Re: Kol Isha - Just the Facts, please!

[Robert A. Rothstein <rar...>]

Ms. Cat wrote:

>... it
>is certainly the case that rabbi have the "right" as
>well as the obligation to make such decisions. That
>is, simply as a matter of fact, what rabbis do. They
>study and learn the sources -Torah (including talmud)
>and other commentators, and make legal decisions.
>Indeed, it is precisely what a rabbi is. 
>  
>
       True enough, but Ignaz Berstein's classic collection of Yiddish 
proverbs (Warsaw, 1908) includes the following: "If a town has a dog and 
a potter, it doesn't need a rabbi." (Az men hot a hund un a teper in 
shtot, darf men keyn rov nit hobn).  Bernstein explains that the dog 
will eat any meat that has become treyf and the potter will replace any 
pot that is no longer kosher, so there is no need for a rabbi to answer 
questions/make decisions (about kashres [kashrut]).

Bob Rothstein