Rabbi Yuter summarizes the essential points from his popular essay “Gadolatry” in Orthodox Jewish Discourse, and critically dissects the definitions and assumptions behind what is popularly known as “Daas Torah”
Halakhic Process 23 – Gadolatry and Da’as Torah Sources (PDF)
Halakhic Process 23 – “Gadolatry” and Daas Torah
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I first heard the term “gadolatry” attributed to the late professor Arthur Hertzberg. A portmanteau of “gadol” and “idolatry,” the word “gadolatry” refers to a perceived phenomenon in Orthodox Judaism where select rabbinic leaders are treated with a degree of deference or reverence, bordering on worshipping the person of the rabbi himself. That Dr. Hertzberg would coin such an inflammatory term is not surprising given his personality, such that any reactions of offense or outrage are as intentional as they are predictable. However, it has been my experience that those strong passions on either side have turned the reasonable question of the role of the gadol in Judaism into the single greatest impediment to intelligent religious discourse in the Orthodox Jewish community.
While I have no expectations of resolving this divisive issue, I do hope to explicate the rationales implied when one invokes a gadol, and why others may find such an argument unconvincing.