Sam2 – what of issues such as, but not limited to:
Wearing colored shirts. Is it assur if done in a respectful manner? How much should we push communities and talmidim to dress certain ways? Some communities in Israel were known to look down upon people who wore felt yarmulkas without an edge ribbon. They held felt yarmulkas HAD to have edge ribbons. Why is this wrong? How far does dress code go? Is jeans and a polo shirt okay?
Derech halimud. Who told those Amoraim which beis Medrash to spend more time in? Should a Yeshiva have a 4 hour night seder, or a 4:30 hour night seder? What about kollel guys? How many days a week should the high school boys have night seder? How long do we make mussar seder?
A small Jewish community is having a unity fair/community event and all affiliated Jewish institutions and organisations are attending, including orthodox, reform, and conservative ones. Should an Orthodox Yeshiva take part in the event (assuming it’s a 100% kosher event)? What if the city is bigger/smaller?
What if the Yeshiva will lose funding if it doesn’t participate, and that will cause a reduction in the amount of boys who will be zoche to go to a Yeshiva in the community the coming year?
What if it’s a frum unity event but modox institutions are participating?
How do we hold regarding negotiating with the Israeli government to reinstitute the Tal Law? Do we not negotiate and let them take bochurim to jail? Do we negotiate and try to ease the severity of the law? How long should we negotiate for? What sort of sacrifices are we willing to make to allow the majority to sit and learn?
Obviously, some of these issues are easier to label as “halacha” than others. Many of these issues are “hashkafic” issues. Our gedolim make some of these decisions with their daas Torah, but that daas Torah doesn’t come exclusively from the Shulchan Aruch. A hashkafa is just a word to describe a derech hachayim that comes from psak, mesorah, agadeta, maasei Rav, personal experience, and minhag. It’s not necessarily a “halachic psak” that kollel guys should wear ties, but a Rosh Yeshiva may say that’s the Yeshiva’s hashkafa, and demand the men follow it.