Thank you Rabbi Bechhofer for this exploration into Rav Elyashiv's z'l's approach to psak. An unfortunate (though somewhat ironic) aspect of the era in which we live is that we can instantly disseminate information about the statements and opinions of individuals living on the other side the world, while simultaneously knowing precious little about that individual's true thought processes, how his opinions are arrived at, not to mention the ever-present risk of media distortion (which in our day includes reporting by laypeople on internet blogs). Most of us who live outside of the charedi Israeli communities derive most of our knowledge of these modern-day sages from media reports, and hearsay. There is also the tendency, in Israel, to publish statements attributed to sages in the form of pashkevillim, which are a paltry substitute for a scholarly teshuvah. Thus we are vulnerable to influences from both the "right and the left." The end result is that the true stature of the sage in question can become occluded, and the proper respect that they are to be accorded undermined. It is a valuable effort to publish the scholary/halachic writings--including the analytical reasoning, of these sages, so that a wider circle of people can come to an appreciation of their stature, regardless of whether or not we regard their piskei dinim as the "final say" on a given issue.

7715 Michael

rbc