Can we say no?

Does a Jew have the privilege of disobeying a Rav's order?

If, for example, the gedolim agreed and announced in one strong voice that Mexicans were beyond a shadow of a doubt Amelek, would we, as Jews, be required to smite our gardeners in the name of the faith?

I'm asking this because so much virtual ink has been spilled, on this blog and others, about the Rabbis and their rulings. Can we fly El Al? Must we burn our wigs? Where shall we buy our vegetables, our water, our clothing? Are the rulings fair? Are they justified? Are they well thought out? Could the Rabbis be mistaken, or unaware of relevant facts? Could they be confused? Might they have been misled? Might they be wrong?

All of these questions and the dozens of others all of us have asked, are made irrelevant if a believing, Torah Jew has the right to shrug his shoulders and say, "With respect, I dissent."

Adherents of other religions have this privilege. Most forms of Christianity are without a central authority, and so long as your faith in Jesus never wavers and you aren't an adulterer or a homosexual whatever else you do and say can usually be politely ignored. Catholics have a tradition of natural law, which means that even the infallible Pope is somewhat limited in what he can proclaim and order. And, on the ground, Catholic dissenters, for the most part, live unharrased lives. If you're a Catholic who uses birth control, or eats meat on Friday during Lent, or expresses doubts about doctrine it is unlikely anyone will challenge your legitimacy and authenticity as a Catholic. And your kids won't be banned from meeting and marrying the children of more pious families.

So why is Orthodox Judaism different? Why are we tighter, less forgiving, less flexible, and less accommodating of dissent than most any other faith? Why do so many of us wish to grant the Rabbis a power that not even a medieval king would have dreamt of wielding? Why are we so quick to condemn someone who simply wishes to exercise his own human agency, someone who is ready to live and die, in this world and the next, by his own choices?