daf bit: Horayot 2

Horayot is a short tractate (14 pages) about errors in court judgements.

The tractate leads with the following mishna: if a court rules that any of the ritual commandments in the torah can be transgressed and somebody, hearing their ruling, does so, and that's wrong, he's not liable for punishment because he relied on the court. (We're talking here about questions of application, not theory -- the questions one needs to be able to answer to go about one's life, like whether this food is kosher or that prayer must be said or you can marry this person.)

But if a member of the court who knew that they erred, or a disciple present who is qualified to decide matters of law, follows that ruling, that person is liable. The general rule is: he who is in a position to rely on himself is subject to a penalty, while he who must depend on the court is exempt. The g'mara adds that the first category -- he who relies upon himself -- includes those who usually disregard the decisions of the courts. So it's not just for those learned enough to decide on their own; it's also for those who are willfully unlearned or uninterested. (2a mishna, 2b g'mara)

Today's daf is 5.