Chapter 3 from Covenantal Imperatives: Essays by Walter S. Wurzburger on Jewish Law, Thought and Community

Essay excerpt by Walter S. Wurzburger,
edited by Eliezer L. Jacobs and Shalom Carmy

Darkhei Shalom¹ (on account of the ways of peace) represents a maxim which is frequently invoked in Talmudic literature as justification for a variety of rabbinic ordinances designed to supplement or modify biblical legislation. The range of subjects where the application of this rule has exerted a pronounced impact is rather extensive. But for fairly obvious reasons, it was primarily in areas where the utilization of this principle has affected relationships to the non-Jewish world that the analysis of its meaning and significance has evoked the greatest interest.

The basic question that must be faced is whether the enactments prompted by concern for darkhei shalom should be regarded as expediency measures dictated by the enlightened self-interest of the Jewish community or whether we are dealing in these cases with a supreme ethical principle which transcends purely pragmatic considerations.

Historically, divergent views have been presented on this question. On the one hand, Christian writers, bent as they are on demonstrating the alleged superiority of Christian universalism over Jewish particularism, tend to relegate darkhei shalom to the level of a purely prudential device aiming at facilitating coexistence with the non-Jewish world.

In what appears to be an overreaction precipitated by apologetic fervor, an array of prominent scholars such as Professors Hoffman, Lazarus, and

Lauterbach categorically reject any suggestion that darkhei shalom was intended solely as a device to protect the stability and security of the Jewish community. The ordinances promulgated to advance the “ways of peace,” they argue, were inspired not by purely pragmatic considerations of enlightened self-interest, but rather by lofty ethical principles.

One of the most crucial arguments advanced in support of the thesis that the “ways of peace” represent an overriding ethical principle, and do not merely reflect considerations of expediency, is based upon a Talmudic passage.²

The Babylonian Talmud states that the entire Torah reflects “the ways of peace,” as it is written, “Its ways are the ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace.”³It has been argued, that if, “the ways of peace” represent an all pervasive distinguishing feature of the entire Torah, how could such a prominent characteristic be relegated to the purely pragmatic level. What is overlooked in this argument is

Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu

by Gil Student

Halachah, Jewish law, evolves but only in a limited way. It has a static core whose applications and many details vary based on time, place, circumstance and authority. This dichotomy is often overlooked. Academics tend to emphasize the exceptional cases which do not reflect the larger corpus, while traditionalists reactively focus on the unchanging center. In truth, there is a natural and uncontroversial development that occurs throughout Jewish law. Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, associate professor of law at Emory University and a dayan in the Beth Din of America, studies the rule rather than the exception. He selected the miniprayer called Havineinu, about which there are numerous apparent contradictions within the Talmud. Who can recite it instead of the standard Shemoneh Esrei prayer? Under what circumstances?

Through Rabbi Broyde’s analysis, we see the changes in halachah that occur in the normal course of Torah study, as commentators debate the merits of different interpretations and rule accordingly.

The original review appeared in the Jewish Action in August 2011 and can be viewed here.

Review of Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu

by Marc Herman

How does Jewish law change?   How does a system that claims divine sanction adapt to new circumstances and justify such adaptations?  This is the subject of Michael J. Broyde’s latest contribution, Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu.  Broyde, Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law and member of the Rabbinical Council of America’s beth din, brings his considerable halakhic knowledge and legal prowess to bear on a rather obscure area of Jewish law, the mishnaic abridgment of the Amidah, known as Havineinu.  Any casual observer of contemporary Jewish practice will notice that Havineinu has fallen into disuse; accounting for the abandonment of this shortened-prayer is the task of this monograph.

The bulk of this book, four of the five chapters, reads like an extended synagogue lecture series, which makes it difficult to read as an academically oriented tome. Admirably, sources are cited, translated thoroughly, and organized in clear, accessible charts.  The audience of this book is clearly not the

Lookstein Bookjed Digest on Jewish Prayer the Right Way

by Marc Rosenberg

Davening is one of those things in life that definitely gets better with age. Teaching people how to daven is also easier talked about than practiced and is often left to modeling (watching how other people perform) or reading literature on tefilla. While there are many works that complement the siddur, reading Rabbi J. Simcha Cohen’s Jewish Prayer the Right Way: Resolving Halachic Dilemmas (Urim Publications 2012) one discovers an easily digestible resource and an important addition to an educator’s library.

Cohen’s style of writing is extremely clear and the queries presented on each aspect of tefilla lend to excellent trigger topics for formal and informal educators looking to prepare for activities. I could almost hear how such a book was developed out of a tefilla course given at a high school or from mini-lectures between mincha/maariv in a local shul. This work reflects both Cohen’s scholarly and rabbinic pedigree and his keen eye for what resonates with contemporary readers. Topics range from “The Chazzan’s Place” and “Prayers for Luxury” to “Kaddish for a Gentile Parent” and “Davening on the Airplane”.

One shortfall of this work, I found, was in the title. In proclaiming what appears to be his series of “the Right Way” Cohen seems to be espousing that there is a single halachic answer to each question presented, whereas in my personal experience and paying close attention to several excerpts in this book, there is sometimes no clear answer to conclude. As some of the questions do address issues of minhag I found the scent of this authoritarian angle to misrepresent what the goal of writing this was to do. This title clause does not however detract from the bountiful research within the binding but I would have liked to read more in the introduction from the author on this issue.

Another curiosity in reviewing this book was the quiet side stepping of clearly more controversial tefilla issues. The closest you get to a question in the neighborhood of feminism is “Women Davening in Synagogues”. Cohen does address, in the sub chapter on “Kavod Hatzibur”, of women being called up to the Torah but does not reference any possible impact or contextualization and concludes with a short one sentence paragraph stating that “it would be a breach of Jewish law and tradition for any congregation to assume that they have the authority to annul the ordinance of the Talmudic Sages prohibiting women from being called up for an aliyah” (241). In the most objective manner that I can write, I would like to have seen the issue addressed in a more practical application.

Overall, Jewish Prayer the Right Way offers a rich reading on the topic of tefilla and should be acquired by educators and readers who want to be enriched by the story of how religious law and life are intertwined.

Marc Rosenberg blogs about Tefillah at http://davenspot.blogspot.com/

Urim Publications Summer 2011 Catalog

Click the image above or Urim Publications Summer 2011 catalog for the catalog now available in PDF format.

JewishMediaReview on Silver From the Land of Israel

Silver From the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Sabbath and Holidays From Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook
Rabbi Chanan Morrison
Urim Publications
Hardcover, 271 Pages.
ISBN 978-965-524-042-9

Because of their poetic and mystical nature, Rav Kook’s writings are difficult even for readers who are fluent in Hebrew and rabbinic texts. Silver from the Land of Israel uses a clear, succinct style to provide the reader with a window into Rav Kook’s original and creative insights.

A companion volume to Gold from the Land of Israel on the Torah, this book presents Rav Kook’s thoughts on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. It elucidates his views on many topics, including:

What is the inner meaning of the shofar blasts?

Why are we instructed to drink on Purim?

What were Rav Kook’s views on secular Zionism?

What is the role of art and literature?

Why do we need both an oral and written Torah?

Why must the Jewish calendar be set in the land of Israel?

Why does a Jewish king need his own sefer Torah?

In what way is the Shabbat like a bride?

Why do we not celebrate Chanukah with a festive meal?

Why is the Temple so important to us?

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935), the celebrated first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, is recognized as being among the most important Jewish thinkers. Just as his writings reflect the mystic’s search for underlying unity in all aspects of life and the world, his unique personality united a rare combination of talents and gifts. A prominent rabbinical authority and active public leader, Rav Kook was, at the same time, a deeply religious mystic. He was both Talmudic scholar and poet, original thinker and tzaddik.  – For a brief biography of Rav Kook, see the reviewer’s Shepherd of Jerusalem –

http://www.jewishgrowth.org/cgi-bin/books.cgi?action=details&book_id=10027

After graduating with a B.A. in mathematics from Yeshiva University (New York), Rabbi Chanan Morrison studied for several years at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav, the Jerusalem yeshiva founded by Rav Kook in 1924. He was ordained after completing rabbinical studies in the Ohr Torah Stone (Efrat) and Midrash Sephardi (Jerusalem) rabbinical seminaries.

Rabbi Morrison taught Jewish studies for several years in Harrisburg, PA, before returning to Israel. He and his family subsequently settled in Mitzpe Yericho, an Israeli community in the Judean Desert.

In an effort to maintain contact with former students, Rabbi Morrison began emailing articles on the weekly Torah portion based on Rav Kook’s writings. Over the years, this email list grew quickly and now reaches thousands of readers from all over the world. Rabbi Morrison is frequently featured in the Torah section of the Arutz Sheva website, and his work can be read on his own website at http://ravkooktorah.org. His first book of essays of Rav Kook’s writings, Gold from the Land of Israel, was published by Urim Publications in 2006.

From Jewish Media Review

Book Launch Audio File for Daniel Sperber’s On Changes in Jewish Liturgy

 

 

The Book Launch for On Changes in Jewish Liturgy: Options and Limitations by Daniel Sperber occurred on January 13, 2011.

For the audio recording, please click here.

Innovation in Jewish Law review

by Pinchas Roth

Many battles have been fought over the question of how Jewish law changes, if at all. The issues are usually fraught and the discussion is highly emotional and explosive. Publicists and historians use them as grist for their mills, but the legal scholar is left frustrated by the lack of dispassionate thought about the underlying issues. Michael Broyde, a professor of law and also an important Halakhic decisor, chose an innocuous aspect of Jewish law, and used it as a case study to investigate the general question of how innovation occurs in halakhah. His analysis focuses on Havinenu, an abridged version of the daily prayer described in the Mishnah and the Talmud. Today, this prayer is virtually unknown and almost universally unused, and Broyde asks why that is. Discussing this example allows him to demonstrate his general claim, that halakhah changes over time through the intensive process of learning, interpretation and re-interpretation. New interpretation – chiddush – is the vehicle for organic change.

This slim volume follows the history of interpretation of the talmudic sources methodically and carefully. It provides a rare opportunity to watch the thought process of a halakhist as he progresses from the primary sources, navigating the various and conflicting interpretations by medieval and early modern commentators, to practical conclusions about the present day. Most of the book consists of textual analysis of sources presented in Hebrew and in English translation, and the author makes an effort to explain these sources in an accessible way. Not light reading, but an opportunity for readers without a very strong background in Jewish law to study a topic in depth.

The original article may be found here in the AJL Newsletter.

Changing Jewish law the halachic way

by Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Most of the scholarly materials reviewed in this column are academic works. Using sociological, anthropological and psychological insights, their authors analyze an aspect of Judaism – for example Jewish law, history, holiday customs, etc. – from an objective viewpoint. The approach used in these studies is identical to that used in studies of other religious and ethnic groups: scholars examine a religion or culture by placing it in historical context. However, a different way to study Judaism – one more commonly found in yeshivot and Orthodox synagogues – is to work from inside the halachic (legal) system, not only to learn abstractly about Jewish law, but to incorporate the discoveries into religious practice. In his “Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu,” Michael J. Broyde focuses on one particular prayer to explore how changes in Jewish law occur.

Remembering the Sabbath

Judith Shulevitz brings up the idea that raising your consciousness of the value of Shabbat is important whether or not you actually keep it.

by Barbara Sofer

‘Keeping the Sabbath, I felt, would be good for me. It would force me to grow up and take my place among the generations. It would charge my domestic middle-aged life with drama and significance, whereas now it felt drained and resigned. But in order for this to happen I would have to stop feeling so ambivalent about the day.”

So writes former New York Times and Slate columnist and literary critic Judith Shulevitz. The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time is her ambitious attempt to resolve her ambivalence by combining an encyclopedic history of the seventh day with a spiritual autobiography.