Daat Torah

Daat Torah ("opinion of Torah") is a central concept in the Jewish haredi society.

According to the Daat Torah concept, the greatest rabbis acquire the ability to get the right decisions, "Daat Torah", not only in matters of pure halacha but also in politics and other topics. The religious study purified their brain and heart and made them the most competent decision makers.

Interestingly enough, the religious authority is much more flexible when it declares its "Daat Torah" than during expressing other halachic opinion, because "Daat Torah" is actually intuitive and demands no rigorous legal rationale. Consequently, The possibility to doubt it is very limited, at least as long as the doubter is not considered to be great enough to publish "Daat Torah" of his own.

Some see the rise of the "Daat Torah" concept as the surprising return of prophecy to Judaism. The haredi circles relate the opinions of the senior rabbies, even those which don't deal with pure halachic matters, with the same awe which was kept in the past to the prophecy.

Researchers see the appearance of "Daat torah" as part of a process of reaction in the haredi world, taking place after the Second World War and the establishment of Israeli haredi society being consisted of men devoting all their time to Torah study.

The rabbis used to express their views about contemporary political questions already in the days of the Talmud. However, the hypothesis that their opinion is based on divine inspiration is a novelty. Things are different in the Hassidic society where the rabbi has always been questioned about any detail in his followers' lives.