In this week’s parsha we read of the commandment to listen to the rabbis:

עַל־פִּ֨י הַתּוֹרָ֜ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר יוֹר֗וּךָ וְעַל־הַמִּשְׁפָּ֛ט אֲשֶׁר־יֹֽאמְר֥וּ לְךָ֖ תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֑ה לֹ֣א תָס֗וּר מִן־הַדָּבָ֛ר אֲשֶׁר־יַגִּ֥ידוּ לְךָ֖ יָמִ֥ין וּשְׂמֹֽאל:

“You must act in accordance with the law that they instruct you and the judgment they pronounce to you. You may not deviate right or left from what they tell you”.

Rashi comments: “even if they tell you that right is left and left is right”. It sounds like Rashi is telling us that when faith and reason are in contradiction, we are required to listen to faith. But Ramban comments that this Midrashic statement from the Sifrei  which Rashi cites cannot be taken literally. There’s an entire Talmudic tractate (Horayot) dedicated to when the rabbis make mistaken rulings. The rabbis are not infallible. Therefore, the Midrash is most certainly not teaching that if the rabbis say that 2 plus 2 equals 5, that you must accept it on faith. It’s only euphemistically teaching, as per the style of Midrash, that even if it seems to you that they’re saying that left is right and right is left, then you should try and be humble enough to realize that you might not fully understand their reasoning.

But, if you can actually demonstrate that they’re outright confusing right with left, then you don’t obey the rabbis. Rambam writes in his “Introduction to the Eight Chapters” to accept the truth from wherever it comes. The Talmud says (Shabbat 55a) that the seal of God is truth.

This is all be way of introduction, to explain why the........

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