The System of Halachah – VIII The Halachic Process
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n the first two classes in the Morasha series on the System of halachah, we learned how Jewish Law is built upon the Divine revelation of both the Written Torah and Oral Torah beginning on Mount Sinai, continuing through the prophets until the Second Temple. In the next five classes in this series, we saw how the Sages and rabbis served as the carriers, interpreters and legislators of Jewish law, carefully transmitting the Torah from generation to generation until today. Now, in this final class in the System of Halacha series, we will explore the nature of the halachic process itself. When a Jew today asks a question of a competent authority in Jewish law, what stands behind the answer he or she is given? We will further examine key stages, rabbis and legal codifications that have developed throughout the chain of Torah transmission, as discussed in the fifth System of Halacha class. We will thus gain insight into the underpinnings and dynamics of the halachic process. Finally, we will illustrate the halachic process by looking at a typical example, namely, the contemporary question on whether one can fulfill the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting the sick) via the telephone, email, or Skype.
This class will address the following questions: On what authority do contemporary rabbis make halachic decisions? How is it that the Talmud is central to Jewish law, but it is not possible to derive halachah directly from it? What was the impact of post-Talmudic and Medieval Jewish scholars on the system of Jewish law? How did the Shulchan Aruch, the most widely accepted code of Jewish law, come to be written, and why is it so authoritative?
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The System of Halachah - Jewish Law