Is criticism of the views of great Rabbis appropriate to the site?

Question

Bearing in mind that the site is meant amongst others for “for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition”, can I ask whether criticism of the views of great Rabbis is appropriate to the site?

Two examples (without names of the people commenting):

An answer to this question quoted Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and someone commented “this is not a good answer, as per someone's observation which I made as well, that's why I mentioned the Torah in the question”.

An answer to this question quoted the psak of Rav M Sternbuch on which a comment was received “This "psak" leaves much to be desired.”

Obviously it should be possible to say that this psak or quote does not appeal to me. It is about the abrupt statement about the value of the psak or quote that I am asking.

Answer 1

This answer is not linked to the examples cited in the question, and my purpose is not to criticize anyone but to address the topic itself, which is the core of talmudic study in my opinion.

To be respectful toward the words of wise and intelligent persons demonstrates that you really believe that they are chachamim. May be that they already did think about your kashia.

To ask your kashia against is a duty. To think "I have a better pshat" is ok. But to think that they did make a great mistake may be a problem. You need to understand why they didn't say your pshat.

To be convinced that the chacham did not understand the sugya is a symptom of superficiality. The chacham is really a Chacham, so you cannot decide in one second that you know. his process of thinking. Particularly when the text of the chacham was already studied by dozen of genreations of Talmide chachamim.

this trust trust in chachamim is fundamental in judaism, and simply in way to learn rabbinic works, to be persued that peoples like Rashi or Rabenu Tam, Rishonim and great Acharonim have a lot to teach us about Tora and Chochma.

The name of the website is "mi yodeya", this name outlines the importance of our desire to know what chachamim did say and think. If you have even a little quantity of contempt, you cannot spent energy to understand chachamim and cannot reach a high level of learning.

Criticism is appropriate with a right and good taste. We need a censorship against rude criticizm toward chachamim because it can induce error in the approach for beginner members. We know that in holy books there are a lot of rude statements, Raavad on Rambam, Rashba in Mishmeret Habayt, ..etc... but here there is not comparable situation. In a great percentage, rudeness has to do with bad midot.

A great Talmid Chacham told me about a very great rav who wrote a book on hilchot Nidda. This rav discussed about one of the sugiot with the Chazon Ish. He said "the Chavas Daas in this sugya seems to be against the pshat and we see that all Rishonim seem also clearly against this Ch. D.". The Chazon Ish told that the Chavas Daas is also a sugia. I.E. to understand the chavas daat on the sugia is also a part of the limud of the sugia. A chacham feels that to try to understand the Chavas Daas is also to try to understand tora.

Answer 2

Challenging others' arguments is a long-established tradition, as DoubleAA pointed out in another answer, but when challenging anybody, whether a great rabbi or an unknown and anonymous user, we need to (a) be respectful and (b) bring substance not just personal judgements.

• "This is not a good answer" -- usually not helpful. Allow the reader to draw his own conclusions from the information you provide.

• "This 'p'sak'..." -- the quotes convey negative attitude from the start. It's ok to say "Rabbi Ploni's p'sak" even if you think Rabbi Ploni is full of beans; it's still his p'sak. Which you will then proceed to challenge. Don't start off negative.

• "This p'sak leaves a lot to be desired" -- probably, but if that's the entirety of the comment, it's not very constructive. Tell us why you feel that way -- what are the issues? (Or, given that we're talking about comments here, what are the most important things that a reader should know, which can involve links?)

You can challenge without coming off as overly negative or disrespectful. Try formulations like these:

• "On the other hand, the Rambam said (the opposite of some key point in the answer). Can you address that?"

• "What about the Rashi on the next verse that says the opposite? How does Rabbi Ploni account for that?"

• "R' Ploni did say that, but later he said the opposite (citation)."

• "I don't understand how the Rav could say that, when (X, Y, Z) should lead to the opposite conclusion."

Answer 3

Criticizing the views of great rabbis is arguably the most traditional Jewish thing to do. All great rabbis have done it. We should encourage good and thoughtful criticism of any position.

And remember to Be Nice since great rabbis are people too.