What is the relationship of personal autonomy and the heteronomous view of Judaism ? In other words, if we are obligated to live according to God 's commandments, then our freedom is limited. As we look at this issue and others connected with it, we see that the following choices are available: we possess freedom and may obey or disobey the laws of Judaism ; we can place ourselves within or outside that framework. The Biblical tales from the Garden of Eden onward deal with this basic choice and the freedom of the individual to make it.
The covenant which we as the people of Israel accepted at Sinai has bound us to the framework of Judaism and obligated us to Jewish law. The history of that covenant goes back to Abraham and the Agedah and was reaffirmed at Sinai when our people responded"na-aseh venishma- we will listen and we will act." We are reminded of our covenant by the Book of Deuteronomy and our reading on Yom Kippur afternoon which states that this covenant was made with all Israelites for all times in the future.
However, within the framework of that covenant, there remain a large number of choices. They are reflected in the development of Judaism through the millennia and the debates of the Mishnah and Talmud . The best known is the statement elu ve-elu hayu divrei elohim hayim-"these and those are both words of the living God ." This statement originally dealt with the conflict between the schools of Hillel and Shamai but soon became the way of viewing all major, well founded disagreements. Beyond that we have the numerous contradictory views of the Talmudic and rabbinic scholars(both Rishonim and Aharonim) and among the Ashkenazim and Sephardim , etc. Such differences, often of a substantial nature, continue to be expressed among Orthodox leaders to this day and, of course, between us and them.
Views diametrically opposed to each other have been expressed in the vast literature and often left without a final decision. For the sake of practical daily life, later generations, of course, had to establish a system of reaching decisions, and therefore indicated that we fol sw certain scholars in specific areas of Jewish life and practice while following the decision of others on other matters. For Orthodox Jews , these practical decisions are binding although not
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