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Berakhot 5a (This text suggests that God gave us, the Jewish people,…
Berakhot 5a
This text suggests that God gave us, the Jewish people, halacha. Therefore, God created it as well. This text suggests that God created and determined halacha, then gave it to Moses at Sinai to give to the Jewish people.
In this image, the teacher stands before students teaching them the material necessary for them to succeed in life. In this situation, much like the Jews in this text, the students are only to listen and learn the material not create their own as they go along. Much like the Jewish people when God created and gave them halacha in this text.
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At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the Torah (chumash), and the Oral Torah. They were all given to Moses from God, therefore, having the same authority.
Seder Eliahu Zuta 2
This text suggests that God provided humans with the foundations (ingredients) of halacha, and humans are tasked with adopting it and going through the process of developing it into something purposeful from its original foundations. Humans should expand and develop halacha further in order to apply it to their own modern ways of life and to derive the most value from it.
In this image, there is an office desk in pieces prior to assembly. Much like how humans must go through the process of developing halacha and turning it into something purposeful, there is a similar idea with this desk prior to assembly. People can chose to have this desk and keep it in pieces, or take the time and go through the process of assembling it in order to derive benefit from it in the end.
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Two servants were given wheat by a king but were not specifically tasked to do anything with it. The sensible servant went through the difficult process of making bread and presented it to the king all while the other one simply presented the original wheat and bundle of flax.
Shabbat 88a
This text suggests that humans play no role in the development or determination of halacha. Halacha is bestowed upon them by God, and they are essentially forced to accept it and do whatever it says regardless of their opinion.
Medicine is representative of these ideas because if you do not take medicine to treat your illness, there will often be fatal consequences. Even if people do not want to have it, they must accept the fact that they are sick and that they must take medicine or face the consequences.
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The Jewish people at mount Sinai were essentially forced, through a death threat, to accept the Torah from God. But they also accepted it again in history without being forced to do so.
Bava Metzia 59b
According to this text, God’s role was to initially give Moses the Torah with halacha at Mount Sinai. Then after this, humans, specifically rabbis in the Beit Midrash, are to further determine halacha. Halacha is no longer decided by God in heaven it is now determined by rabbis in the Beit Midrash.
The tenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States essentially says that the State governments take up certain powers passed on by the federal government. The higher power, which in this case is the federal government, grants powers to the states that it no longer utilizes. It grants states the power to make decisions that it no longer makes just as God granted the Torah to humans and no longer developed it Himself, just as states take up certain powers that the federal government no longer takes up. Many internal decisions regarding local law are made by the states now, as opposed to the federal government.
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Rabbi Eliezer declares that pure items will remain pure if there is a sand divider between each them and the impure item. When challenged by the other rabbis, Rabbi Eliezer cites natural miracles from heaven to prove his point all while the other rabbis in the Beit Midrash disagree and say the decision is theirs and not to be made in heaven.
Eruvin 13b
This text claims that God and humans both have equal authority in determining halacha. It claims that humans also have valid opinions regarding both the Written and Oral tradition that have equal authority to that of God.
The idea of democracy is representative of this idea. In a perfect democracy, everyone has an equal authority regarding what is being decided. Everyone has a valid opinion regarding the issue at hand, and is free to express it through the democratic system in place.
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Rabbi Abba says that both the opinions of the House of Hillel and those of the House of Shammai are both valid opinions of halacha with the same authority as God’s. However, the House of Hillel is chosen because they were pleasing and humble, they taught the words of the other house, and they put the other house’s words before their own.
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