“It is Time to Act for the Lord”
which aggadah(narrative, theology, and ethics) is a primary hermeneutic tool rather than the recovery of halakhah per se. Fundamental to this is an examination of the authority and qualifications of the decisors and the principles that in the past were used to determine when amendment and abrogation were necessary and when it was appropriate to resist change.
The qualification of those engaged in halakhic decision making will perhaps be the most difficult and controversial aspect of any Progressive approach. Joel Roth posits three scenarios:
(1) It is possible for two potential authorities engaged in identical behavior,
the one of the reflecting a commitment to the halakhic system and that of the
other reflecting an absence of commitment... the... The former qualifies as an authority but the latter does not.(2) It is possible for two potential authorities to engage in contradictory behaviors and for both kinds of behaviors to reflect commitment to the system... they both qualify as authorities.(3) It is possible for the behavior of a potential authority to reflect an ostensible commitment to the halakhic process while he lacks such
a commitment. If he affirms, for example, that the halakhah is not normative
and that its observance is dependent entirely on its meaningfulness to the
individual, but that he, personally, finds almost all of halakhah meaningful, he would not qualify as an authority of the system.”!
To raise the question of the qualifications of the authorities at this juncture may be counterproductive. However, the credibility of a process depends in part on the qualifications of the individuals who engage in it. Textual expertise is an obvious criterion. Institutional recognition, such as being a faculty member at a Progressive rabbinical school or being appointed to the CCAR Responsa Committee, is another obvious criterion. These are academic or institutional qualifications. Roth identifies a separate theological criterion yirat hashem, a behavioral commitment, which demonstrates that one is committed to living a life in response to the divine will.” While it is beyond the scope of this paper, it would be interesting to explore what role personal piety might have in making a Progressive halakhah creditable.