for example, Lakewood and Telse are defining more and more what exceptable practices are.
This is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion and it creates orderliness out of chaos. However the quest for conformity can run people over. In many cases the people who set the standards do so at a standard that is appropriate for a talmud chacham, but not for a layman.
The question is how to strike a balance. The conflict here I think is bet |
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