Rav Chaim Kanievsky has davened for a very long time in the Lederman shul near his house. He had a designated seat that he always sat in, but he recently changed his seat to another one on the other side of the shul.
Someone else wanted to take the former seat as his own and spoke to the gabbais of the shul about buying it for the year. The gabbais were interested in the proposal but were unsure of the halachic issues involved.
The debate is premised on the halacha that one is not allowed to sit in his rebbe's seat (rebbe muvhak that is). The question is, when Rav Chaim Kanievsky took a new seat, does the former seat lose its status as being associated with him and now become available to anyone else or maybe he can have multiple seats associated with his identity or perhaps noe is considered not a permanent seat while the other is. To further complicate the issue, the original seat was easily identifiable with Rav Chaim Kanievsky as he sat there for so many years and it was a unique seat in a spot that was created for him and was not originally even a seat.
Anyways, the gabbais decided to go to Rav Chaim and ask him what to do. Rav Chaim Kanievsky's psak was that because he is not a rav, anybody can sit there. Somebody else went and asked and Rav Chaim responded that according to the straight halacha it is perfectly fine for anyone to sit there, but still it would not be appropriate.
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SA very clear, its not the particular chair (or other accoutrements), its strictly the location. The new owner can bring his own chair, he just paid for the seat location.
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