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88-460: Abraham ben David ( c.  1125 – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for Rabbeinu Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III , was a Provençal rabbi , an important commentator on the Talmud , Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (known by the abbreviation RIF) and Mishne Torah of Maimonides , and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key links in

176-624: A December 2006 opinion lifting all rabbinic prohibitions on homosexual conduct (the opinion held that only male-male anal sex was forbidden by the Bible and that this remained prohibited). Conservative Judaism also made a number of changes to the role of women in Judaism including counting women in a minyan , permitting women to chant from the Torah, and ordaining women as rabbis . The Conservative approach to halakhic interpretation can be seen in

264-487: A community recognizes a certain judicial system to resolve its disputes and interpret its laws." Given this covenantal relationship, rabbis are charged with connecting their contemporary community with the traditions and precedents of the past. When presented with contemporary issues, rabbis go through a halakhic process to find an answer. The classical approach has permitted new rulings regarding modern technology. For example, some of these rulings guide Jewish observers about

352-469: A complete enumeration of the rules of interpretation current in his day, but that they omitted from their collections many rules which were then followed." Akiva devoted his attention particularly to the grammatical and exegetical rules, while Ishmael developed the logical. The rules laid down by one school were frequently rejected by another because the principles that guided them in their respective formulations were essentially different. According to Akiva,

440-586: 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 . 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

528-408: 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

616-636: A result of the back-and-forth transliteration between Rabbinical Hebrew and Old Occitan ), Lunel (which is informally transliterated Lunil ), and the city of Montpellier , 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the Mediterranean coast. It also included cities which at that time formed part of the Catalonia 's political and cultural domain, such as Perpignan . In some ways, the Jewish traditions of Catalonia were closer to those of Provence than to those of

704-426: A self-evident trust that their pattern of life and belief now conformed to the sacred patterns and beliefs presented by scripture and tradition". According to an analysis by Jewish scholar Jeffrey Rubenstein of Michael Berger's book Rabbinic Authority , the authority that rabbis hold "derives not from the institutional or personal authority of the sages but from a communal decision to recognize that authority, much as

792-561: A short time, and then moved to Nîmes , where he lived for a considerable period. R' Moses ben Judah refers to the rabbinical school of Nîmes, then under RABaD's direction, as the chief seat of Talmudic learning in Provence. The center of the RABaD's activity was Posquières , after which place he is often called. The town is known as Vauvert today. It is difficult to determine when he moved to Posquières; but about 1165, Benjamin of Tudela , at

880-588: 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

968-520: Is a literal quotation from Honein ben Isaac 's "Musre ha-Philosophim," pp. 11, 12 (or Loewenthal, p. 39), which is extant only in Al-Charizi 's translation. The Ravad had many descendants, who today could carry the family name Raivid, Rayvid, Ravid, and Ravad. Family records indicate they made their way to Spain, where they appeared in Toledo and Barcelona and were reputedly advisers in

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1056-405: 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 , unless supported by another, relevant earlier precedent; see list below. On the other hand, another principle recognizes

1144-455: Is actually counter-productive. They propose that Judaism has entered a phase of ethical monotheism, and that the laws of Judaism are only remnants of an earlier stage of religious evolution, and need not be followed. This is considered wrong, and even heretical , by Orthodox and Conservative Judaism. Humanistic Jews value the Torah as a historical, political, and sociological text written by their ancestors. They do not believe "that every word of

1232-547: Is an evolving concept and that the traditional halakhic system is incapable of producing a code of conduct that is meaningful for, and acceptable to, the vast majority of contemporary Jews. Reconstructionist founder Mordecai Kaplan believed that "Jewish life [is] meaningless without Jewish law.", and one of the planks of the Society for the Jewish Renascence, of which Kaplan was one of the founders, stated: "We accept

1320-680: 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

1408-577: Is considered to be a true teaching, even if it is not the true teaching in according to the heavens. For instance, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik believes that the job of a halakhic decisor is to apply halakha − which exists in an ideal realm−to people's lived experiences. Moshe Shmuel Glasner , the chief rabbi of Cluj ( Klausenberg in German or קלויזנבורג in Yiddish) stated that the Oral Torah

1496-512: Is derived from the root which means "to behave" (also "to go" or "to walk"). Halakha not only guides religious practices and beliefs; it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, widespread observance of the laws of the Torah is first in evidence beginning in the second century BCE. 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

1584-684: 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 . 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,

1672-439: Is normative and binding, and is developed as a partnership between people and God based on Sinaitic Torah. While there are a wide variety of Conservative views, a common belief is that halakha is, and has always been, an evolving process subject to interpretation by rabbis in every time period. See Conservative Judaism, Beliefs . Reconstructionist Judaism holds that halakha is normative and binding, while also believing that it

1760-475: Is often contrasted with aggadah ("the telling"), the diverse corpus of rabbinic exegetical , narrative, philosophical, mystical, and other "non-legal" texts. 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

1848-553: Is so loose that not attending synagogue may lead them to drop it altogether, their rabbi may give them a dispensation to drive there and back; and more recently in its decision prohibiting the taking of evidence on mamzer status on the grounds that implementing such a status is immoral. The CJLS has also held that the Talmudic concept of Kavod HaBriyot permits lifting rabbinic decrees (as distinct from carving narrow exceptions) on grounds of human dignity, and used this principle in

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1936-422: Is still seen as binding. Conservative Jews use modern methods of historical study to learn how Jewish law has changed over time, and are, in some cases, willing to change Jewish law in the present. A key practical difference between Conservative and Orthodox approaches is that Conservative Judaism holds that its rabbinical body's powers are not limited to reconsidering later precedents based on earlier sources, but

2024-568: Is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah . Halakha is based on biblical commandments ( mitzvot ), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws , and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the Shulchan Aruch . Halakha is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word

2112-466: 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

2200-622: The "Sefer Ba'alei ha-Nefesh" (The Book of the Conscientious), a treatise on the laws relating to women, published in 1602, and his commentary on Torath Kohanim , published in 1862 at Vienna . While Rashi 's commentary furnished a well-paved road to the Talmud; Raavad, by his acute criticism, pointed out the way intelligently and with discrimination. This critical tendency is characteristic of all of Raavad's writings. Thus, in his commentary upon Torath Kohanim (pp. 41a, 71b), he made

2288-531: The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) is empowered to override Biblical and Taanitic prohibitions by takkanah (decree) when perceived to be inconsistent with modern requirements or views of ethics. The CJLS has used this power on a number of occasions, most famously in the "driving teshuva", which says that if someone is unable to walk to any synagogue on the Sabbath, and their commitment to observance

2376-718: The French Revolution , when France annexed Comtat Venaissin, the Provençal rite was replaced by the Portuguese Sephardic liturgy, which is used by the Jews of Carpentras today. Halakha Halakha ( / h ɑː ˈ l ɔː x ə / hah- LAW -khə ; Hebrew : הֲלָכָה , romanized :  hălāḵā , Sephardic : [halaˈχa] ), also transliterated as halacha , halakhah , and halocho ( Ashkenazic : [haˈlɔχɔ] ),

2464-409: 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 . According to the Talmud ( Tractate Makot ), 613 mitzvot are in

2552-677: The Kingdom of Castile and al-Andalus . There was a distinctive Provençal liturgy used by the Jews of the Papal enclave of Comtat Venaissin , who remained following the expulsion of the Jews from the rest of France . This liturgy was intermediate in character between the Sephardi rites and the Nusach Ashkenaz , and was in some ways closer to the Italian rite than to either. After

2640-471: The Pulsa diNura , similar to a junior rabbi who had misrepresented the opinion of Levi ben Sisi . Such philosophical differences suffice to explain the intensity of Raavad's opposition to Maimonides, and particularly to Mishneh Torah , a work which Raavad himself describes as a great achievement. Abraham Zacuto recorded an anecdote whereby he claims that Rambam , during his lifetime, eventually conceded to

2728-592: The RABaD II ). He was the father of R' Isaac the Blind , a Neoplatonist and important Jewish mystical thinker. The teachers under whose guidance he acquired most of his Talmudic learning were R' Moses ben Joseph and R' Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel . RABaD remained in Lunel after completing his studies, and subsequently became one of the city's rabbinical authorities . He went to Montpellier , where he remained for

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2816-545: 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: 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

2904-554: 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

2992-469: The "divine" authority of halakha , traditional Jews have greater reluctance to change, not only the laws themselves but also other customs and habits, than traditional Rabbinical Judaism did prior to the advent of Reform in the 19th century. Orthodox Jews believe that halakha is a religious system whose core represents the revealed will of God. Although Orthodox Judaism acknowledges that rabbis have made many decisions and decrees regarding Jewish Law where

3080-456: The "traditionalist" wing believe that the halakha represents a personal starting-point, holding that each Jew is obligated to interpret the Torah, Talmud and other Jewish works for themselves, and this interpretation will create separate commandments for each person. Those in the liberal and classical wings of Reform believe that in this day and era, most Jewish religious rituals are no longer necessary, and many hold that following most Jewish laws

3168-496: The CJLS's acceptance of Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz's responsum decreeing the biblical category of mamzer as "inoperative." The CJLS adopted the responsum's view that the "morality which we learn through the larger, unfolding narrative of our tradition" informs the application of Mosaic law. The responsum cited several examples of how the rabbinic sages declined to enforce punishments explicitly mandated by Torah law. The examples include

3256-579: The Deity was common, and naturally Raavad resented a statement which practically declared his friends to be apostates. He, therefore, appended to Maimonides' formula this brief but emphatic criticism: "Why does he call such persons apostates? Men, better and worthier than he, have held this view, for which they believe they have found authority in the Scriptures and in a confusing view of the Aggadah ." While

3344-625: 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: In antiquity, the Sanhedrin functioned essentially as the Supreme Court and legislature (in the US judicial system) for Judaism, and had

3432-474: 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

3520-496: The Noahide Laws. They are a set of imperatives which, according to the Talmud, were given by God to the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humanity. Despite its internal rigidity, halakha has a degree of flexibility in finding solutions to modern problems that are not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. From the very beginnings of Rabbinic Judaism, halakhic inquiry allowed for a "sense of continuity between past and present,

3608-465: The Orthodox views that halakha was given at Sinai, Orthodox thought (and especially modern Orthodox thought) encourages debate, allows for disagreement, and encourages rabbis to enact decisions based on contemporary needs. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein says in his introduction to his collection of responsa that a rabbi who studies the texts carefully is required to provide a halakhic decision. That decision

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3696-648: The Provençal hekhamim occupy an intermediate position between the Sephardic Judaism of the neighboring Spanish scholars and the Old French (similar to the Nusach Ashkenaz ) tradition represented by the Tosafists. The term "Provence" in Jewish tradition is not limited to today's administrative region of Provence but to the entirety of Occitania . This includes Narbonne (which is sometimes informally, though incorrectly, transliterated as "Narvona" as

3784-522: The Rif, Rashi , and Maimonides . The tone he employed is also characteristic of his attitude toward the persons under criticism. He treated the Rif with the utmost respect, almost with humility, and referred to him as "the sun by whose brilliant rays our eyes are dazzled". His language toward R' Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona ("Baal Hamaor") was harsh, almost hostile. Though only eighteen years old, Zerachia possessed

3872-463: The Talmud (such as the sciences, philosophy, literature, and the Hebrew language), Ginzberg asserted that Ashkenazi Jews had no such outlets apart for Talmud study. Without the intricacies of the study of the Talmud and its commentaries, Ashkenazi Jews would have been left with no serious intellectual outlets. Raavad's criticism of Maimonides ' code of Jewish law, Mishneh Torah , was very harsh. This

3960-419: 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

4048-460: The Torah is true, or even morally correct, just because the Torah is old". The Torah is both disagreed with and questioned. Humanistic Jews believe that the entire Jewish experience, and not only the Torah, should be studied as a source for Jewish behavior and ethical values. Some Jews believe that gentiles are bound by a subset of halakha called the Seven Laws of Noah , also referred to as

4136-815: The Torah, 248 positive ("thou shalt") mitzvot and 365 negative ("thou shalt not") mitzvot , supplemented by seven mitzvot legislated by the rabbis of antiquity. 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. Rabbinic Judaism divides laws into categories: This division between revealed and rabbinic commandments may influence

4224-409: 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

4312-457: The caustic observation that many obscure passages in rabbinical literature owe their obscurity to the fact that occasional explanatory or marginal notes not tending to elucidate the text have been incorporated. The title of "Ba'al Hasagot" (Critic), given to Raavad frequently by the rabbis, showed that they viewed the direction in which his ability lay. Indeed, critical annotations display his powers at their best, and justify his being ranked with

4400-471: The chain of Jewish mystics. RABaD's maternal grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak b. Yaakov Ibn Baruch of Mérida (1035–1094), who had compiled astronomical tables for the son of Shemuel ha-Nagid , was one of five rabbis in Spain renowned for their learning. Concerning the oral history of his maternal grandfather's family and how they came to Spain, the RABaD wrote: "When Titus prevailed over Jerusalem, his officer who

4488-410: The collections Temim De'im , Orot Hayyim , and Shibbolei haLeket , but he also wrote a commentary on the whole Talmud and compiled several compendiums of halakha . In 1991, Rabbi Yosef Qafih published a compendium of his responsa which he gleaned from various sources, forty-two of which derived from handwritten manuscripts in his possession. Most of his works are lost, but some survive, such as

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4576-519: 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. It may be descended from hypothetical reconstructed Proto-Semitic root *halak- meaning "to go", which also has descendants in Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic. Halakha

4664-634: The correctness of his disputant, the Ravad , saying of him, "In all my life, no one has ever beaten me, except a certain artisan." Many Kabbalists view the Ravad as one of the fathers of their system, and this is true to the extent that he was inclined to mysticism, which led him to follow an ascetic mode of life and gained for him the title of "the pious." He wrote that "the holy spirit has appeared in our beit midrash " and taught them specific halachic rulings, and attributed rulings to "The Lord's counsel to those who fear Him". A commentary to Sefer Yetzirah

4752-486: The courage and the ability to write a sharp criticism of the Rif, and Raavad referred to him as an immature youth who dared to criticize his teacher. According to Louis Ginzberg , Raavad's hasagot are notable for having prevented the replacement of the Talmud study with the exclusive study of the codes of Isaac Alfasi and Maimonides. While Jews in Muslim countries had a wide variety of serious intellectual outlets besides

4840-622: The court of Ferdinand and Isabella . After the Expulsion , they were exiled to Italy , from whence they made their way to northern, and later to eastern, Europe, where they served as rabbis in Telšiai , Lithuania , and teachers in its Telshe yeshiva . Before the First World War , they emigrated to countries throughout the world, and today they live on every inhabited continent. Dr. David Raphael author of The Alhambra Decree and director of

4928-468: 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

5016-417: The divine language of the Torah is distinguished from the speech of men by the fact that in the former no word or sound is superfluous. Some scholars have observed a similarity between these rabbinic rules of interpretation and the hermeneutics of ancient Hellenistic culture. For example, Saul Lieberman argues that the names of rabbi Ishmael's middot (e. g., kal vahomer , a combination of the archaic form of

5104-458: The eternity of Torah be understood [properly], for the changes in the generations and their opinions, situation and material and moral condition requires changes in their laws, decrees and improvements. The view held by Conservative Judaism is that the Torah is not the word of God in a literal sense. However, the Torah is still held as mankind's record of its understanding of God's revelation, and thus still has divine authority. Therefore, halakha

5192-475: The fact that he encouraged the translation of R' Bahya ibn Paquda 's Chovot HaLevavot shows that he was not hostile to philosophy. This philosophic work argues strongly against the anthropomorphic conception of the Deity; and the favor with which Raavad looked upon it is sufficient grounds to acquit him of the charge of having held anthropomorphic views. Some of his works show acquaintance with philosophy ; for instance, his remark on "Hilchot Teshuvah" , 5, end,

5280-547: The first commentator upon the Jerusalem Talmud ; Abraham ben Nathan of Lunel, author of HaManhig ; Meir ben Isaac of Carcassonne, author of Sefer haEzer ; and Asher ben Meshullam of Lunel, author of several rabbinical works. RABaD's influence on Jonathan of Lunel is also evident, though the latter did not attend his lectures. RABaD was a prolific author. He not only wrote answers to hundreds of learned questions, to which responsa are still partially preserved in

5368-472: The further development of Talmud study by reducing it to the form of a code, Raavad felt it his duty to oppose such an attempt, as contrary to the free spirit of rabbinical Judaism, which refuses to surrender blindly to authority. Raavad was thus an opponent to the codification of the Halakha; but he was even more strongly opposed to the construction of a system of dogmas in Judaism, particularly according to

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5456-462: The halakha, which is rooted in the Talmud, as the norm of Jewish life, availing ourselves, at the same time, of the method implicit therein to interpret and develop the body of Jewish Law in accordance with the actual conditions and spiritual needs of modern life." Reform Judaism holds that modern views of how the Torah and rabbinic law developed imply that the body of rabbinic Jewish law is no longer normative (seen as binding) on Jews today. Those in

5544-475: The importance of a rule, its enforcement and the nature of its ongoing interpretation. 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 and that the first category is immutable, with exceptions only for life-saving and similar emergency circumstances. A second classical distinction

5632-506: The lord of Posquières, had him cast into prison, where, like Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg , he might have died, had not Count Roger II Trencavel , who was friendly to the Jews, intervened, and by his sovereignty banished the lord of Posquières to Carcassonne . Thereupon he returned to Posquières, where he remained until his death. Among the many learned Talmudists who were his disciples in Posquières were Rabbis Isaac ha-Kohen of Narbonne ,

5720-474: The method followed by Maimonides, who often set up the concepts of the Aristotelian philosophy as Jewish theology . For example, Maimonides (in accordance with his philosophical conviction) declared God's incorporeality to be a principle of faith, or, as he formulates it, "whosoever conceives God to be a corporeal being is an apostate". In Raavad's circles a certain mystical anthropomorphistic conception of

5808-661: The musical documentary Song of the Sephardi is a descendant of the Ravad by Crespin Astruc, Ha Levi(14th century) [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Louis Ginzberg (1901–1906). "Abraham ben David of Posquieres" . In Singer, Isidore ; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Proven%C3%A7al rabbi In matters of halakha , as well as in their traditions and customs,

5896-487: The outset of his travels, called upon him there. He spoke of the Ravad's wealth and benevolence. Not only did he erect and keep in repair a large school-building, but he also cared for the material welfare of the poor students. A street exists in Vauvert with the name "Rue Ravad"' dedicated after him on the 800 anniversary of his death. His great wealth brought him into peril of his life because, to obtain some of it, Elzéar,

5984-463: 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

6072-510: The phrase concerning the Aggadah shows that Raavad himself was not a corporealist, he nevertheless opposed Maimonides' elevating incorporeality into a dogma. When Raavad conversely found Maimonides' opinions on the World to Come and the eternity of the world to be heretical, he has no word of vituperation for Maimonides, but merely contented himself with recording his difference of opinion. Thus,

6160-551: 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

6248-713: 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 . 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

6336-515: The proper use of electricity on the Sabbath and holidays. Often, as to the applicability of the law in any given situation, the proviso is to "consult your local rabbi or posek ". This notion lends rabbis a certain degree of local authority; however, for more complex questions the issue is passed on to higher rabbis who will then issue a teshuva , which is a responsa that is binding. Indeed, rabbis will continuously issue different opinions and will constantly review each other's work so as to maintain

6424-521: 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. The word halakha is derived from the Hebrew root halakh – "to walk" or "to go". Taken literally, therefore, halakha translates as "the way to walk", rather than "law". The word halakha refers to

6512-409: 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

6600-512: The sources and authorities from which its decisions were derived, and offered no proof of the correctness of its statements, was (in Raavad's opinion) entirely unreliable for practical rulings, for which purpose Maimonides had specifically designed it. Such a code (Raavad thought) could be justified only if written by a man claiming infallibility; by one who could demand that his assertions be accepted without question. If Maimonides had intended to stem

6688-456: 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 various ways. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael and their scholars especially contributed to the development or establishment of these rules. "It must be borne in mind, however, that neither Hillel, Ishmael, nor [a contemporary of theirs named] Eliezer ben Jose sought to give

6776-405: The time, as forbidden. Maimonides (who, from the point of view of his philosophy, viewed divination as a pure absurdity) ruled that even the innocent actions of Eliezer ( Gen 24:14 ) and Jonathan ( 1 Sam 14:8–10 ) were forbidden divination. Here Raavad was not content with ruling Eliezer's and Jonathan's actions to have been permitted, but he declared that Maimonides deserved to be stricken with

6864-401: The trial of the accused adulteress ( sotah ), the "law of breaking the neck of the heifer," and the application of the death penalty for the "rebellious child." Kaplan Spitz argues that the punishment of the mamzer has been effectively inoperative for nearly two thousand years due to deliberate rabbinic inaction. Further he suggested that the rabbis have long regarded the punishment declared by

6952-409: The truest sense of halakha . Overall, this process allows rabbis to maintain connection of traditional Jewish law to modern life. Of course, the degree of flexibility depends on the sect of Judaism, with Reform being the most flexible, Conservative somewhat in the middle, and Orthodox being much more stringent and rigid. Modern critics, however, have charged that with the rise of movements that challenge

7040-467: The ultra-conservative Talmudist showed himself to be more theologically tolerant than the greatest of the medieval Jewish philosophers. Raavad was particularly severe on what he saw as Maimonides' attempts to smuggle in his philosophic views under cover of Talmudic passages. For example: Talmudic opinions on the definition of forbidden divination differ widely, perhaps because it was impractical to view every superstitious practice, many common among Jews at

7128-500: The utmost accuracy and care. The most widely accepted codes of Jewish law are known as Mishneh Torah and the Shulchan Aruch . Orthodox Judaism has a range of opinions on the circumstances and extent to which change is permissible. Haredi Jews generally hold that even minhagim (customs) must be retained, and existing precedents cannot be reconsidered. Modern Orthodox authorities are more inclined to permit limited changes in customs and some reconsideration of precedent. Despite

7216-715: The word for "straw" and the word for "clay" – "straw and clay", referring to the obvious [means of making a mud brick]) are Hebrew translations of Greek terms, although the methods of those middot are not Greek in origin. Orthodox Judaism holds that halakha is the divine law as laid out in the Torah (five books of Moses), rabbinical laws, rabbinical decrees, and customs combined. The rabbis, who made many additions and interpretations of Jewish Law, did so only in accordance with regulations they believe were given for this purpose to Moses on Mount Sinai , see Deuteronomy 17:11 . See Orthodox Judaism, Beliefs about Jewish law and tradition . Conservative Judaism holds that halakha

7304-528: The written Torah itself is nonspecific, they did so only in accordance with regulations received by Moses on Mount Sinai (see Deuteronomy 5:8–13 ). These regulations were transmitted orally until shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple . They were then recorded in the Mishnah, and explained in the Talmud and commentaries throughout history up until the present day. Orthodox Judaism believes that subsequent interpretations have been derived with

7392-555: Was an oral tradition by design, to allow for the creative application of halakha to each time period, and even enabling halakha to evolve. He writes: Thus, whoever has due regard for the truth will conclude that the reason the [proper] interpretation of the Torah was transmitted orally and forbidden to be written down was not to make [the Torah] unchanging and not to tie the hands of the sages of every generation from interpreting Scripture according to their understanding. Only in this way can

7480-574: Was appointed over Hispania appeased him, requesting that he send to him captives made-up of the nobles of Jerusalem, and so he sent a few of them to him, and there were amongst them those who made curtains and who were knowledgeable in the work of silk, and [one] whose name was Baruch, and they remained in Mérida." RABaD was born in Provence , France, and died at Posquières . He was the son-in-law of Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne Av Beth Din (known as

7568-409: 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 . For example, the first chapter of Bava Kamma , contains a formulation of the law of torts worded in the first person. The boundaries of Jewish law are determined through

7656-413: Was not due to any personal ill-feeling, but rather a result of the radical differences of view in matters of faith between the two greatest Talmudists of the twelfth century. Maimonides aimed to bring order to the vast labyrinth of Halakha by presenting final results in a definite, systematic and methodical manner. But to Raavad, this very aim was the main defect of the work. A legal code that did not state

7744-542: Was once attributed to him, but has been shown instead to be the work of Yosef ben Shalom Ashkenazi  [ he ] . The Ravad is widely considered to be the source of the commonly used diagram of the Sephirot of the Tree of Life that was ultimately written down by his son Isaac the Blind . The Ravad was not an enemy of science, as many deem him. His works show that he was a close student of Hebrew philology, and

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