Divine Law in Human Hands

This is a selection of articles, some written in English, but most translated from two volumes of collected studies in Hebrew, Halakha and Kabbala (1984) and Halakha in Straits (1992). The central theme of this collection is the Halakha, the religious law that modeled Jewish life and at the same time was molded by it during the medieval period and to a certain extent in modern times. The Halakha is examined in relation to other spiritual, historical and social elements. By following the halakhic argumentation as applied to concrete case studies, one gains an insight into the essence of its system and the dynamics of its methodology. At the same time, the reciprocal relation between the Halakha as an abstract system and the realities of life in Jewish society is revealed. This is equally true for traditional times, as well as the modern era. The adaptation of the Halakha to modern conditions, when it ceased to be followed by the community as a whole, reveals the limits of its flexibility.