PETER S. KNOBEL
14. We do not believe that God commands the unethical. If a particular law is deemed unjust we therefore exercise our authority using the principle Ein lo la-dayyan ella mah she-einav ro’ot. See Joel Roth, The Halakhic Process(New York , 1986), pp. 85ff. We also would apply the concept attached to some of the laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that anything that oppresses or exploits another is prohibited because we were strangers and slaves in Egypt . A hermeneutic of justice strictly and carefully applied is part of the Reform halakhic process.
16. Simeon Maslin(Ed.), Gates of Mitzvah(New York , 1979), citing Herbert Bronstein, p. 123. This slim but important volume is a guide to Reform Jewish religious living created by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It is designed to list and briefly describe the essential deeds, mil vot, that constitute an observant Jewish life. The footnotes and the essays were written to clarify the meaning of the mitzvot in a Reform context. In Reform Judaism, taamei hamitzvot, i.e., providing the rationale for a mitzvah, is an important aspect of the halakhic process. It is used to defend or refine the meaning of an ancient practice or as a means to change that practice so that it conforms to contemporary understanding. In addressing an essentially minimally observant community, the rational becomes part of the deed. This is especially important when societal change or new knowledge requires a break with the past. Rabbi Maslin reminds us that the burden of proof remains on the one that wishes to changes a practice rather than on the one that wishes to maintain a practice. This is a fundamental principle of the approach of Reform Judaism to the halakhah for those in the Reform movement that claim that Reform Judaism is a halakhic movement.
17. Maslin, Gates of Mitzvah, pp. 123-24. The concept that marriage is the norm is problematic for those concerned about our sensitivity to single people and also for those that believe marriage is an outmoded or incorrigibly patriarchal institution. Marriage is understood as a mitzvah only for those that are physically and psychologically able. Reform Judaism reaffirms even in the face of criticism and the high divorce rate that marriage is a Jewish norm, and, in a similar vein, that procreation is a mitzvah. The assertion of norms or ideals that some cannot or will not abide by may cause pain, but this in and of itself is insufficient to cause us to abandon it.
18. Halakhah is the crystallization of aggadah. This is clearest in Reform Judaism, in which the tradition of 7aamet mitzvah is taken for granted as providing the rationale for observance. Reform has tended to reject or reformulate that which it cannot justify ethically, psychologically, or aesthetically:
19. The issue of mutual kinyan is discussed in detail below.
20. Certain specific aspects of the Sheva Berachot are analyzed below, p. 158. In Reform Judaism it is the Sheva Berachot and not Birkat Erusin and kinyan that have provided understanding©! marriage.
21. The Sheva Berachot soften the most objectionable aspects of the kiddushin as ceremony of kiran acquisition. It seems clear that the rabbis used the blessings to transform the meaning of the event and to distinguish it from other economic transactions. Reform Judaism makes explicit what is implicit in the Sheva Berachot.
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