Berkovits is not making an absolute judgment about
halakah per se.
By 'halakot' in this context Sanders has in mind especially the 'regular and systematic prayer...prescribed by the
halakah' (220).
Thus, he asks at the outset, what "is the meaning of the common phrase, 'al pi halacha (according to
halakah)," that plays such a central role in considerations surrounding geirut (conversion), in both Israel and the Diaspora.
There is also a tension between Berkovits's chapter on the "situation ethics" of Joseph Fletcher and Berkovits's philosophy of
halakah. He criticizes Fletcher's ethics in one way; he criticizes his fellow halakists the opposite way.
(1) This meant that they supported the establishment of a modern state, but also insisted upon fealty to
halakah, traditional Jewish law.
One level is the different opinions on the position of
halakah as determined by leading rabbis of the various ultra-Orthodox sects.
Some rabbis speak as authentic representatives of
halakah and exploit their knowledge and position to promote their particular interpretation of scripture that coincides with their ideological worldview.
Soloveitchik on the sacred events generated by the
halakah on the Yamim Nora'im (high holidays).
Various forms of modern Judaism, especially after the emancipation and then in pluralistic America, reinterpreted
halakah to open Jews and Judaism to their surrounding cultures as a way of integrating into general society.
However, Sanders argues that different views of interpretation and disputes on
halakah among different groups and sects in Judaism--but especially among Pharisees, calling themselves 'not only true Jews, or nor only true Pharisees'--recall the standard high view of the Mishnah, regardless if this referred to a historical situation of the year 20 or 220 CE.
The Hebrew term for walking is lecet, a term related to the Jewish concept of
halakah, a word that summarizes all ethical action.
Hanson, "The Law of Reproof: A Qumranic Exemplar of Pre-Rabbinic
Halakah," Hebrew Studies 47 (2006): 211-225, esp.
Thus argues Lloyd Bailey, a Methodist Hebrew Bible scholar: "One should not deduce
halakah (ethical guidelines) from haggadah (scriptural narrative).
Most Christians--seminary trained or not--have little idea what Jews mean when they refer to the "oral law" and the "written law," or "the rabbis," or "
Halakah."
