The Role of a Posek

The Torah Temimah, Rabbi Baruch haLevi Epstein, said the following:

"One does not need to be a great talmid chochom... to give a severe psak.... But it takes unusual talent, abundant wisdom and understanding, and a great spirit for someone to give a psak lekulah.”

Here he is outlining what a key characteristic of a halachic decisor is, according to his father- the author of the Aruch haShulchan. These words are not an unusual thing to hear in and of itself- in fact, I've heard religious people say it a lot as a general principle. However, I usually hear it in the context of forbidding something! "Yes, it is probably halachically permissible but it takes a great rabbi to be lenient- so you can't do it". Often we hear the false modesty that no rabbi in this generation is great enough to do so. In other words, it is used as an excuse not to toil in Torah to make a Jew's life easier, not an imperative to do so!

Nothing could be further from the way of the Aruch haShulchan! He was specifically diverted from producing chiddushim in Torah to being a posek by a talmid of the Vilna Gaon, in order to save Jewish people anguish and monetary loss. Here is the Torah Temimah's recollections of his father:

Words cannot describe the exhaustive, almost painful effort my father expended in order to find some heter for any she'ala that came before him. Unless it was specifically stated in the Talmud or poskim that one must be stringent, he would try to find a lenient psak for even the most serious question. Where a loss of money was involved.. or hospitality to guests was involved, he would increase his efforts tenfold, leaving no stone unturned to find some way to permit the she'ala.

While we are at it, who would give the answer R' Chaim Soloveitchik did as to the role of a rabbi?:

to address the grievances of those who are abandoned and alone, to protect the dignity of the poor, and to save the oppressed from the hands of his oppressor