Rabbi Meir Kahane , and having a Rav ( Peirush HaMaccabee)

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Rabbi Meir Kahane
 (taken from "Perush HaMaccabee", Rabbi Kahane's commentary on the
 Tanach)
 
"If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement. then thou
 shalt arise , and go up to the place which the lord thy G-d shall
 choose. and thou shalt do according to the sentence ." (Parshat
 Shoftim, 17: 8-10)
 
We can learn out from the words "if there arise a matter too hard for
 thee.", that if you have a question regarding something you don't
 know, then you must ask. But if you are certain of the answer, do not
 ask, but rather make the halachic decision on your own. And it is
 unfortunate, that today many have become robots without common sense,
 who turn to the rebbe for everything, turning him into idol worship,
 so much so, that they disregard any other rabbi, and even turn
 heretical in disgracing other Torah scholars. And this seems to be
 what the Ibn Ezra is saying on the verse (11): " 'and you shall
 observe to do according to all that they inform thee' regarding
 something too hard for you".
 
"Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your G-d, which
 he made with you, and you make a carved idol, or the likeness of
 anything, which the Lord thy G-d has commanded you." (Parshat
 Vaetchanan, 4:23)
 
This verse is difficult to understand, for it should say at the end,
 ".which the Lord thy G-d has forbidden you." It seems that the
 interpretation is like this: Do not make a carved idol, or the
 likeness of anything, including of things which G-d commanded us. In
 other words, don't make idol worship out of things which you admire,
 such as the Holy Temple, Sefer Torah, or a great rabbi, for this too,
 is idol worship. This is why the verse continues, "for the Lord is a
 consuming fire, a jealous G-d". In other words, worship must be
 exclusive to G-d only; and He will not tolerate any competition or
 partnership in worship.
 
"And Asahel pursued Avner, he did not deviate from the right or left
 from behind Avner" (Shmuel 2, 2:19)
 
One who pursues a positive goal, it is proper to see it through to the
 very end, and not deviate from the right or left (as it says in
 Parshat Shoftim "do not deviate from the right or left"), but adhere
 to it despite all the difficulties. But such clinging to a goal is
 only positive when that goal is a positive one -- only then one must
 cling to the path and not deviate right or left. But if the goal
 itself is a negative one, of course one must deviate from the evil (as
 it says, "don't deviate from the right or left, remove yourself from
 evil" (Mishle, 4:26). And here, Asahel is clinging to a negative goal,
 by chasing Avner in a war of brother versus brother.
 
There is a sad and dangerous phenomenon today, and it is: the growing
 tendency of students relying completely on the rav, or the "gadol",
 going after him like a blind man in the dark, not deviating right or
 left -- without the willingness to think for themselves. This
 personality worship essentially prevents the student from independent
 thought, and is dangerous for the student and for Judaism. Instead of
 striving to serve and worship G-d, they accept upon themselves the
 service of the rebbe, and if he says "white" and tomorrow "black", the
 student will follow him, and will boast that he obeys his rebbe and
 adheres to the mitzvah of "not deviating from the right or left".
 Indeed, this is a dangerous and bitter phenomenon, which turns the Jew
 from a thinking individual to a robot.
 
Of course, one must obey the psak halacha of his rav, but when it
 comes to "hashkafa" (political, world view), one must analyze and
 think things through, and he must even argue with his rav if something
 seems incorrect, or he has counter sources. And if he thinks his rav's
 halachic decision was mistaken, he should approach him and ask him to
 clarify things, and not just accept it. And even though he must obey
 the decision as long as his rav sticks to it, it is incumbent upon
 him, in any case, to pressure his rav, over and over again until
 either his rav agrees with him, or he is convinced that his rav was
 indeed correct. And it is a pity that our generation has become one of
 "mouths that do not speak, eyes that do not see".
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Enough weeping and wailing; and the following of leaders & rabbis who
 are pygmies of little faith & less understanding."
 "I believe very much in a nation beating their swords into plowshears
 but when my enemy has a sword I don't want a plowshear"
 -Rabbi Meir Kahane Zs'l HYD

[muman613]

I agree that a Jew should worship nothing other than Hashem... I do believe that a student should learn from his Rabbi and should respect him. This doesn't mean that we should believe every word the Rabbi says as if it is from Sinai but we should give the benefit of the doubt and attempt to learn from what the Rabbi is saying. I have been in situations where the Rabbi will say something in front of the congregation which I know is not exactly correct. But I will not shout out and embarrass the Rabbi, I will wait for the time to be right when I can talk one on one and then attempt to understand why he said what I consider to be inaccurate, and he can explain what he meant, and I can present what I have learned, and we can agree on the topic. I don't like people who think they are smarter than his Rabbi and he attempts to shame the Rabbi at every turn.