ro-ot("a judge must be guided by what he sees”). Indeed, Roth calls this"the ultimate systemic principle" of the halakhah, the "systemic legitimization of judges to exercise judicial discretion as they deem appropriate." Halakhah does not recognize a doctrine of authoritative precedent; the rulings of earlier sages do not attain the status of davar mishnah(uncontrovertible legal presumptions) but may be challenged by later scholars who can support their viewpoint through source citation and reasoning.
If judicial discretion enjoys the status of"systemic imperative" in rabbinic law, then there is simply no room for "consensus" as a working principle in halakhah. Consensus has a certain predictive value: if rabbis have always ruled in a certain way on a particular issue, it is probable that they will continue to do so. Nevertheless, this tendency to legal stability in no way restricts the discretion of later authorities to dissent from that ruling. The only limit upon rabbinic discretion in a system whose ultimate principle is ein laayan ela mah sheeinav ro-ot lies in the integrity of the halakhic authority himself. This implies that he conform to two demands. First, the potential halakhic authority must be characterized by yirat hashem, religious behavior indicative of his fundamental commitment to the system. That is, he accepts the Grundnorm as the reflection of God 's word and will and recognized the rabbis as the sole legitimate interpreters of the Grundnorm. Second, the decisions of this authority must be supported according to the rules of halakhic reasoning and interpretation. These constitute the criteria of validity in Roth’s "halakhic process"; any ruling meeting these criteria is, by definition, valid halakhah.
On this basis, the halakhic innovations of the Conservative rabbinate qualify for halakhic legitimacy. If, for example, a potential authority committed to the halakhic system should drive to synagogue on Shabbat , this highly unprecedented practice is valid halakhah so long as the authority believes it to be
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