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October 24, 2017

Is Halakhah a System of Laws, or More Like a Language?

How rabbis lead from behind.

In an investigation of how traditional Jewish law operates, Moshe Koppel compares it with two competing models: that of a legal system, where general rules, written by legislators, are applied to specific instances and then enforced by police and courts, and that of a language, where native speakers learn rules through imitation and can change organically without a formal amendment process. He argues it is meant to be more like that latter:

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October 24, 2017

  1. In the West Bank, the EU Creates Its Own Facts on the Ground

    And demands compensation when Israel tries to enforce the law.

  2. Even the European Left Rejects BDS

    A win for Israel activists.

  3. Is Halakhah a System of Laws, or More Like a Language?

    How rabbis lead from behind.

  4. The Many Lives of an Early Work of Jewish Mysticism

    The Book of Creation.

  5. Thousands of Documents Rescued from the Nazis Resurface in a Church Basement

    The Nazi center for Jewish research and the paper brigade.