THE CODIFICATION OF JEWISH LAW AND AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE MISHNA BERURA THE CODIFICATION OF JEWISH LAW AND AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE MISHNA BERURA Michael J. Broyde and Ira Bedzow Boston 2014 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: A catalog record for this book as available from the Library of Congress. Copyright © 2014 Academic Studies Press All rights reserved Effective August 22, 2016, this book will be subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Other than as provided by these licenses, no part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the publisher or as permitted by law. Open Access publication is supported by OpenEmory. Cover design by Ivan Grave ISBN 978-1-61811-278-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-61811-279-8 (ebook) Published by Academic Studies Press in 2014 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS any people have contributed in different ways to the writing of this book and we would like to thank them: M Thank you to the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, the Law School and the Tam Institute of Jewish studies, all at Emory University, who supported us in writing this work, and the editors at Hamline Law Review for reviewing and publishing an earlier version of portions of this book as an article. We particularly also want to thank Jerry and Chaya Weinberger, who supported our work in dedication to their son’s, Shmuel’s, bar mitzvah. Their support was a demonstration of the ideal that parents wish for their children to continue to grow and study works of Torah and Halakha, and that their learning enhances their practice and observance. We would like to thank the many different people who helped with production of the manuscript. In particular, Sharona Vedol of Academic Studies Press helped us in many different ways. Thank you as well to Leah Levy, Judah Berger, and Avraham Lewis, who proofread various parts of this work. Many people—too many to name and thank individually—read different portions of this work, and we are grateful to each of them. M ost importantly, each of us has been privileged to be married to wonderful women without whose patience, love, affection, and kindness we would be lost, and we dedicate this book to Channah S. Broyde and Rachel Johanna Bedzow. We are both truly blessed to be married to women who have supported us in so many ways. “The heart of her husband safely trusts in her, and [therefore] he has no lack of gain.” TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments .......................................................................................v The Codification of Jewish Law and an Introduction to the Jurisprudence of the Mishna Berura I. General Methodology of Codification of Jewish Law .................................... 1 II. History of Codification .................................................................................6 III. Introduction to Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan and the Mishna Berura ................ 18 IV. Mishna Berura’s Philosophy of Jewish Law ................................................ 23 V. Mishna Berura’s Jurisprudence .................................................................. 27 VI. The Mishna Berura’s Technique of Legal Interpretation ............................. 61 VII. The Mishna Berura’s Use of Key Terms ....................................................... 65 VIII. Examples of the Mishna Berura’s Methodology .......................................... 69 (A) Adding a New Dimension to Resolve a Disagreement ................................ 72 Example 1—Androgynous and Tumtum: Intersex and Jewish Law ......................... 72 Example 2—Tefillin (Phylacteries) of Rabbenu Tam and Tefillin on Hol HaMoed .................................................................................. 76 Example 3—Praying the Morning Prayer (Shaharit) Late ..................................... 82 (B) Inclusion of all Jews ................................................................................... 85 Example 4—Calling One who is Blind or who Cannot Read to the Torah ................ 85 Example 5—Reciting Birkat HaMazon for Those Who Cannot .............................. 87 Example 6—Giving Food to One who Doesn’t Know the Blessing ..........................89 (C) Jewish-Gentile Relations ............................................................................ 91 Example 7—Carrying for a Gentile on Yom Tov .................................................. 91 Example 8—Giving Mail to a Gentile before Shabbat .......................................... 93 Example 9—Having a Gentile Buy Things for a Jew ............................................ 95 (D) The Existence of Erroneous Customs .........................................................96 Table of Contents viii Example 10—Eruv and Public Domains ............................................................96 Example 11—Saying “Amen” After “Ga’al Israel” ................................................99 Example 12—Eating Hadash ...........................................................................102 IX. Alternative Views of the Mishna Berura’s Methodology ........................... 104 Simcha Fishbane’s Method and Meaning of the Mishna Berura.......................... 104 Benjamin Brown’s “Soft Stringency” .............................................................. 106 X. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 113 Two Hundred Fifty Illustrative Examples from the Mishna Berura ........... 115 Terminology ................................................................................................... 119 Juridical Strategy ........................................................................................... 144 Interpretative Strategy ...................................................................................185 The Accretive Technique In Addition to Juridical Strategy ................................................................... 238 In Addition to Interpretative Strategy ............................................................ 272 Reliance on the Gra In Addition to Juridical Strategy ................................................................... 287 In Addition to Interpretative Strategy ............................................................ 302 The Role of Custom ........................................................................................ 319 Appendix A: A Summary Index of the Examples ................................... 357 Appendix B: A Brief Note on the History of Halakha ............................. 368 Appendix C: Biography of Selected Rabbis Mentioned in Mishna Berura ................................................................371 Appendix D: A Brief Note in the Names of Jewish Books ........................ 379 Index ....................................................................................................... 382 I General Methodology of Codification of Jewish Law ue to its exilic development since the beginning of the Common DEra, Jewish law1 lacks a clear method for resolving disputes. Talmudic, medieval, and contemporary debates linger, since direct, categorical rules of resolution, such as majority votes of the Supreme Court in the United States or Papal pronouncements in canon law, do not exist. The exact reason for this is beyond the scope of this introduction, yet some methodological explanation will allow the reader to have a better understanding of the relationship of the modern classical work of Jewish law, the Mishna Berura,2 to other jurisprudential approaches to obedience to Jewish law. Until about two thousand years ago, the Jewish community had a “supreme court” called the Sanhedrin,3 a (parliamentary) joint legislative and judicial assembly that resolved disputes in matters of Jewish law by majority vote.4 Following the destruction 1 For a brief note on the history of Halakha, see appendix B. 2 Though the Mishna Berura was written by Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, and we provide a brief biography of the author, this article addresses the book and not the author. It is the methodology of the Mishna Berura as a book, not Rabbi Kagan as a jurist, that we seek to examine. See infra text accompanying notes 52–97 (providing more information on Rabbi Kagan, as well as on the book the Mishna Berura). 3 From the Greek Synedrion, the Aramaic word is commonly thought to be a translation of the Hebrew term “members of the Great Assembly,” a body which derives its authority from a set of biblical verses in Exodus. 4 Maimonides, Mishna Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilkhot Sanhedrin Vehaonashin Hamesurin Lahem (Laws of the Sanhedrin and the punishments they are autho- rized to administer) 1:1, 3. The Codification of Jewish Law 2 of the Second Temple in Jerusalem around 70 CE, this body ceased having undisputed juridical authority. Despite its temporary recon- stitution in Yavneh and subsequent locations, the Sanhedrin could no longer impose uniformity of practice. The Mishna (c. 200 CE) bears witness to this phenomenon and illustrates the devolution of the Court by recounting various conflicts among the Sages without attempting to resolve them. From the time of the disbanding of the Sanhedrin through the centuries following the redaction of the two Talmuds5 (c. 650–700 CE), disputes as