DEUT878 Hearken to the Jewish courts and to the acknowledged Torah authorities of your generation. Regarding all matters of the Torah, listen to the Bes Din Hagadol and obey their rulings. This applies to decisions that they reach through their own reasoning or through applying the rules that Hashem gave us for deriving information from the Torah text. So, too, if the Bes Din Hagadol teaches us something that involves the secret wisdom of the Torah, we are obligated to accept it and act accordingly. Included in this precept is the obligation on each individual to hearken to the acknowledged Torah authorities of his day. He who fails to do so violates a positive commandment of the Torah and his punishment is very great, for this requirement is a central pillar upon which the Torah depends in every generation. See [[EXOD778]] Exodus 23:2 majority CHINUCH 52-3.