mw13 – Apology accepted.
Note that the Psak I received (which I have not disclosed) was not a “hearsay” Psak – I personally asked Rav Belsky the She’ela when I was starting to look for a job after spending time in Torah Voda’as’s Kolel. He gave me a Psak based on my personal circumstances, and went through both his reasoning and its application in various situations. When “new” situations came up, I’d call him up to clarify, and he was always gracious and accommodating with his time.
As to the Piskei Halacha of Rav Belsky brought by Rabbi Moishe Dovid Lebovits – you should note that these are often somewhat simplified, and I’d hesitate to treat them as definitive Halacha L’Ma’ase. I mean no disrespect to Reb Moishe Dovid (whom I know from my time in Yeshiva), but I was in Rav Belsky’s Chulin Shiur for two years (part of the Smicha program), and remained close to him thereafter – and some things brought in Reb Moishe Dovid’s writings do not convey the nuance of Piskei Halacha that Rav Belsky explained in Shiur. That’s why it is so important for people to go ask individual She’elos directly from a Rav.
an Israeli Yid