Posted on 06/18/2006 6:44:23 PM PDT by Alouette
Shai Zarhi and Itamar Lapid want to take the renaissance of secular interest in Judaism to an unprecedented level: Now that secular study centers (batei midrash), rituals and prayers have been developed, Zarhi and Lapid, both from the Midrasha at the kibbutz movement's Seminar Oranim (the secular beit midrash that helped pioneer the phenomenon), are talking about fashioning a secular halakha, or Jewish legal code - a detailed code that, like religious halakha, will include a punctilious formulation of dos and don'ts, according to secular principles. Lapid, to be precise, refers to an "Israeli halakha," because in his vision, religious people will be partners in shaping it as a shared platform.
Their idea is for the secular world, which now believes in maximum individual freedom, to adopt a worldview in which all areas of life are shaped by rules that bind everyone in the community - just like state laws, or halakhic laws for observant Jews. They are not talking, at least for now, about writing a secular Shulhan Arukh (one of the foremost Jewish legal codes), but about reconstructing the world of the Mishnaic sages, before halakha was fashioned into an obligatory rule book - multiple batei midrash discussing all areas of life and the correct way to live them.
Lapid explains: "More than I'm interested in answers, I'm interested in dealing with questions, but not just via principled debates about values; rather, by delving into the details of all areas of life - labor relations, the nature of holidays and Shabbat, rituals, etc. And I don't mean that only Talmidei Hachamim [scholars] should engage in this, but all sectors of society - teachers, soldiers, journalists, everyone."
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
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Oh Lord. What a terrible idea. Why don't you just encourage people to rediscover their faith, instead of trying to legislate morality, or make up random traditions, that are meaningless outside the context of the Jewish faith?
Yeah well, fortunately nobody is taking these clowns seriously.
Jewish episcopagans....
I wonder if they'll celebrate Kwanzaa. Maybe they'll write a special prayer service for erev Kwanzaa.
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