Halakah

When Christians discuss the Torah, it’s almost certainly done under purely theological parameters. Naturally, our inclination is to relate to the Torah as a distant and archaic source of wisdom.

To ancient Israel, the Torah was no less real, and no more abstract, than our constitution is to us. The Torah served as the constitution for the Theocratic nation of Israel. To maintain order, the ruling establishment had the imperative to ensure that the entire nation had a uniform understanding regarding what the Torah required and how to properly obey it. Without a standard, varying interpretations would have made the task of enforcing the Torah virtually impossible.

The Torah granted authority to the priests and the judges to arrive at these conclusions, and this ability became known as the power to “bind” (forbidding an action) and “loose” (permitting and action).

Josephus, 1st Century Jewish Historian writes:

“But these Pharisees…became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed at their pleasure.” – Wars of the Jews 1:5:2

The legal connotations attached to these words did remain well until the 5th century as the terms “bind” and “loose” can be found in Rabbinical discussions as written in the Talmud:

“If one sage declared something as bound, he should not ask another sage who might declare it loosed. If two sages are both present and one rules something unclean and the other rules it clean, if one binds and the other looses, then if one of them is superior to the other in learning and number of disciples, follow his ruling, otherwise, follow the stricter view.” – Talmud Avodah Zarah 7a

“There are often debates among these groups, as some of these Sages render an object or person ritually impure and these render it pure; these bind an action and these loose it; these deem an item invalid and these deem it valid” – Talmud Chagigah 3b

Collectively, their rulings were called “Halakah.” This is a Hebrew word meaning “To walk out.” Halakah, therefore, defines the standard interpretation (as determined by the Priests and Judges of every generation) regarding what each commandment requires, and how to properly “Walk” them out.

“Halakhic Authority” granted the ruling establishment the following abilities:

• The authority to define standard “Halakah.”
• The authority to settle unique matters where the Torah is unclear or silent.
• The authority to impose “Gerizim” or a “fence” around the Torah.
• The authority to impose “Takkanot” (religious decrees).

Standard Halakah

The Torah only granted authority to the priests and judges to determine Halakah, not to the common Israelite. The community of Israel in turn was made subject to their rulings, to act and do according to their word neither turning “to the right or to the left”:

“If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.” – Deut 17:8-11

Unique matters

Rather than delivering a body of law that would account for every unique situation that the nation of Israel would encounter in her history, the Torah was instead delivered as a general rule. It consists of only 613 commandments; a relatively small amount when considering its function as the constitution for an entire nation. When unique situations were encountered, it was the responsibility of the Priests/Judges to draw from their wisdom of the Torah to arrive at conclusive rulings.

In addition, there are many things discussed in the Torah with little to absolutely zero context.

For example, the Torah prescribes a number of stripes/whips to be administered as punishment to “Condemn the wicked (Deuteronomy 25:1-3). What sort of transgression or transgressions would warrant this procedure of a public whipping? The Torah does not say.

The Torah mentions three categories of people who are forbidden to “Enter the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:1-3). What does it mean to “Enter the assembly”, and further, what does it mean to be forbidden to do so? The Torah does not say.

In these matters, the Priests and Judges were expected to provide answers. When a consensus was established by majority vote, a decree was made. The ruling was reported to the community and preserved through oral tradition as it was passed from teacher to student.

Eventually, the conditions of exile forced Jewish leaders to write down these rulings. Today, this written catalog of Halakah is known as the Mishnah, and the Talmud (which is a commentary on the Mishnah).

Gerizim

The Jewish Sages were particularly concerned with a principle called “making a fence” around the Torah. They would impose extra rules called “Gerizim” to act as a safeguard or a “fence” to prevent the populace from accidentally crossing the threshold into transgression, should they lack caution:

“Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly. They [the Men of the Great Assembly] would always say these three things: Be cautious in judgment. Establish many pupils. And make a fence about the Torah.” – (m.Avot 1:1)

This phrase is also at times translated as “Make a HEDGE about the Torah”. One of the most prominent Jewish Rabbi’s in history writes regarding this hedge:

“Make a hedge about the Torah”, refers to the decrees and enactments of the Sages-these keep a man far from transgression, as the Blessed One said, ‘Therefore shall ye keep what I have given you to keep (Lev. 18:30),’ which the Talmud (Yebamot 21a) interprets to mean; add protection to what I have already given you as protection.” (Maimonides on Avot 1:1)

Takkanot

“Takkanot” are religious enactments intended to secure a general Torah-related outcome in a specific way. As a result, they often lack direct correspondence with Torah commandments. Although Takkanot may on the surface appear to violate the rule against “adding” to the Torah, their primary aim, in the end, is to coax the community into fulfilling an obligation that already exists.

Remarkably, the most straightforward example of a Takkanot is found in the gospel of John:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – John 13:34

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” – John 15:12

To “love one another” in a general sense, is not a new command. The command to “love your neighbor” is first found in Leviticus 19:18. However, Jesus was not speaking in the general sense. He was commanding specifically for the Apostles to treat each other with love. The point of this “new command” was to stress a particular focus (love expressed between the Apostles) so that the purpose of the general rule would be fulfilled among them. In addition, he stated that they should love each other “as I have loved you” adding further specificity to command. This is the nature of Takkanot. It was a Takkanot declared by the Messiah.

Tradition has preserved Takkanot going as far back as Moses:

• A public reading of the Torah should be made during the Sabbath
• The first Blessing of the “Birkat Hamazon” (to fulfill the Torah commandment of prayer after eating)
• The priestly watches: four by Eleazar and four by Ithamar.

The Takkanot of Joshua:

• The Second Blessing of the “Birkat Hamazon”

The Takkanot of King David:

• Expanded the 8 priestly watches to 24 watches.
• The Takkanot of reciting 100 blessings a day.
• The third Blessing of the “Birkat Hamazon”

The Takkanot of the “Great Assembly” (A gathering of elders/prophets during the end of the exile in Babylon):

• Introduction of the ceremony of “Kiddush” to be performed on Sabbath, and “Havdalah” at the conclusion of the Sabbath.
• The introduction of the “Amidah” prayer, recited three times a day to correspond with the daily sacrifices.

Over time, the Rabbis leveraged the loose nature of Takkanot to justify imposing arbitrary rules and regulations. An example of an arbitrary Takkanot is found in Mark 7. The Rabbis inquire: “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” (Mark 7:5). The word for “defiled” in greek, is more accurately translated as “common.” It was a Rabbinic conclusion, that eating with “common” hands would spiritually defile a person, or make them unholy. This of course was purely Rabbinic and unscriptural. Jesus immediately responds by pointing out the hypocrisy of placing so much concern over tradition, while failing to uphold the Torah.

He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites…You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” – Mark 7:6,8

For a closer look into the subject of Halakah: The “Hebrew Roots Movement” needs to learn “Halakah”