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Mail.Liberal-Judaism |
| Volume 15 Number 21 | Mon Jan 9 23:50:01 2006 |
From: David.Eckhardt@cs.cmu.edu Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 01:36:57 -0500 Subject: Re: Each age may have its own list of questions > The idea behind "the vote and not a veto" is the tacit assumption > that we know which halaxah to give a vote. [...] Perhaps, the > Reconstructionist question sets the bar too high. I too have wondered this. Now I wonder if maybe some of the tools which come along with modernity might help. Maybe if RRC/UJ faculty studied Daf Yomi in front of a camera and archived the results online people could deepen their understanding of what's out there, on a "drop-in" basis? Dave Eckhardt
From: David Philips <davidphilips@mac.com> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 01:34:51 -0800 Subject: Re: Each age may have its own list of questions/Criticism of Conservative Judaism In mail.liberal-judaism v15n19, Michael wrote: > But with the halachic world I am describing serious debate over halacha can > only occur from within the bounds of the community of those committed to > both its obligation and observance. At least from the traditional > definition of halacha, the halachic communities self understanding is that > the obligation of halacha is not a choice of either the individual or the > community, rather it is an obligation from G-d through the medium of the > Torah. Those who accept that definition are part of the debate of what > halacha says. From my outsider's perspective, it seems that Michael was trying to say that the Conservative Movement is *not* halachic, while actually he was describing how the Conservative Movement *is* halachic. That is, it appears to me that those within the Conservative Movement debating halacha fit his description exactly: They *are* in a community committed to halachic observance; they *do* believe as a community that the yoke of the law is not a choice but an obligation from G-d; and they *have* accepted that yoke. As far as I can tell the only difference between them and the community Michael appears to identify with is that: 1. their self-defined halachic community is more their "core" community, and 2. the lack of observance of those in the Movement outside the core doesn't disenfranchise the core community--or even the community as a whole--from engaging in legitimate halachic debate, in their view. [The non-observant fringe, I would guess, keeps quiet during halachic debates.] It seems to me Michael's and ilan's (and Rabbi Sherwood's for that matter) critique of Conservative Judaism boils down to: 'Since a majority of your congregants range between non-observant and superficially observant, your core leadership should just give up and admit that your movement isn't halachic.' But from my perspective as a "Re" Jew [Re-form/newal/constructionist], if that were to happen it would be a tragedy, because nobody else is engaging modernity from a halachic viewpoint with as much heart. And I think the struggle of halacha with modernity is producing some of the most inspiring work in America. B'Shalom David David Philips Judaism is not simple and single-minded, but imbued with antithesis-- M.Buber
From: Robert Kaiser <judaismfaqs@yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 11:11:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: Gillman's views on halakha and aggadah Michael was asking for more detailed quotes on the view of JTS Professor Neil Gillman. He was skeptical of my description of how Gillman views the way that Jewish law changes over time. Nonetheless, here are Gillman's own words. ** begin quote ** There is a right way of behaving and a wrong way, do's and don'ts, positive commands and negative commands. And all of them are called by the generic term mishpatim, which JPS translates as "rules," or more generally, legal enactments. The author of the laws is God. It is God who commands how Israel is to behave. Law is an expression of covenant. Both are jurisprudential institutions. No single issue did more to shape all of Judaism to this very day than the fact that it originated in covenant which generated law. From then on, the most characteristically Jewish form of religious expression is law. We call it Halacha. But Halacha is embedded in a long story that begins with the creation of the world...It continues with the building of the desert sanctuary, the trek through the wilderness, the conquest of the Promised Land, with exile and redemption and the rest. We call this aggada. Halacha is embedded in aggada. Law is embedded in theology. The broader framework, then, is aggada, Halacha, aggada or, in our modern idiom, theology, Halacha, theology. When we claim that Halacha is "embedded" in aggada, we are using a thoroughly appropriate metaphor. Law is surrounded by story. Halacha may well be the most characteristically Jewish form of religious expression, but it is aggada -- theology -- that lends it authority. Without the story, we would have no idea why there is Halacha in the first place.... ** end quote ** To see the rest of this essay: "Law and (theological) order" A d'var Torah on Mishpatim by Rabbi Neil Gillman. New Jersey Jewish News http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/020305/torahmishpatim.html Shalom, Robert
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