Halakha

Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish rabbinic law, custom and tradition. Like the religious laws in many other cultures, Judaism classically drew no distinction in its laws between religious and non-religious life. Hence, Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but numerous aspects of day-to-day life.

The laws of the Torah

:See also Oral law; Relationship between the Bible and the Mishnah and Talmud.

Related Topics:
Oral law - Relationship between the Bible and the Mishnah - Talmud

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Broadly, the Halakha comprises the practical application of the commandments (each one known as a mitzvah) in the Torah, as developed in subsequent rabbinic literature; see The Mitzvot and Jewish Law. According to the Talmud (Tractate Makot), there are 613 mitzvot ("commandments") in the Torah; in Hebrew these are known as the Taryag mitzvot תרי"ג מצוות. There are 248 positive mitzvot and 365 negative mitzvot given in the Torah, supplemented by seven mitzvot legislated by the rabbis of antiquity; see Rabbinical commandments.

Related Topics:
Commandments - Mitzvah - Torah - Rabbinic literature - The Mitzvot and Jewish Law - Rabbinical commandments

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Categories of law

Judaism divides the laws into two basic categories:

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• Laws in relation to God (bein adam le-Makom), and
• Laws about relations with other people (bein adam le-chavero).

Violations of the latter are considered to be more severe, as one must obtain forgiveness both from the offended person and from God.

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Rabbinic authorities divide Halakha between laws that are interpreted as revealed (Biblical) commandments and those designated as rabbinic origin. This division between revealed and rabbinic commandments may influence the importance of a rule, its enforcement and the nature of its ongoing interpretation.

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Commandments (mitzvot) are divided into positive and negative commands, which are treated differently in terms of Divine and human punishment. Positive commands bring one closer to God, while violations of negative ones create a distance. In striving to "be holy" as God is holy, one attempts so far as possible to live in accordance with Gods wishes for humanity, striving to more completely live with each of these with every moment of ones life.

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A further division is made between chukim ("decrees") -- laws without obvious explanation, such as kashrut, the dietary laws), mishpatim ("judgments") -- laws with obvious social implications and eduyot -- "testimonies" or "commemorations", such as the Shabbat and holidays). Through the ages, various rabbinical athorities have classified the commandments in various other ways.

Related Topics:
Kashrut - Shabbat

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Sin: violation of Jewish law

Judaism regards the violation of the commandments, the mitzvot, to be a sin. The term "sin" is theologically loaded, as it means different things to Jews and Christians. In Christianity a "sin" is an offense against God, by which one is separated from God's love and grace, and for which one would suffer punishment, unless one repents (see Sin for a more complete comparision of sin from several viewpoints). Judaism has a wider definition of the term "sin", and also uses it to include violations of Jewish law that are not necessarily a lapse in morality. Further, Judaism holds it as given that all people sin at various points in their lives, and hold that God always tempers justice with mercy.

Related Topics:
Mitzvot - Christianity - Sin

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The generic Hebrew word for any kind of sin is aveira ("trangression"). Based on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) Judaism describes three levels of sin.

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• Pesha -- an "intentional sin"; an action committed in deliberate defiance of God;
• Avon -- a "sin of lust or uncontrollable emotion". It is a sin done knowingly, but not done to defy God;
• Cheth -- an "unintentional sin".

Judaism holds that no human being is perfect, and all people have sinned many times. However a state of sin does not condemn a person to damnation; there is always a road of teshuva (repentance, literally: "return"). But, warn the Rabbis, there are some classes of person for whom this is exceedingly difficult, such as the one who slanders another.

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In earlier days, when Jews had a functioning court system (the beth din and the Sanhedrin high court), courts were empowered to administer physical punishments for various violations, upon conviction by far stricter standards of evidence than are acceptable in American courts: corporal punishment, incarceration, excommunication. Since the fall of the Temple, executions have been forbidden. Since the fall of the autonomous Jewish communities of Europe, the other punishments have also fallen by the wayside. Today, then, one's accounts are reckoned solely by God.

Related Topics:
Beth din - Sanhedrin - Corporal punishment - Incarceration - Excommunication - Europe - God

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Gentiles and Jewish law

All denominations of Jews hold that gentiles are not obligated to follow Halakha; only Jews are obligated do so. Judaism has always held that gentiles are obligated only to follow the seven Noahide Laws; these are laws that the oral law derives from the covenant God made with Noah after the flood, which apply to all descendants of Noah (all living people). The Noahide laws are derived in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 57a), and are listed here:

Related Topics:
Gentiles - Noahide Laws - Noah - Talmud

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• Murder is forbidden.
• Theft is forbidden.
• Sexual immorality is forbidden.
• Eating flesh cut from a still-living animal is forbidden.
• Belief in, and/or prayer to idols is forbidden.
• Blaspheming against God is forbidden.
• Society must establish a fair system of legal justice to administer these laws honestly.

Although not mentioning the Noahide Laws directly by name, the Christian convention of Apostles and elders in Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15 appears to validate the idea that all gentiles follow the constraints established by the covenant of Noah. This is what appears to be the case, as verse 15:20 lists a similar set of constraints to be applied to the gentiles that are converted to Christianity as what is contained in the Noahide laws.

Related Topics:
Noahide Laws - Acts

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