I'm stumped. It says in Deut. "go to the priest... dont turn left or right" - not, "go to your rabbi/judge/wise man/sanhedrin." How did the rabbis get around this one since theres no Temple or Priesthood?

I think you received an answer in the torah.org Forum, namely that the verse also mentions the Judge (i.e. the Rabbinic authority) "in your days".

BTW, we still have the Priesthood.

Deut. 17:9 says "priest AND judge" and then... "THEY shall tell thee".
So you need both, but since the Priesthood is not working now my question is how did the rabbis get around this. If it said "priest OR judge" then its OK, or "ONE of them shall tell you"- OK

The word "and" could mean to include both (Vav Hachiber) or to mean either or (Vav Hamichalek.)

Even in English you have such distinctions. Like if you get to a toll booth that says "trucks and vans $10" does not mean that only if both a truck and van goes through the toll together do they pay $10

So you ask the Rabbis? (OK, I'll ask the firemen whether I should pay attention to the street cleaners.) Ask a Kohane Rabbi!

quote:

Originally posted by laiib:
So you ask the Rabbis? (OK, I'll ask the firemen whether I should pay attention to the street cleaners.) Ask a Kohane Rabbi!

Would you care to explain that somewhat cryptic comment? I am also puzzled why, in your Profile, you have put down "kohane" as your religion; that's a new one on me.

I got an answer I like. Here it is: "This OBVIOUSLY means that you go to the appropriate person for the appropriate issue. You go to a Kohen for Tzarras, Sotah, Karbanos, perhaps dini tuma v'tahara. You go to the JUDGE when your neighbors ox eats your prized rose garden....." This is from the Kalashnikover Rabbi at hashkafah.com

At the time that passage was written, male members of the Jewish tribe of Cohain were called priests. (At least, if they chose to accept those duties.) They were still Jewish, but that was their title then. (I know we've got a lot of different English-version spellings of Cohain going on here, and I don't know if mine is the common one, but you get the idea.)