THE ABSURDITY OF
PASS-THE-BUCK 'AUTHORITY'
By Rav. David Pollina
 
 
There has been so much poor scholarship floating around of late in an effort to convince believers that the Sanhedrin of the 4th century has binding authority over the lives of Messianic Yisrael today.  Although I addressed the extreme danger in this issue of Biblical authority already in "A Question Of Authority" (http://www.tushiyah.org/authority.html), one passage recently argued as supporting the Sanhedrin has been raised as a question - Dabarim/Deuteronomy 17:8-13.
 
DOES this passage support the final authority of a Sanhedrin to change Torah at will?  -  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!  I find it quite remarkable that such a total lack of basic contextual understanding exists as to assert that it does.  Here is one way this passage has been recently MIS-quoted:
Devarim 17: 8 If there arises a matter too hard for you in mishpat, between dahm and dahm, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get up into the place which vuvh -YHWH your Elohim shall choose;
9 And you shall come to the kohanim the Lewiym, and to the shophet that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of mishpat:
10 And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place [last sitting Sanhedrin in Jerusalem later moved to Galilee] which YHWH shall choose shall show you; and you shall shomer to do according to all that they inform you:
11 According to the sentence of the Torah that they shall teach you, and according to the mishpat that they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the ruling which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. [even if per chance they are wrong!]
12 And the man that will do arrogantly, and will not listen to the kohen that stands to attend there before vuvh-YHWH your Elohim, or to the shophet, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Yisrael. 
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and not do arrogantly [against the last legal court of Yisrael].
RSTNE 2nd Edition
I have re-coloured green all the ADDITIONS to the original text which were added by this author for 'clarity' of their position this way they can't be confused as part of the text.  Now, let's look at this passage a piece at a time (from the 1917 JPS corrected for Sacred Name and modern pronouns):
8 If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, even matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and get up to the place which Yahweh your Elohim shall choose.
The first task is to determine the scope of this section.  It relates ONLY to a matter of MISHPAT (4941) "judgment, justice" which is too difficult for local leaders to decide by themselves.  MISHPAT is NOT Torah!  This has absolutely nothing to do with adjudicating disputes of Torah interpretation or halacha (way of walking).
 
Next, it is narrow even within the category of MISHPAT - applying to areas BEIN DAM L'DAM, BEIN DIN L'DIN, U'BEIN NEGA L'NEGA.  These three areas are "blood", "claim" and "wound".  Simply put, these are areas where, as we would say in the legal profession, there are "claims, counterclaims, and crossclaims", or complicated areas of civil and criminal judgment.  Here, "blood" is 'death', "claim" is property damage, and "wound" is physical injury short of death.  What we see are issues where there might be complicated circumstances, "who shot first", etc.  But again, this has NOTHING to do with starting the year, or other halacha.
 
The final phrase, DIBRAY RIBOT BI'SHAREYCHA, is better translated "WORDS of dispute within your villages", and clearly is a summary of the three areas mentioned and the issue of conflicting testimony.  Then in verse 9, after the priests, Levites, AND judge (SINGULAR, NOT PLURAL) have heard the case, they issue a D'BAR HA'MISHPAT, a "WORD of judgment" - a sentence.  Now note verses 10-11a:
10 And you shall do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall declare unto you from that place which Yahweh shall choose; and you shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you. 11 According to the Torah which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do
Not only were the priests, Levites, and judge to issue a ruling in the legal dispute, but they were ALSO to teach how Torah applied in the case.  They are NOT authorised to change Torah, only to apply it in MISHPAT - civil and criminal proceeding.
 
So as can be readily seen, this entire section does NOT require anyone to follow those who change Torah by changing Yahweh's appointed days, or by adding postponements to them.  The absolute absurdity of this argument is shown by the following quote:
"What the leaders of those who care for the Torah tell you in each generation, you MUST do, unless of course they tell you to deny Yahshua and YHWH or the Renewed Covenant! LEGALLY, only, repeat only, the judges/leaders as seen in Devarim/Deut. 17 can change the last legal ruling of the last sitting sanhedrin. Now with a new sanhedrin ,it may well be that the New moon OBSERVATIONS and barley hunt will be added to the calculation, as it was in olden days. But until then ,we must follow those according to Devarim 17 and Romiyah 3:2 who hold and decide over the oracles of YHWH, especially halachic/legal rulings. If they happen to be wrong (which they are not in this matter) YHWH will judge them for postponements."
So, let me get this straight...  the Sanhedrin has ULTIMATE and FINAL authority, and WHATEVER they tell us to do we need to do, right?  But, if they say to deny Y'shua (which they do), we don't need to obey that??  EITHER THEY HAVE AUTHORITY OR THEY DON'T!!  You can't have your halachic cake and eat it too :-)  If they are authority able to override Torah on issues of the Calendar, then so can they in any issue - OR - they have absolutely NO authority to override ANY Torah at ANY TIME!
 
Not only that, but nowhere here is any later judge given authority to reverse a decision of his predecessor!  Once a decision was made in this manner over a civil or criminal case, it was FINAL - no appeal.  If a later judge came along who questioned the prior ruling, he HIMSELF would be acting presumptuously.
 
For any man to think that he (or she) has the authority to change what Yahweh has said is the ultimate sin!  This is called grieving the Ruach, or sinning "with a high hand" (fist raised in defiance).
 
Is accepting the disobedience of those who also deny Y'shua a price that must be paid for unity?  Or is it not HE HIMSELF who will reunite Yisrael when He returns?  HE will gather us up, He doesn't need us 'helping' the process through disobedience, nor does He need us passing the buck for not following His Torah and saying "I was only following orders".
 
 
Shalom w'Baraka,
(Peace & Bless You)
Rav. David Pollina
Rav. David Pollina