Conservative Change: Changes in Halakha from a Motivation of Halakhic Commitment

• In Event: Halakhah and Modern Politics

Abstract

As a rule, historians of Halakha focus on identifying the communal (that is, social) forces that motivate halakhic authorities to effect change. In this paper, I propose a parallel approach that highlights the religious motivation underlying change. Paradoxically, it is often the conservative agenda seeking to maintain a close connection to tradition that leads to changes in Halakha. Such a reality occurs when halakhic authorities, with great intellectual sensitivity, identify a gap between halakhic practice and what they recognize as halakhic truth based on their reading of the halakhic sources.
In this paper, I address two halakhic test cases: the calculation of bein hashmashot, that is, the transition time from day to night, and the ritual of mourning for a person who committed suicide. Out of an awareness of loyalty to halakhic truth, modern halakhic authorities spearheaded changes in direct opposition to rulings in the Shulhan Arukh. In the case of bein hashmashot, several late eighteenth-century halakhic decisors identified a gap between the prevailing method of calculation and that of Talmudic sources, and by adopting the latest astronomical knowledge of their day, they initiated a halakhic revolution with far-reaching implications. In this paper, I will focus mainly on the view of the Vilna Gaon on this subject. In the case of mourning for a suicide victim, it was none other than the father of Orthodoxy, the Hatam Sofer, who also led a radical change rooted in his understanding of loyalty to Halakha.
It turns out that occasionally gatekeepers perceive their responsibility as not only to preserve the existing situation but also, in certain instances, to restore the former glory of the Halakha, even if this required abandoning accepted community norms. For them, commitment to the halakhic tradition was the motivation for change, not the hindrance to it.

Author

• Eliezer Sariel, Shaanan College, Tel hai College