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Jake Daneshgar's Authority of Halacha in the Classical Sources,…
Jake Daneshgar's Authority of Halacha in the Classical Sources
Berakhot 5a
I chose this picture of a coaches playbook because I feel it best describes the roles both God and the humans play together in following and determining laws. A play is called by the coach of a team that they feel is best to help their team. From there, it is up to the actual players to execute this play to the best of their ability. It is a two-way street, it is up to the coach to help best instruct and guide his players on what to do but the players must be willing and able to follow his call.
On Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the Written Torah, which included the Tablets, Chumash, the Mishnah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the Talmud. Everything given to Moses came from God.
The role of God is giving the Jewish people laws to abide by that they will need during their lives. God gave Moses everything he needed for the Jewish people and the instructions of what to do to help the people have successful lives. The role of the people in this text is to actually follow these laws to the best of their ability. Although these laws were given to us in the heavens from God, the laws are now on earth so it is up to the people to follow these laws.
Sedar Eliahu Zuta 2
I feel this text is very similar to parents sending their children off to college as their parents are giving their child an opportunity to do great with their lives and are providing the recourses. It is up to the actual child to make the best of what he has and to attempt to thrive in his/setting. Although the parents have not provided actual laws, the children should understand that going to college is great (as is actually receiving the laws), but to succeed the student will need to take the opportunity and attempt to make the most of it. To work hard (while still having fun) in order to take what their parents have given to them and make something out of it that can really help impact and improve their lives in the future.
This text is a parable about a king who had two servants, a sensible one and a foolish one, and he gave both of them a measure of wheat and a bundle of flax. The sensible one actually made something out of what the king gave him but the foolish one did absolutely nothing with it.
We learn that God gave us all of these laws for a reason. We as humans have the option to follow these laws and do something with them, or to just ignore these laws. It would be stupid of humans to ignore these laws as God gave them to the humans to help them succeed. Humans need to be putting effort in by taking these laws and applying them to their lives to the best of their abilities. God understands that humans have free will to do whatever they please with their lives, however, he cares about the choices we make and expects humans to follow his laws and guidelines on earth.
Shabbat 88a
I feel this situation is very similar to being “asked” by your parents to do a chore. I say ask like that because they aren’t really asking you, they are more telling you to do something. Although I won’t literally die if I were not to follow what my parents have asked, they will give a harsh punishment that I would really want to avoid. Also, someone can always start doing a chore and then not finish it or just not complete it to the best of there ability. This is similar to the Jewish peoples situation as they accepted the Torah but had the option to stop following it.
This text describes how Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and the people took their places at the foot of the mountain. The people were then faced with the decision of accepting the Torah or not. If the people were to decline the Torah, they would be killed.
The role of God is to pretty much force the Jewish people into accepting the Torah. The Jewish people had to accept the Torah out of fear of dying, they were forced and really had no protest to not accepting the Torah. Now, we still follow and accept the Torah today. The Jewish people were not concerned about being forced into following the Torah as they followed it without being pressured during the time of Esther. Although the people did not have a choice in the beginning of whether to accept the Torah, they continued to follow the Torah even after there were not forced to later on.
Bava Metzia 59b
In this picture we see a group of people standing with each other with one person off to the side. This is to display what happened with the majority decision of the rabbis. Even though Rabbi Eliezer strongly believed he had the right argument, he had to admit to being wrong. Since he was unable to do so, he was excommunicated as in this picture someone is being left out of the conversation.
There was a group of Rabbis debating whether or not an oven should be considered Kosher. Rabbi Eliezer was the only Rabbi who argued that it was Kosher and he used God to help his argument. Rabbi Eliezer knew that God was on his side so he used miracles that happened to support his argument that he was right. Regardless, the Rabbis still disagreed with him and excommunicated Rabbi Eliezer because he did not admit defeat in the argument.
God’s role is that he gave us the Torah, but we as humans cannot use God to help us prove points about halacha. The laws can be altered and interpreted differently as our world develops so we must not simply use God or the miracles he can produce as a way to prove our arguments. We also see that if a majority agrees on something, the minority must accept defeat and side with the majority or they will be excommunicated. Also, people have defeated God, since they have developed their own halacha that connect with their own situations at the time.
Eruvin 13b
I put a picture of a voting stamp as each individual person has a voice and the ability to share there views. People are handed down laws and representatives to vote on, just as the Jews all had a say in deciding which halacha they agreed with. There is no one source that decides everything on earth and individuals have the power to vote on what they deem correct
This text introduces us to the House of Hilel and the House of Shamai and how those houses argued over whose halacha is correct. We learn that even though a heavenly voice came out and said that these two different halachot were both the words of God, we follow the House of Hilel. This is because of there humbleness and respect to teach the teachings of the House of Shamai as well.
God and humans both have roles in determining halacha. They have equal authority in determining halacha as God provided the laws but the humans understand what halacha is best and most relevant to them today.
