עקרון "קבלת הציבור" בעת החדשה: מביסוס מחודש של הסמכות ההלכתית לחידוש ההלכה

This article traces the evolution of the principle of “public consent” as a source of authority for the preservation of tradition equivalent to the source of transcendental authority. In modern times, following emancipation and reform, this principle, hitherto required at the local halakhic level of public enactments, began to play a more central and general role. The principle was used to justify and preserve tradition against the trends of reform in Judaism and Wissenschaft des Judentums researchers’ subversion of the traditional image of the Jewish past. Public consent in the past to observe a certain law, or public consent in the present to oppose reforms, are the decisive factors at play in this principle. With the advent of the challenges of sovereignty posed by the establishment of a modern Jewish state in the Land of Israel, this use of the principle intensified. The principle of public acceptance was perceived as a founding principle of Jewish tradition with the power to resolve religious questions arising from challenges of sovereignty by enacting new religious legislation accepted by the public.