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ious practices and beliefs it also guides numerous aspects of day to day life 2 historically widespread observance of the laws of the torah is first in evidence beginning in the second century bce and some say that the first evidence was even earlier 3 in the jewish diaspora halakha served many jewish communities as an enforceable avenue of law both civil and religious since no differentiation of them exists in classical judaism since the jewish enlightenment haskalah and jewish emancipation some have come to view the halakha as less binding in day to day life because it relies on rabbinic interpretation as opposed to the authoritative canonical text which is recorded in the hebrew bible under contemporary israeli law certain areas of israeli family and personal status law are for jews under the authority of the rabbinic courts so they are treated according to halakha some minor differences in halakha are found among ashkenazi jews mizrahi jews sephardi jews yemenite ethiopian and other jewish communities which historically lived in isolation 4 etymology and terminology edit a full set of the babylonian talmud the word halakha is derived from the hebrew root halakh to walk or to go 5 252 taken literally therefore halakha translates as the way to walk rather than law the word halakha refers to the corpus of rabbinic legal texts or to the overall system of religious law the term may also be related to akkadian ilku a property tax rendered in aramaic as halakh designating one or several obligations 6 it may be descended from hypothetical reconstructed proto semitic root halakh meaning to go which also has descendants in akkadian arabic aramaic and ugaritic 7 halakha is often contrasted with aggadah the telling the diverse corpus of rabbinic exegetical narrative philosophical mystical and other non legal texts 6 at the same time since writers of halakha may draw upon the aggadic and even mystical literature a dynamic interchange occurs between the genres halakha also does not include the parts of the torah not related to commandments halakha constitutes the practical application of the 613 mitzvot commandments in the torah as developed through discussion and debate in the classical rabbinic literature especially the mishnah and the talmud the oral torah and as codified in the mishneh torah and shulchan aruch 8 because halakha is developed and applied by various halakhic authorities rather than one sole official voice different individuals and communities may well have different answers to halakhic questions with few exceptions controversies are not settled through authoritative structures because during the jewish diaspora jews lacked a single judicial hierarchy or appellate review process for halakha according to some scholars the words halakha and sharia both mean literally the path to follow the fiqh literature parallels rabbinical law developed in the talmud with fatwas being analogous to rabbinic responsa 9 10 commandments mitzvot edit main articles mitzvah mitzvot and jewish law and 613 commandments according to the talmud tractate makot 613 mitzvot are in the torah 248 positive thou shalt mitzvot and 365 negative thou shalt not mitzvot supplemented by seven mitzvot legislated by the rabbis of antiquity 11 currently many of the 613 commandments cannot be performed until the building of the temple in jerusalem and the universal resettlement of the jewish people in the land of israel by the messiah according to one count only 369 can be kept meaning that 40 of mitzvot are not possible to perform of these 369 126 of these are positive mitzvot and 243 are negative 12 rabbinic judaism divides laws into categories 13 14 sefer torah at glockengasse synagogue museum exhibits cologne the law of moses which are believed to have been revealed by god to the israelites at biblical mount sinai these laws are composed of the following the written torah laws written in the hebrew bible the oral torah laws believed to have been transmitted orally prior to their later compilation in texts such as the mishnah talmud and rabbinic codes laws of human origin including rabbinic decrees interpretations customs etc this division between revealed and rabbinic commandments may influence the importance of a rule its enforcement and the nature of its ongoing interpretation 13 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 15 and that the first category is immutable with exceptions only for life saving and similar emergency circumstances a second classical distinction is between the written law laws written in the hebrew bible and the oral law laws which are believed to have been transmitted orally prior to their later compilation in texts such as the mishnah talmud and rabbinic codes commandments are divided into positive and negative commands which are treated differently in terms of divine and human punishment positive commandments require an action to be performed and are considered to bring the performer closer to god negative commandments traditionally 365 in number forbid a specific action and violations create a distance from god a further division is made between chukim decrees laws without obvious explanation such as shatnez the law prohibiting wearing clothing made of mixtures of linen and wool mishpatim judgements laws with obvious social implications and eduyot testimonies or commemorations such as the shabbat and holidays through the ages various rabbinical authorities have classified some of the 613 commandments in many ways a different approach divides the laws into a different set of categories 16 laws in relation to god bein adam lamakom lit between a person and the place and laws about relations with other people bein adam le chavero between a person and his friend sources and process edit eras of jewish law chazal lit our sages may their memory be blessed all jewish sages of the mishna tosefta and talmud eras c 250 bce c 625 ce the zugot pairs both the 200 year period c 170 bce 30 ce era of the pairs during the second temple period in which the spiritual leadership was in the hands of five successions of pairs of religious teachers and to each of these pairs themselves the tannaim repeaters were rabbis living primarily in eretz yisrael who codified the oral torah in the form of the mishnah 0 200 ce the amoraim sayers lived in both eretz yisrael and babylonia their teachings and discussions were compiled into the two versions of the gemara 200 500 the savoraim reasoners lived primarily in sassanid babylonia due to the suppression of judaism in the eastern roman empire under theodosius ii 500 650 the geonim greats or geniuses presided over the two major babylonian academies of sura and pumbedita 650 1038 the rishonim firsts are the rabbis of the late medieval period c 1038 1563 preceding the shulchan aruch the acharonim lasts are the rabbis from c 1500 to the present see also rabbinic literature the development of halakha in the period before the maccabees which has been described as the formative period in the history of its development is shrouded in obscurity historian yitzhak baer argued that there was little pure academic legal activity at this period and that many of the laws originating at this time were produced by a means of neighbourly good conduct rules in a similar way as carried out by greeks in the age of solon 17 for example the first chapter of bava kamma contains a formulation of the law of torts worded in the first person 5 256 the boundaries of jewish law are determined through the halakhic process a religious ethical system of legal reasoning rabbis generally base their opinions on the primary sources of halakha as well as on precedent set by previous rabbinic opinions the major sources and genre of halakha consulted include the foundational talmudic literature especially the mishna and the babylonian talmud with commentaries talmudic hermeneutics the science which defines the rules and methods for the investigation and exact determination of the meaning of the scriptures also includes the rules from which the halakhot are derived and which were established by the written law these may be seen as the rules from which early jewish law is derived gemara the talmudic process of elucidating the halakha the post talmudic codificatory literature such as maimonides s mishneh torah and the shulchan aruch with its commentaries see codes of jewish law below regulations and other legislative enactments promulgated by rabbis and communal bodies gezeirah declaration preventative legislation of the rabbis intended to prevent violations of the commandments takkanah repair or regulation positive legislation practices instituted by the rabbis not based directly on the commandments minhag customs community practices and customary law as well as the exemplary deeds of prominent or local rabbis the she eloth u teshuvoth responsa questions and answers literature dina d malchuta dina the law of the king is law an additional aspect of halakha being the principle recognizing non jewish laws and non jewish legal jurisdiction as binding on jewish citizens provided that they are not contrary to a law in judaism this principle applies primarily in areas of commercial civil and criminal law in antiquity the sanhedrin functioned essentially as the supreme court and legislature in the us judicial system for judaism and had the power to administer binding law including both received law and its own rabbinic decrees on all jews rulings of the sanhedrin became halakha see oral law that court ceased to function in its full mode in 40 ce today the authoritative application of jewish law is left to the local rabbi and the local rabbinical courts with only local applicability in branches of judaism that follow halakha lay individuals make numerous ad hoc decisions but are regarded as not having authority to decide certain issues definitively since the days of the sanhedrin however no body or authority has been generally regarded as having the authority to create universally recognized precedents as a result halakha has developed in a somewhat different fashion from anglo american legal systems with a supreme court able to provide universally accepted precedents generally halakhic arguments are effectively yet unofficially peer reviewed when a rabbinic posek he who makes a statement decisor proposes an additional 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 other rabbis and members of other jewish communities under this system there is a tension between the relevance of earlier and later authorities in constraining halakhic interpretation and innovation on the one hand there is a principle in halakha not to overrule a specific law from an earlier era after it is accepted by the community as a law or vow 18 unless supported by another relevant earlier precedent see list below on the other hand another principle recognizes the responsibility and authority of later authorities and especially the posek handling a then current question in addition the halakha embodies a wide range of principles that permit judicial discretion and deviation ben menahem notwithstanding the potential for innovation rabbis and jewish communities differ greatly on how they make changes in halakha notably poskim frequently extend the application of a law to new situations but do not consider such applications as constituting a change in halakha for example many orthodox rulings concerning electricity are derived from rulings concerning fire as closing an electrical circuit may cause a spark in contrast conservative poskim consider that switching on electrical equipment is physically and chemically more like turning on a water tap which is permissible by halakha than lighting a fire which is not permissible and therefore permitted on shabbat the reformative judaism in some cases explicitly interprets halakha to take into account its view of contemporary society for instance most conservative rabbis extend the application of certain jewish obligations and permissible activities to women see below within certain jewish communities formal organized bodies do exist within modern orthodox judaism there is no one committee or leader but modern us based orthodox rabbis generally agree with the views set by consensus by the leaders of the rabbinical council of america within conservative judaism the rabbinical assembly has an official committee on jewish law and standards 19 note that takkanot plural of takkanah in general do not affect or restrict observance of torah mitzvot sometimes takkanah refers to either gezeirot or takkanot however the talmud states that in exceptional cases the sages had the authority to uproot matters from the torah 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 thou shall stay seated and not do rabbis may rule that a specific mitzvah from the torah should not be performed e g blowing the shofar on shabbat or taking the lulav and etrog on shabbat these examples of takkanot which may be executed out of caution lest 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 of a prohibition in order to maintain the jewish system as a whole this was part of the basis for esther s relationship with ahasuerus xeres for general usage of takkanaot in jewish history see the article takkanah for examples of this being used in conservative judaism see conservative halakha historical analysis edit rabbinical eras chazal zugot tannaim amoraim savoraim geonim rishonim acharonim v t e the antiquity of the rules can be determined only by the dates of the authorities who quote them in general they cannot safely be declared older than the tanna repeater to whom they are first ascribed it is certain however that the seven middot measurements and referring to good behavior of hillel and the thirteen of ishmael are earlier than the time of hillel himself who was the first to transmit them the talmud gives no information concerning the origin of the middot although the geonim sages regarded them as sinaitic law given to moses at sinai 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 them restricted or expanded them in ...
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