yitayningwut:
Thanks for that response; no need to apologize. All should be well. You’ve made various points, I’ll address some of them albeit unrelated.
The Gedolim in the days of the Shulchan Aruch and shortly thereafter have agreed to accept the psakim of the mechaber and the Rema as authoritative. The Shach writes that one cannot even claim “kim li” against a psak of the Shulchan Aruch. This is akin to accepting someone as your “Rebbi”, where you follow his psakim. This is the same thing that happened when, let’s say, Klal Yisroel decided that the period of Chazal has ended after the 7th generraiton of Amorayim (Mar Zutra, Mar bar Rav Ashi, etc), and nobody from here on in can add to the Gemora. There was no “halachah lmoshe misinai” that told us that the Gemora was sealed; it was the accepted reality told to us by our Gedolim. The same thing applies to accepting the Shulchan Aruch and Rema.
You wrote: “Blanket statements, even of gedolim, do not count here.” But of course you must realize the Gedolim made their statements in their infinite wisdom, which is greater than yours or mine, using more impeccable logic, thought and all the attributes you’ve described in rendering a psak. Are you saying you can disregard the Gedolim’s pronouncements without any other Godol or source other than YOUR own logical psak that you’ve rendered for yourself? And especially moreso expressing YOUR own conclusions against the Gedolim, with no authority to backup your conclusion?
Good Shabbos