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 scope of Halakha

The Halakha is a comprehensive guide to numerous aspects of human life, corporeal and spiritual. Its laws, guidelines, and opinions cover a vast range of situations and principles, in the attempt to comprehend what is implied by the repeated commandment to "be holy as I your God am holy" of the Torah. They cover what are better ways for a Jew to live, when commandments conflict how one may choose righteously, what is implicit and understood but not stated explicitly, and what has been deduced by implication though not visible on the surface.

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Halakha is shaped and contested by a variety of rabbis (and other Jews), rather than one sole "official voice", so different individuals and communities may well have different answers to Halakhic questions. Controversies lend rabbinic literature much of its creative and intellectual appeal. With few exceptions, controversies are not settled through authoritative structures because Judaism lacks a single judicial hierarchy or appellate review process for Halakha. Instead, Jews interested in observing Halakha may choose to follow specific rabbis or affiliate with a more tightly-structured community.

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Halakha has been developed and pored over throughout the generations since before 500 BCE, in a constantly expanding collection of religious literature consolidated in the Talmud. First and foremost it forms a body of intricate judicial opinions, legislation, customs, and recommendations, many of them passed down over the centuries, and an assortment of ingrained behaviors, relayed to successive generations from the moment a child begins to speak. It is also the subject of intense study in yeshivas; see Torah study.

Related Topics:
Religious literature - Talmud - Yeshiva - Torah study

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As a practical matter, early modern rabbis interpreted Halakha so as to recognize the jurisdiction and enforceability of state law for Jewish citizens. As a result, Jews today need not feel restricted to traditional Halakha for much of their commercial, civil and (especially) criminal law.

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