The Evolution of Halakha

The Evolution of Halakha
Author: Avishai Blau
Publisher: Independently Published
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-04-11
Genre:
ISBN:

The Evolution of Halakha: How Orthodox Judaism Adapts to Modern Times is a comprehensive exploration of the Orthodox Jewish legal system and its ongoing adaptation to the challenges and opportunities of modernity. In this book, the author delves into the rich history of halakha, tracing its evolution from its earliest origins to the present day. Along the way, the book examines the key debates and controversies that have shaped the Orthodox Jewish community, including the role of women in the synagogue, the acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals, and the ongoing tension between tradition and modernity. Through in-depth analysis and engaging storytelling, the book offers a nuanced and thoughtful perspective on the ways in which the Orthodox Jewish community has navigated the complexities of modern times. It presents a range of perspectives and voices, drawing on the insights of rabbis, scholars, and community members to paint a complex and multifaceted picture of this dynamic legal system. Ultimately, The Evolution of Halakha offers a powerful testament to the resilience and adaptability of the Orthodox Jewish community. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of tradition and modernity, and in the ongoing evolution of one of the world's most fascinating legal systems.

Halakhah in the Making

Halakhah in the Making
Author: Aharon Shemesh
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2009-11-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520945034

Halakhah in the Making offers the first comprehensive study of the legal material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and its significance in the greater history of Jewish religious law (halakhah). Aharon Shemesh's pioneering study revives an issue long dormant in religious scholarship: namely, the relationship between rabbinic law, as written more than one hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and Jewish practice during the Second Temple. The monumental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran led to the revelation of this missing material and the closing of a two-hundred-year gap in knowledge, allowing work to begin comparing specific laws of the Qumran sect with rabbinic laws. With the publication of scroll 4QMMT-a polemical letter by Dead Sea sectarians concerning points of Jewish law-an effective comparison was finally possible. This is the first book-length treatment of the material to appear since the publication of 4QMMT and the first attempt to apply its discoveries to the work of nineteenth-century scholars. It is also the first work on this important topic written in plain language and accessible to nonspecialists in the history of Jewish law.

Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty

Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty
Author: Asaf Yedidya
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2019-05-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498534988

Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty examines the issues surrounding national, political, and religious sovereignty from the vantage point of halakha and its evolution. The work analyzes the efforts of the interpretative communities who adhered to halakha—the rabbinical authorities—as well as other groups who endeavored to help or to change it: the Jewish jurists in Eretz Israel who sought to integrate sections of halakha into the Jewish collective; and the religious academics who wanted more meaningful recognition of halakha in non-halakhic values. The assessment extends from the beginning of the Jewish national movement in the last two decades of the 19th century to the first two decades of the State of Israel, when weighty problems arose that required a halakhic response to the challenge of sovereignty. In this, the volume sheds light on the pliable nature of the concept of halakha, particularly in conjunction with its application to the notion of sovereignty.

The Halakhah

The Halakhah
Author: Efraim Elimelech Urbach
Publisher:
Total Pages: 562
Release: 1996
Genre: Jewish law
ISBN:

The Democratic Evolution of Halakhah

The Democratic Evolution of Halakhah
Author: David Raab
Publisher:
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9780692147641

This book sets out to provide a new perspective on the evolution of halakhah. According to David Raab, halakhah should be seen through a "people-centric" narrative, where the community of observant Jews - the People - drive the refinement, redefinition, change in, and, finally, acceptance of halakhah. In a word, the corpus of halakhah and the details of its observance as it is practiced today is what the people have decided it to be. This people-centric evolution of Jewish law should be characterized as democratic.

Between Israel and God

Between Israel and God
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 656
Release: 2000
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9789004116115

The Halakhah embodies the complete Jewish Law, and contains commandments and guidelines for day-to-day living. The original commandments given by God to the Jewish people were enhanced by rabbis to offer a detailed framework to guide the lives of all Jews. In this complete, all-encompassing encyclopaedia of the Halakhah, the various laws are classified in such a way that a systematic and coherent structure is obtained. Each entry of the Halakhah is presented in a logical fashion. Where applicable, the original biblical wording is given, extended with literal abstracts from the Torah. Next, problems and questions that may arise from that law are stated and any additional information given. Finally, each entry gives comprehensive explanations and recommendations as to how these laws are to be observed in daily life - where to be and where not to be, what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say. The Halakhah, or standard Jewish Law, combines the Mishnah (about 200 CE), the Tosefta (about 300 CE), and the two Talmuds (about 400, 600 CE for the Land of Israel and Babylon, respectively). Volumes I and II contain entries pertaining to the Jewish people in relationship to God. Volume III explains how the Jewish people can restore and maintain their society in accordance with the Torah as it is explained by the rabbis. In Volumes IV and V of this study, we take up the life of the Jewish household in their encounter with God. The Encyclopaedic account therefore moves from regulating relationships between Israel and God to establishing stable and equitable relationships among Israelites and finally to actually living the Halakhah.

State of Halakha: Israel's History in Jewish Law

State of Halakha: Israel's History in Jewish Law
Author: Aviad Tabory
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-01-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9781592645534

The system of Jewish law is designed to guide us in major and minor areas of our lives. However, how is it applied in unprecedented situations? In this fascinating new work, rabbi and educator Aviad Tabory goes through watershed events and major issues in modern Israeli history, examining them through the lens of halakha. Examples include the 1961 capture of Adolph Eichmann and the obligation to bring murderers to justice; the Eli Cohen affair in Syria and how far one may go to protect the State of Israel; the 2005 Disengagement from Gush Katif and the issues surrounding the destructtion of synagogues; the religious ramifications for Jerusalem the capital when the American Embassy moved to Jerusalem. This work looks at halakha within the context of the pertinent historical, political, cultural and social issues at each time.

An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law

An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law
Author: Neil S. Hecht
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 496
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN:

Jewish law has a history stretching from the early period to the modern State of Israel, encompassing the Talmud, Geonic and later codifications, the Spanish Golden Age, medieval and modern response, the Holocaust and modern reforms. Fifteen distinct periods are separately studied in this volume, each one by a leading specialist, and the emphasis throughout is on the development of the institutions and sources of the law, providing teachers with the essential background material from which a variety of sources, from many different perspectives, may be taught. Most chapters are written to a common plan, with treatment of the political background of the period and the nature of Jewish judicial autonomy, the character (literary and legal) of the sources, the legal practice of the period, its principal authorities, and examples of characteristic features of the substantive law (especially in family law).

Halakhah

Halakhah
Author: Chaim N. Saiman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2020-09-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0691210853

How the rabbis of the Talmud transformed Jewish law into a way of thinking and talking about everything Typically translated as "Jewish law," halakhah is not an easy match for what is usually thought of as law. This is because the rabbinic legal system has rarely wielded the political power to enforce its rules, nor has it ever been the law of any state. Even more idiosyncratically, the talmudic rabbis claim the study of halakhah is a holy endeavor that brings a person closer to God—a claim no country makes of its law. Chaim Saiman traces how generations of rabbis have used concepts forged in talmudic disputation to do the work that other societies assign not only to philosophy, political theory, theology, and ethics but also to art, drama, and literature. Guiding readers across two millennia of richly illuminating perspectives, this panoramic book shows how halakhah is not just "law" but an entire way of thinking, being, and knowing.