Reply To: Respecting each other

DY: I just think that as long as you follow the derech set down by your family, and listen to your Rav, you’re doing things right. If I follow my Rav who says to be meikel, and you follow your Rav who says to be machmir, then we’re on equal ground.

Now, someone who shops around for kulos and doesn’t follow his/her Rav is a different story. You need to have one set of standards that you follow.

Here’s an example: for Pesach, many (including R’ BLumenkrantz zt”l) held that Tums are permissible to be used for heartburn, even though they contain kitniyos. The reasoning is that it’s for medicinal purposes, so it’s ok. However, taking it as a calcium supplement would not be ok. Based on this, many people, including yeshivish and chassidish, likely use Tums on Pesach. My Rav, however, disagreed, and said Tums should not be used. Do you think I relied on a heter from someone else? No, I went and bought a different kind of antacid for Pesach that is acceptable.

The funny part is that my Rav ended up discussing it with his Rebbe, and his Rebbe decided that Tums should be allowed, so my Rav announced that he was revising the psak. Now I have extra antacid medication for Pesach.

So back to our point. Do I think my being machmir on Tums makes me better than someone else? Absolutely not! My Rav said be machmir, so I was. If your Rav says be meikel, then do that! As long as we follow the psak we’re given, we are equal.