The commandment presents a challenge to each individual Jew who through his free will can either accept or reject that challenge. Upon acceptance, that individual becomes a part of the Jewish people. For Fackenheim revelation is expressed through the commandment not through mysticism; it is the commandment which reveals the true pattern of Judaism. (44) As a liberal he sees the "Torah as the human reflection of a divine revelation, rather than itself literal revelation, the liberal can regard it as a human book which is the legitimate object of historical criticism, and whose commandments do not have, in letter, authority over him. But he may at the same time regard it as the prime means of access to a divine revelation which addresses him as much as his ancestors."(45)
These philosophical views of the halakhah are very much at variance with each other. They take us from the position of extreme autonomy to one of emphasis upon Jewish people. Some have dealt with the tradition in a semi-mystical view and others sociologically. Borowitz may be correct that the core problem lies in possessing no broadly accepted system of philosophy upon which WE may agree as a basis.
It would be wrong to conclude this segment of my paper without a reference to the Winter issue of Judaism (1980) which was largely devoted to eighteen perspectives of Jewish law. Orthodox , Conservative , Reform, and Reconstructionist scholars reacted to a previously published paper by Robert Gordis . The points of view represented go from the totally static of J. David Bleich to non-halakhic stance of Alvin Reines. This effort toward broad discussion will be helpful for the future development of halakhah. Philosophy and