Setting the Table : An Introduction to the Jurisprudence of Rabbi Yechiel Mikhel Epstein’s Arukh HaShulhan

One of the most basic questions for any legal system is that of methodology: how one interprets, analyzes, weighs, and applies a mass of often competing legal rules, precedents, practices, customs, and traditions to reach final determinations and practical guidance about the correct legal-prescribed course of action in any given situation. Questions of legal methodology raise not only practical concerns, but theoretical and philosophical ones as well. We expect law to be more than the arbitrary result of a given decision maker's personal preferences, and so we demand that legal methodologies be principled as well as practical. These issues are especially acute in religious legal systems, where the stakes are raised by concerns for respecting not just human, but divine law. Despite this, the major scholars and codifiers of halakhah , or Jewish law, have only rarely explicated their own methods for reaching principled legal decisions. This book explains the major jurisprudential factors driving the halakhic jurisprudence of Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein, twentieth-century author of the Arukh Hashulchan -the most comprehensive, seminal, and original modern restatement of Jewish law since Maimonides. Reasoning inductively from a broad review of hundreds of rulings from the Orach Chaim section of the Arukh Hashulchan, the book teases out and explicates ten core halakhic principles that animate Rabbi Epstein's halakhic decision-making. Along the way, it compares the Arukh Hashulchan methodology to that of the Mishna Berura. This book will help any reader understand important methodological issues in both Jewish and general jurisprudence. One of the most basic questions for any legal system is that of methodology: how one interprets, analyzes, weighs and applies a mass of often competing legal rules, precedents, practices, customs, and traditions to reach final determinations and practical guidance about the correct legal-prescribed course of action in any given situation. Questions of legal methodology raise not only practical concerns, but theoretical and philosophical ones as well. We expect law to be more than the arbitrary result of a given decision maker's personal preferences, and so we demand that legal methodologies to be principled as well as practical. These issues are especially acute in religious legal systems, where the stakes are raised by concerns for respecting not just human, but divine law. Despite this, the major scholars and codifiers of halakhah, or Jewish law, have only rarely explicated their own methods for reaching principled legal decisions. This book explains the major jurisprudential factors driving the halakhic jurisprudence of Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein, twentieth century author of the Arukh Hashulchan--the most comprehensive, seminal, and original modern restatement of Jewish law since Maimonides. Reasoning inductively from a broad review of hundreds of rulings from the Orach Chaim section of the Arukh Hashulchan, the book teases out and explicates ten core principles of halakhic decision-making that animate Rabbi Epstein's halakhic decision-making. Along the way, it compares the Arukh Hashulchan methodology to that of the Mishna Berura. This book will help any reader understand important methodological issues in both Jewish and general jurisprudence Dedication 6 Dedication 7 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 11 Part I—Setting the Table: The Codification of Jewish Law 16 1 Codifying Jewish Law 17 2 Rabbi Yechiel Mikhel Epstein’s Arukh HaShulchan 48 3 Competing Models: The Arukh HaShulchan and Mishnah Berurah 60 Part II—The Methodological Principles of the Arukh HaShulchan 84 Introduction 85 4 The Rule of the Talmud 98 5 Rabbinic Consensus 113 6 Resolving Doubtful Cases 125 7 Non-Normative Opinions 150 8 Supererogatory Religious Conduct 172 9 Law and Mysticism 187 10 Law and Custom 200 11 Temporal Rationalization of Halakhic Rules 223 12 Law and Pragmatism 238 Part III—Illustrative Examples from the Arukh HaShulchan 264 The Arukh HaShulchan’s Methodological Principles for Reaching Halakhic Conclusions 265 The Ten Methodological Principles of the Arukh HaShulchan 267 Bibliography 410 Index of Biblical and Rabbinic Works Cited 420 Index of Names and Subjects 424 Index of Examples by Methodological Principle 428 This Work Explains The Jurisprudence And Methodology Of The Last Great Restatement Of Jewish Law Written, The Arukh Hashulhan, By Rabbi Yeheil Michel Epstein. It Will Help Those Interested In Exploring Jewish Law Understand How Halakha Was Codified, Decodified And Then Recodified In The Beginning Of The Twentieth Century. It Compares The Two Great Codes Of Jewish Law Written Then - The Arukh Hashulhan And The Mishna Berura - And Allows The Reader To Better Understand Modern Jewish Law--