Philosopher and Poseq- 79 ­

spoken at Sinai indicate this through the beginning of the Decalogue with"I," addressed to the"Thou", here the people of Israel . As

there were no enforcing mechanisms mentioned the individual had the freedom to accept or reject the commandment or for that matter, the covenant.(9)

Perhaps Howard Simon(10) has put it very well when he stated that Buber saw the halakhic system as a kind of a merry-go-round continually circling. The individual Jew must decide to get on it or not. Where he does so is irrelevant. It must be done as a matter of personal decision, not automatically. Buber , therefore, placed his emphasis on an open spontaneous relationship between God and man and between man and God . If there is no immediacy about the experience, then it represents merely a part of the historic continuity of the Jewish people, but can mean nothing to the individual personally. Halakhah , therefore, remained in many ways unexplored terrain which the individual must explore for himself.

Franz Rosenzweig approached the matter somewhat differently and argued with Martin Buber for he felt that the individual was bound to follow the tradition although he might not accept all of it yet. The tradition may move the individual in the direction of a religious experience and therefore he would make halakhah part of his life while remaining uncertain about his ultimate commitment. For Franz Rosenzweig the system of halakhah needed to be viewed in a broad historical manner, not just the revelation at Sinai but the totality of the teaching of Judaism .(11) Twentieth century man must struggle and make