Yeshiva University Observer

Issue date: 8/24/08 Section: Editorials

We live in a world where we compartmentalize halakha, which we generally conceive of as being laws. What kind of laws? Why, the laws of Shabbat, in which case I may not strike a match on that day, or the laws of honoring one's father and mother, of giving charity, of keeping holidays. We think of halakha as a realm unto itself, in part because that is doubtless the way it was presented to us in elementary school and high school. One had Chumash [Bible] class, Navi [Prophets] class, Machshava [Jewish Philosophy] class, and Dinim [laws] or halakha class. We learned to think of halakha as being separate because it was portrayed as separate. To each class was its own particular subject. One learned tales from the Bible in Chumash class, stories of our kings and leaders in Prophets, different perspectives and ways of relating to Judaism in Machshava and cut-and-dried laws in Dinim. It is no wonder that we learned to think of halakha as separate.

Yet it is not separate. In fact, the current divisions that we make in terms of ideology are immaterial in terms of the greater perspective, and God's greater vision. All that God desires is that we keep His laws, by which He means halakha. To keep His laws and walk in His ways, in everything that we do, not simply in ensuring that the food that we eat is kosher and the way that we are dressed conforms to a standard of modesty. For Judaism is a way of life that encompasses every moment of one's day; every breath, every thought is governed by halakha. This is something that is difficult for many to understand, despite the fact that the Rav himself writes about it in his classic "Halakhic Man."

The Rav explains that when "halakhic man approaches reality, he comes with his Torah, given to him from Sinai, in his hand. He orients himself to the world by means of fixed statutes and firm principles. An entire corpus of precepts and laws guide him along the path leading to existence" (Soloveitchik 19). He continues by stating that when "halakhic man comes across a spring bubbling quietly, he already possesses a fixed, a priori relationship with this real phenomenon: the complex of laws regarding the halakhic construct of a spring" (Soloveitchik 20).

Continued...

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