The Spirit of Halacha
Hello Rabbi,
There are all kinds of situations for which there is no Halacha on what is forbidden and what is permitted, such as: not wearing shorts to a Beit Midrash, or not cursing, etc. In essence, it turns out that the public perceives that there is some internal issue, which I call the “spirit of Halacha,” and that issue causes us to do things according to Halacha that are not written.
Although, it’s not clear to me where we get it from. Is there some source that teaches us what the spirit of Halacha is?
Note: At first I wanted to say that this was a moral issue, but when I thought about it more deeply, it didn’t seem likely to me that a moral issue dictates the spirit of Halacha. What does the rabbi think?
The spirit of the law can stem from an interpretation of the law itself. For example, someone who picks food from garbage on Shabbat may be violating the spirit of the law. But there are such statements that are not related to the law, just passe nitz. There I really think there is no real basis for it.
Shorts in the synagogue have nothing to do with the spirit of the halacha. There is a simple halacha of respectable clothing, the question of what is considered respectable and what is not is of course a matter of circumstances and norms. But none of this has anything to do with the spirit of the halacha.
See my comments in column 275.
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