Halakha
Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה, also spelled Halacha) is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 biblical commandments) and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions. Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Often translated as "Jewish Law," a more literal rendering of the term is "the path" or "the way of walking."
Orthodox Jews still adhere fairly strictly to traditional halakhic rules. Conservative Judaism also hold Halakha to be binding, but believes in a progressive philosophy by which Halakha can be adjusted to changing social norms. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews believe that Jews are no longer required by God to adhere to Halakha. Reflecting the cultural diversity of Jewish communities, slightly different approaches to Halakha are also found among Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Yemenite Jews.
Historically, Halakha served many Jewish communities as enforceable civil, criminal, and religious law, but in the modern era Jews are generally bound to Halakhah only by their voluntary consent. Religious sanctions such as excommuncation may be imposed by religious authorities, however, and in the state of Israel certain areas of family and personal status law are governed by rabbinic interpretations of Halakha. In the Christian and Muslim worlds, some aspects of civil and criminal law may be seen as deriving from early halakhic tradition, such as the Ten Commandments.
Terminology
The term Halakha may refer to a single law, to the literary corpus of rabbinic legal texts, or to the overall system of interpreting religious law. The Halakha is often contrasted with the Aggadah, the diverse corpus of rabbinic non-legal literature. At the same time, since writers of Halakha may draw upon the aggadic literature, there is a dynamic interchange between the two genres.
Halakha constitutes the practical application of the 613 mitzvot ("commandments," singular: mitzvah) in the Torah, (the five books of Moses) as developed through discussion and debate in the classical rabbinic literature. Its laws, guidelines, and opinions cover a vast range of situations and principles. It is also the subject of intense study in yeshivas.
Controversies lend rabbinic literature much of its creative and intellectual appeal. With few exceptions, controversies are not settled through authoritative structures. Instead, Jews interested in observing Halakha may choose to follow specific rabbis, affiliate with a community following a specific halakhic tradition, or interpret the Halakha based on their own conscientious study.
Torah and Halakha
Broadly, the Halakha comprises the practical application of the commandments. According to the Talmud (Tractate Makot), there are 613 mitzvot ("commandments"), including 248 positive mitzvot and 365 negative mitzvot given in the Torah, supplemented by seven mitzvot legislated by the rabbis of antiquity.
Positive commandments (of which tradition holds there are 248) require an action to be performed, and thus bring one closer to God. Negative commandments forbid a specific action; thus violations create a distance from God. In striving to "be holy" as God is holy, one attempts so far as possible to live in accordance with God's wishes for humanity, striving to more completely live with each of these with every moment of one's life.
Classical rabbinic Judaism has two basic categories of laws:
- Laws believed revealed by God to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai (including both the written Pentateuch and its elucidation by the prophets and rabbinical sages);
- Laws believed to be of human origin, including specific rabbinic decrees, interpretations, customs, etc.
Laws of the first category are not optional, with exceptions made only for life-saving and similar emergency circumstances. Halakhic authorities may disagree on which laws fall into which categories or the circumstances (if any) under which prior rabbinic rulings can be re-examined by contemporary rabbis, but all halakhic Jews hold that both categories exist.
The sources and process of Halakha
The boundaries of Jewish law are determined through the halakhic process, a religious-ethical system of legal reasoning and debate. Rabbis generally base their opinions on the primary sources of Halakha as well as on precedent set by previous rabbinic opinions. The major sources consulted include:
- The foundational Talmudic literature, especially the Mishna and the Babylonian Talmud, with associated commentaries
- Post-Talmudic literature, such as Maimonides' twelfth century Mishneh Torah and the sixteenth century Shulchan Aruch codified by Rabbi Yosef Karo
- Regulations and other legislative enactments promulgated by rabbis and communal bodies, such as the Gezeirah (rules intended to prevent violations of the commandments) and the Takkanah (legislation not directly justified by the commandments)
- Minhagim: customs, community practices, and traditions
- The she'eloth u-teshuvoth: responsa, literally "questions and answers," including both Talmudic and post-Talmudic literature
- Dina d'malchuta dina ("the law of the land is law"): non-Jewish laws recognized as binding on Jewish citizens, provided that they are not contrary to any laws of Judaism.
In antiquity, the Sanhedrin functioned essentially as both the Supreme Court and legislature for Judaism. That court ceased to function in its full mode in 40 C.E. Today, the authoritative application of Jewish law is left to the local rabbi, and local rabbinical courts, where these exist.
Since the days of the Sanhedrin, however, no single body is generally regarded as having the authority to determine universally recognized precedents. When a rabbinic posek ("decisor") proposes a new interpretation of a law, that interpretation may be considered binding for the posek's questioner or immediate community. Depending on the stature of the posek and the quality of the decision, an interpretation may also be gradually accepted by rabbis and members of similar Jewish communities.
The halakhic tradition embodies a wide range of principles that permit judicial discretion and deviation. Generally speaking, a rabbi in any one period will not overrule specific laws from an earlier era, unless supported by a relevant earlier precedent. There are important exceptions to this principle, however, which empower the posek (decisor) or beth din (court) to create innovative solutions.
Within certain Jewish communities, formal organized halakhic bodies do exist. iModern Orthodox rabbis, for example, generally agree with the views set by the leaders of the Rabbinical Council of America. Within Conservative Judaism, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards generally sets the denomination's halakhic policy. Reform Judaism does not consider Halakha binding on modern Jews.
Legislation
Traditional Jewish law granted the Sages wide legislative powers. Technically, one may discern two powerful legal tools within the halakhic system:
- Gezeirah: "preventative legislation" of the Rabbis, intended to prevent violations of the commandments
- Takkanah: "positive legislation," practices instituted by the Rabbis not based (directly) on the commandments
However, in common parlance sometimes people use the general term takkanah to refer either gezeirot or takkanot.
Takkanot, in general, do not affect or restrict observance of Torah mitzvot. However, the Talmud states that in exceptional cases, the Sages had the authority to "uproot matters from the Torah" in certain cases. In Talmudic and classical halakhic literature, this authority refers to the authority to prohibit some things that would otherwise be biblically sanctioned (shev v'al ta'aseh). Rabbis may rule that a Torah mitzvah should not be performed, e.g. blowing the shofar on Shabbat, or blessing the lulav and etrog on Shabbat. These are takkanot are executed out of fear that some might otherwise carry the mentioned items between home and the synagogue, thus inadvertently violating a Sabbath melakha.
Another rare and limited form of takkanah involved overriding Torah prohibitions. In some cases, the sages allowed the temporary violation a prohibition in order to maintain the Jewish system as a whole. This was part of the basis, for example, for Esther's marriage to the Gentile king Ahasuerus.
Sin
Judaism regards the violation of the commandments, the mitzvot, to be a sin. In Judaism, unlike Christianity, sins do not always involve a lapse in morality. Three categories of sin are:
- Pesha—an intentional sin, committed in deliberate defiance of God
- Avon—a sin of lust or uncontrollable emotion committed knowingly but not not in defiance of God
- Chet—an "unintentional sin" committed unknowingly or by accident
Judaism holds that no human being is perfect, and all people have sinned many times. However a state of sin does not condemn a person to damnation; there is always a road of teshuva (repentance, literally: "return").
When Jews had a functioning court system, these courts were empowered to administer physical punishments for various violations: corporal punishment, incarceration, excommunication, or death. Since the fall of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., capital punishment by religious courts has been forbidden.
Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics is the study of rules for the exact determination of the meaning of a text. It played a notable role in early rabbinic Jewish discussion. Compilations of such hermeneutic rules include:
- the seven Rules of Hillel
- the 13 Rules of R. Ishmael
- the 32 Rules of R. Eliezer ben Jose ha-Gelili.
Neither Hillel, Ishmael, nor Eliezer ben Jose ha-Gelili sought to give a complete enumeration of the rules of interpretation current in his day. They restricted themselves to a compilation of the principal methods of logical deduction, which they called middot (measures).
The antiquity of the rules can be determined only by the dates of the authorities who quote them. In general, they can not safely be declared older than the tanna (sage) to whom they are first ascribed. It is generally agreed, however, that the seven middot of Hillel and the 13 of Ishmael are earlier than the time of these tannaim, who were the first to transmit them.
The Talmud itself gives no information concerning the origin of the middot, although the Geonim regarded them as Sinaitic, a view firmly rejected by modern historians.
The middot seem to have been first laid down as abstract rules by the teachers of Hillel, though they were not immediately recognized by all as valid and binding. Different schools interpreted and modified, restricted, or expanded them in various ways. Akiba and Ishmael especially contributed to the development or establishment of these rules. Akiba devoted his attention to the grammatical and exegetical rules, while Ishmael developed the logical ones. The rules laid down by one school were frequently rejected by another because the principles that guided them in their respective formulations were essentially different. Some scholars have observed a similarity between these rabbinic rules of interpretation and the hermeneutics of ancient Hellenistic culture.
Halakhic eras
- The Tannaim (literally the "repeaters") are the sages of the Mishnah (70–200)
- The Amoraim (literally the "sayers") are the sages of the Gemara (200–500)
- The Savoraim (literally the "reasoners") are the classical Persian rabbis (500–600)
- The Geonim (literally the "prides" or "geniuses") are the rabbis of Sura and Pumbeditha, in Babylonia (650–1250)
- The Rishonim (literally the "firsts") are the rabbis of the early medieval period (1250–1550) preceding the Shulchan Aruch
- The Acharonim (literally the "lasts") are the rabbis of 1550 to the present.
Halakha today
Orthodox Judaism holds that Jewish Law was dictated by God to Moses essentially as it exists today. However, there is significant disagreement within Orthodox Judaism, particularly between Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism, about the circumstances under which post-Sinaitic additions can be changed, the Haredi being the more conservative.
Conservative Judaism holds that Halakha is normative and binding, and is developed as a partnership between people and God based on Sinaitic Torah. However Conservative Judaism rejects "fundamentalism" and welcomes modern critical study of the Bible. Conservatives emphasize that Halakha has always been an evolving process subject to interpretation by rabbis in every time period, including the present. See Conservative Judaism, Beliefs.
Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism both hold that the legal regulations of the Talmud and other halakhic literature are no longer binding on Jews. Some members of these movements see the Halakha as a personal starting-point, but leave the interpretation of the commandments and their applicability up to the individual conscience.
Gentiles and Jewish law
Judaism holds that Gentiles are obliged only to follow the seven Noahide Laws, given to Noah after the flood. The Noahide laws are specified in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 57a), including six "negative" commandments and one "positive" one:
- Murder is forbidden.
- Theft is forbidden.
- Sexual immorality is forbidden.
- Eating flesh cut from a still-living animal is forbidden.
- Belief in and worship or prayer to "idols" is forbidden.
- Blaspheming God is forbidden.
- Society must establish a fair system of legal justice.
In Christian tradition, the rules mentioned in Acts 15:29 appears to be based on the Noahide Laws, omitting several—against murder, theft, and blasphemy—that were probably considered non-controversial: "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality."
Early Christianity and halakha
The history of earliest Christianity in some ways hinged on halakhic debates. Jesus himself may be seen as a promoter of a liberal halakhic attitudes in some ways, and a conservative in others. For example, his reported lax attitude on such issues as hand-washing and commerce with Gentiles, marked him as a halakhic liberal, while his strict attitude on the question of divorce showed a more conservative bent. The question of Jesus' attitude toward Halakha, however, is clouded by the fact that the Gospels were written after Christianity had already broken with Judaism for the most part, with only the Gospel of Matthew maintaining a basically Jewish character in which Jesus urges his disciples to "exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees." One thing all four Gospels agree upon, however, is that at least some of the Pharisees considered Jesus far to liberal in his attitude toward Halakha.
A generation later, the Christian movement itself would be divided over certain basic question of halakah. The Apostle Paul would argue, for example, that Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised, while others—known in later times as Judaizers—would insist that new believers convert to Judaism and accept the full burden of Halakha before being considers as members of the church. According to Acts 15, a compromise was worked out in which Gentile would not have to be circumcised to join the church, but they must follow the Noahidic commandments such as refraining from idolatry, fornication, and certain dietary restrictions.
This, solution, however did not solve the problem of Jewish Christians interacting with Gentile Christians in worship and table fellowship, resulting in a heated disagreement between Paul and Peter at Antioch (Galatians 2) in which Paul accused Peter of hypocrisy for separating himself from the Gentile Christians in order to please certain "men from James." Ultimately Christianity would reject even some of the Noahide comments specified in Acts 15—such as the commandment against eating the flesh of still-living animals—while retaining the Ten Commandments and other aspects of the moral tradition of early Halakha.
See also
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Bleich, J. David. Contemporary Halakhic Problems. New York: Ktav. ISBN 0870684507
- Katz, Jacob. Divine Law in Human Hands—Case Studies in Halakhic Flexibility. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. ISBN 9652239801
- Lewittes, Mendell. Jewish Law: An Introduction. Northvale, N.J: Jason Aronson. ISBN 1568213026
- Roth, Joel. Halakhic Process: A Systemic Analysis. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary. ISBN 0873340353
- Spero, Shubert. Morality, Halakha, and the Jewish Tradition. The Library of Jewish law and ethics, v. 9. New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1983.
- Tomson, Peter J. Paul and the Jewish Law: Halakha in the Letters of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, v. 1. Assen [Netherlands]: Van Gorcum, 1990. ISBN 9780800624675
External links
- Judaism 101 Laws and Customs - Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- The Rules of Halacha. www.chabad.org. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- Talmudic Law. www.jewishencyclopedia.com.Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- Law, Codification of. www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- Entry on Halakhah. hsf.bgu.ac.il. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- Religious Praxis: The Meaning of Halakhah. tpeople.co.il. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
- Orthodox Responses to Sociological and Technological Change. www.daat.ac.il. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
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