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Surprisingly, Megillat Esther sheds significant light on the Halachic process.
Where There Is a Rabbinic Will, There Is a Rabbinic Way?
Sadly, some claim that where there is a rabbinic will, there is a rabbinic way. This slogan, popular in certain tiny circles, assumes the rabbis control the Halachic process and can manipulate it however they deem fit. What emerges from this assumption is that if there is a Halachic problem the rabbis claim they cannot solve, they are being disingenuous. The real reason, these people argue, is that the rabbis lack sufficient motivation to solve the problem. If only they had the proper impetus, they would resolve the issue. They feel that if there is an intractable Aguna situation, the blame should be placed squarely on the rabbis' doorsteps for not solving it.
With its ugly demonization of rabbis as intractable ogres who refuse to help people, this argument is a product of shockingly shallow thinking and gross Halachic ignorance. Notably, these dissidents' claims have a precedent set by the Tzedukim of yore. Yoma 40b with Rashi (s.v. Al Titenu) records that Tzedukim claimed that the rabbis did whatever they pleased. Thus, those who claim to be Orthodox and still argue that where there is a rabbinic will, there is a rabbinic way are, at best inconsistent and, at worst, dishonest.
Achashverosh’s Will was the Law
The Persian Empire investing Achashverosh with unbridled control of the law exemplifies a failed system where the law rests in the leader’s hand to mold in whatever direction his whims lead him. He has no limits or bounds and may create any law he wishes. Achashverosh was invested with absolute power, which corrupted him absolutely. Issuing a rule demanding wives’ subservience to their husbands and calling for the genocide of an entire people, men, women, and children in one day serve as horrifying lessons showing the profound need to limit legislators’ power. Achashverosh’s court was a battleground where his advisors vied for who would manipulate the king to pass laws. What a deeply disturbing example of how a law system should not function!
In the Halachic system, we subject every rabbinic ruling to extensive scrutiny. Every Teshuva of even our greatest Poskim, such as Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Ovadia Yosef, is carefully reviewed by Torah scholars. The rulings that do not withstand rigorous examination do not stand the test of time. For example, Rav Moshe Feinstein’s Teshuva forbidding timers on Shabbat has not been accepted. Rav Ovadia Yosef’s decision to prohibit Sheitels is not widely followed even amongst most of his ardent adherents. We never follow every ruling of any Posek, no matter how prominent, including the Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, and Rama. Unlike Achashverosh, no Posek enjoys absolute power.
Not Every Halachic Problem Has a Solution
In addition, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik emphasized that Poskim have limits and that not every Halachic problem has a solution. He told of a pious woman he helped convert who became engaged to a young Baal Teshuva. However, the couple heroically broke up when the young man discovered he was a Kohen (who may not marry a convert). The Rav said he was brokenhearted but said we must submit to Hashem’s law. He proclaimed, “When you reach the boundary of Halachah beyond which you dare not pass, you must say: ‘I surrender to the will of the Almighty.’”
The Enactment of Purim Modeling the Halachic Process
Mordechai and Esther did not enjoy absolute power. Megillat Esther 9:18-32, Megillah 7a, and Megillah 14a describe a lengthy process of enacting Purim observances and incorporating Megillat Esther in Tanach. Slowly, Mordechai, Chazal, and the Jewish people agreed to celebrate Purim for all generations and include Esther in Tanach.
Megillat Esther (9:27) records the Jewish people agreeing to observe Purim perpetually. Nowhere does the Megillah record the Persian Empire subjects’ acceptance of Achashverosh’s edicts. Their acceptance or rejection of the absolute ruler was of no import in Persian society. In sharp contrast, Esther’s and Mordechai’s introduction of Purim went into effect only when we accepted it.
Achashverosh never had to provide and convince his subjects of the reasoning behind his rulings. Again in sharp contrast, Megillah 14a records Chazal’s justification for enacting the Purim holiday. “If we sing when leaving slavery for freedom, Kal VaChomer, we must sing when going from death to life.” This argument showed how Purim constitutes a valid extension of Pesach and fits into the Halachic system.
Megillah 7a records that Esther requested Chazal to include her Megillah in Tanach. She did not bully the Chachamim into accepting her request with her queenly power. Rather, she presented a compelling argument that convinced the Chachamim and Am Yisrael to include it. Such is a proper Halachic process that stands the test of time!
Wealthy donors pressuring their congregational rabbis to liberalize Halachic standards in their synagogues is appalling and grossly inauthentic. Esther and Mordechai did not wield their considerable governmental power to enact change. Instead, it came from authentic Halachic give and take. Such is an honest Halachic process that stands the test of time, as has our Purim observances.
A Conversation with an Orthodox Jewish Dissident
After it emerged that more than a dozen potential Agunot resulted from the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, an Orthodox Jewish dissident said, "Don’t let those rabbis keep those women as Agunot. Make sure they free them.” I responded that the Batei Din involved would try their utmost to help these women, but they must and will operate only within Halachic bounds.
Ultimately, the Batei Din discovered a means to declare each woman free to remarry. However, they did so with integrity, free of pressure, and issued detailed Teshuvot explaining how their decisions emerged from solid Halachic sources (as I summarize in Gray Matter 2:114-138). After extensive review and discussion among Torah scholars, these rulings have become well-accepted in the community without dissent.
In sharp contrast, a dissident rabbinic court has sadly been established recently. While it publishes many of its decisions, the consensus in the Torah world is that these writings are amateurish and enjoy no Halachic validity.
Conclusion
Where there is a rabbinic will, there is a rabbinic way is a cheap slogan any honest person should disdain. Unfortunately, the conservative rabbinate embraced this slogan, and any metric demonstrates its failure. One would be hard-pressed to find even one thousand people worldwide who earnestly observe Conservative Halacha. This reality contrasts sharply with the approximately two million adherents of Orthodox Halacha worldwide. Orthodox Halacha, as practiced from generation to generation, works. Conservative Halacha, which fifty years ago was heralded as the wave of the future, is an abject failure.
Law systems that grant their legislators absolute power, as Achashverosh had, are doomed to failure. How ironic is it that dissidents within Orthodoxy (a term used by Rav Soloveitchik in his 1973 address on Parashat Korach https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/749191/rabbi-joseph-b-soloveitchik/the-rebellion-of-korach/) advocate granting rabbis Achashverosh-like authority! The overwhelming majority of the Orthodox Jewish community rightfully rejects the rulings of rabbis who submit to this ideology.
Achashverosh serves as an example of how not to conduct a legal system. We proudly repudiate the misguided demand that rabbis muster the “courage” and exercise power the Halacha does not grant them. Integrity and honesty demand rabbis, unlike Achashverosh, to accept their limitations, as did Mordechai and Esther. Following Esther and Mordechai’s model is the authentic path that stands for generations which we rightfully demand and expect our rabbis to follow.