PETER KNOBEL

7. 1 recognize that in fact they are two different questions. However, it is my belief, as will be discussed in the section on methodology, that the way in which we do halakhah must be broadened. Non-halakhic texts and general Jewish and philosophical ethical discussion should be given greater weight in creating a hermeneutic for reading halakhic texts.

8. Carol Gilligan A Different Voice Cambridge MA, 1982. Karen Lebacq"Feminism and Bioethics: An Overview" Second Opinion, Vol. XVII,#2 1991, pp. 11-27.

9. In another context see the very interesting debate between Craig Evans and Jacob Neusner on the nature of the Mishna and the role of the messianic speculation during Mishnaic times. Craig A. Evans "Mishna and Messiah‘in Context’: Some Comments on Jacob Neusner Proposals: JBL Vol.112,#2 Summer, 1993 pp 267-289 and Jacob Neusner "The Mishna in Philosophical Context and Out of Canonical Bounds" JBL Vol. 112,#2 Summer 1993, pp. 281-304. Methodology is extremely important and often determinative. However, it is true that people using similar methodologies may come to different conclusions or that people using different methodologies may in fact arrive at similar if not identical conclusions. See Ellenson"How to Draw Moral Guidance from a Heritage: Jewish Approaches to Mortal Choices" in The Ethics of Choice: A Time to be Born and a Time to Die, ed. Barry S. Kogan, New York , 1991 pp. 219-32.

10. Harold Schulweis ,"The Character of Halakhah Entering the Twenty-First Century" Conservative Judaism , Vol. XLV,#4 Summer, 1993, pp. 5-13, an appeal to the Conservative Movement calls for an ethical reflection on the halakhic process to redeem it from irrelevance.

11. Ellenson, Op. Cit.

12. Ellenson p. 221 citing David A. J. Richards, The Moral Criticism of the Law, Encino and Belmont, CA , 1977 p. 28.

13. Ibid. p.321. 14. Ibid.

15. Meta-halakhic issues are often ignored or explicitly denied by traditional decisors. In Reform halakhah the gap between traditional precedents and the final decision needs to be filled with analysis of why the meta-halakhic(read ethical) is essential to the determination of the decision. In Reform Judaism, we are hermeneutically bound to the principle that God cannot command the unethical. The issue of revelation is significant because our rejection of verbal revelation allows greater latitude both of method and substance yet it threatens the integrity of the systems as law. Guidance in strict sense is affirmable on the basis of wisdom and authenticity but governance is more difficult to affirm. But framing the issue in terms authority and autonomy is unproductive. The case for halakhah in Reform will be made on the basis of its ability to create a way to live a sanctified life which preserves the Jewish people and contributes to human dignity.

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