Recently, the OU decided to certify quinoa for Pesach. Formerly, the OU held by the view of Rav Yisroel Belsky that quinoa is kitniyot, or at least that Rav Belsky's view created sufficient doubt to justify being machmir.
This question is not specifically about quinoa, but about the general phenomenon of disagreements between poskim. In general, if someone asks a shailah from a rav and receives an answer, they should hold by the teshuva they receive and should not ask again from another rav (unless they disclose the previous ruling). Moreover, if someone has adopted a chumra they may require hatarat nedarim in order to give it up [Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 67:7].
So, using quinoa as a case study, in which of the following settings is a person (a) bound to the stricter opinion (b) bound to the stricter opinion, but with the possibility of doing hatarat nedarim to switch to the lenient opinion (c) able to switch to the lenient opinion without any problems?
- A person asked a shailah from Rav Belsky and was told that quinoa is kitniyot.
- A person asked a shailah from their rav and was told, "We hold in accordance with Rav Belsky that quinoa is kitniyot."
- A person is a member of a community that declared, "We hold in accordance with Rav Belsky that quinoa is kitniyot."
- A person declared, "I hold like the OU that quinoa is kitniyot."
- A person declared, "I hold like the OU that there is a doubt as to whether quinoa is kitniyot."
