The tail wagging the dog

A note about the posting shefa : Message: RE: [Shefa] Fwd: Why the Conservative movement in which the author writes:

1. how we determine halakhah should be driven by ethical


2. why we consider halakhah so important should be driven by ethical considerations.

This type of argument is so contrary to Judaism that it makes me cringe. How we determine Halachah is a process that has been handed down from generations dating back to before the destruction of the Second Temple. It is the process, rooted in our tradition, that makes the outcome sacred, not the other way around. The outcomes of that process are sacred because they have been sanctified by a process that is rooted in Torah and Oral Law. That is why the decision of the Law Committee to change the voting for a Takanah is so disturbing. Tweaking the process to achieve the desired outcome trivializes both the process and the outcome.

Judaism states that, by definition, what is in the Torah is ipso facto ethical. The Conservative movement, in dwelling on its "historical" approach has lost sight of the fact that no amount of historiography can determine which parts of the Torah are the right parts for our tradition and which parts can be discarded. The challenge that the halachic process was created to meet is to determine how to apply the ethics of the Torah. Obviously, understanding only the peshat is insufficient to this task. We need to understand the many other factors, most importantly the Oral Law, to apply the "simple" words of the Torah to our daily ethical quandries.

The purpose of Halacha and the purpose of Jewish practice is not to make us feel better or to bring us closer to G-d, though those outcomes are assumed. Its purpose is to do G-d's will and in doing so to be better people. The Halachic process is about finding out what G-d's will really is and then doing it. If we do that, then we can be assured that we are acting ethically.