Еврейская мысль к Дварим 17:8

Furthermore, the torah itself, refers us to the tradition for its details as written "If a matter eludes you in judgment,..then you shall rise and go up to the place the L-rd, your G-d, has chosen; And you shall come to the Kohanim, to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they will tell you the words of judgment." (Devarim 17:8-9), and "And the man who acts intentionally, not obeying the priest who stands there to minister the L-rd, your G-d, or to the judge that man shall die" (Devarim 17:12).

The answer is as follows: There is a dispute only regarding the Channukah lamp. R. Ivya is of the opinion that just as all of the rabbinical decrees, laws, and fences derive from the negative commandment of "Do not turn aside," as explained in Berachoth (19b), so the mitzvoth that they originate derive from that commandment itself. R. Nechemiah, however, is of the opinion that only those things which have a basis in the mitzvoth of the Torah can derive from that commandment, but mitzvoth originated by the rabbis have only the scriptural support [but not commandment] of "Ask your father…" The rationale for this is that those things which are superadded to the mitzvoth of the Torah themselves are, in effect, an interpretation of the Torah, the sages saying, for example, that a mixture of wool and linen constitutes kilaim and that everything in the category of shvuth constitutes a forbidden Sabbath labor. But the rabbis' command to light a Channukah lamp can in no way be derived from this commandment, for it is not within the province of (Deuteronomy 17:8): "If there be a matter of judgment [of a Torah mitzvah] too difficult for you…" [followed by "Do not turn aside"]. It is rather to be derived from "Ask your father…," which is a general behest to defer to the sages. However, the decrees, the judgments, and the measures which they institute for the mitzvoth of the Torah themselves are all in the category of "Do not turn aside," and if one transgresses one of the laws of shvuth it is as if he had transgressed one of the negative commandments of the Torah itself.

Following the enumeration of the mitzvoth of the judges, their powers, their areas of jurisdiction, and their prime task — the eradication of any vestige of idol worship — the Torah begins to explain to the judges how to conduct themselves if confronted with a doubt. And the judges are commanded to rely in such an instance upon the opinion of the great beth din presiding in the chamber of hewn stone [lishkath hagazith], as it is written (Deuteronomy 17:8-11): "If there be concealed from you a matter of judgment… then you shall arise and go up to the place that the L-rd your G-d will choose… According to the Torah that they teach you and according to the judgment that they tell you shall you do. Do not depart from the thing that they tell you right or left…" On this the tradition of our sages of blessed memory has come down to us (Sifrei, Shoftim 154): "Even if they tell you that right is left and that left is right." That is, even if it is obvious to you that the ruling of the Sanhedrin is not in accordance with the truth, in spite of this, heed them. For this is what the Blessed One decreed, that we conduct ourselves in the laws of the Torah and its mitzvoth according to their decisions, whether these decisions do or do not accord with the truth. This is exemplified in the episode of R. Yehoshua and R. Gamliel (Rosh Hashanah 25b), R. Gamliel [the Nassi] commanding R. Yehoshua to come to him with his staff and his money on the day of Yom Kippur according to his [R. Yehoshua's] reckoning, and R. Yehoshua complying. For once the Torah has relegated the power of decision to them, then what they decide represents the L-rd's commandment. And this is the basis of our conviction concerning the mitzvoth of the Torah and its laws that we are fulfilling the will of the Blessed One so long as we rely upon the ruling of the great sages of the generation respecting them.