Q&A: The Level of Obligation of Jewish Law and the Shulchan Arukh
The Level of Obligation of Jewish Law and the Shulchan Arukh
Question
Hello Honorable Rabbi!
How are you?
Is the Shulchan Arukh directed at all parts of the nation? That is, is there really an aspiration that the entire Jewish people, in all its layers, should observe every part of Jewish law down to the finest details? If there is no claim that all the details of Jewish law are to be applied across all levels of the people, then what is the different level for each person, and how should he conduct himself at different periods of his life?
My question stems from:
1. There are laws in the Shulchan Arukh that indicate it was aimed at an elite of Torah scholars in his generation: “A person should rise early to go to the synagogue so that he is counted among the first ten,” and so on.
2. Those who actually read the Shulchan Arukh—and it may be that only they were its intended audience—were the Torah scholars, and he himself wrote that his labor in writing the laws in a book was meant to make the work of halakhic ruling easier.
3. In different periods of Jewish history there were different levels of commandment observance, and not all the people observed all of them.
4. Every group of people has a different and unique character, and therefore there are different groups of people with different souls from another group when it comes to observing Jewish law, and with different levels of intensity at different periods of their lives. It seems that the expression “a Torah of life” has become an expression that speaks either about an ideal reality in the past (the Temple) or about a utopian-messianic reality in the future.
Thanks in advance!
Answer
I don’t think it matters what Rabbi Yosef Karo intended, and it also doesn’t matter what people do or actually did in practice. What matters is that Jewish law addresses the entire people and in every situation. True, there are points at which there is room for differences between people, but usually those are points that are not law but recommendation (and there are such things in the Shulchan Arukh as well), or matters that essentially depend on the individual (such as the scope of the commandment of Torah study and how much one should work or engage in other things). It seems to me that Rabbi Yosef Karo intended that as well.
Discussion on Answer
With God’s help, 12 Cheshvan 5778
Rabbi Yosef Karo defines the purpose of his composition in his introduction to the Shulchan Arukh:
‘So that the Torah of the Lord may be perfectly ordered in the mouth of every Jewish person. For when they ask a Torah scholar a matter of Jewish law, he will not stammer over it… since this book will be fluent in his mouth… to divide it into thirty parts, to study one part each day, and thus every month he reviews his learning…
Moreover, the younger students will meditate upon it constantly and memorize its wording by heart, and the learning of one’s youth will be arranged in their mouths from childhood as practical law…’
(The introduction is quoted in the article by Prof. Meir Benayahu, ‘Yosef Bechiri,’ on the life and work of Maran Rabbi Yosef Karo, p. 376.)
Prof. Benayahu devoted an entire section in the above book to discussing the question, ‘For what reason did Maran compose the Shulchan Arukh, and for whom did he compose it?’ Yosef Bechiri, pp. 367–390.
On p. 377 there is a photograph of the title page of an edition of the Shulchan Arukh printed during the author’s lifetime, in Venice in the year 1574. On the title page it says:
‘Shulchan Arukh, for elders and youths, in a small volume, so that they may carry it in their bosom, to study it at all times and in every place, when they encamp or when they travel.’
With blessings,
S. Z. Levinger, librarian of ‘Yad HaRav Nissim’
Thank you very much for the answer. The problem is that today reality works in a completely different way. What is the proper guidance for today? That is the main question.
It is completely realistic to demand it, but not realistic to expect that the demand will be fulfilled. That is not the same thing. The demand establishes a goal and an ideal, but it is still reasonable that not everyone will reach that ideal. One should not conclude from this that whoever doesn’t reach it is under compulsion, but that is still the reasonable expectation.
By the way, in order to observe Jewish law one does not need to know the entire Shulchan Arukh. Education and social habit do most of the work. The cases in which special knowledge is required are few, and then one can ask. Therefore the expected failures even of an ignoramus are not many (assuming he received a religious education and comes from a religious home).
What about the different and individual character of every group of Jewish people wherever they may be? Why is there no reference to that and to the different levels of religious intensity?
I’m no longer following. If you want to discuss it, you should bring an example and we’ll talk about it.
For example: the level of obligation regarding the number of prayers per day (even when praying alone) is different for every group of people at different periods of their lives.
Why is there no reference to that in Jewish law?
I didn’t understand the question. What does it mean that the level of obligation is different? Do you mean that people feel different levels of commitment? Then they should overcome it. If people want to cut corners, should we permit them to cut corners? If people want to speak malicious gossip or desecrate the Sabbath, then should we allow them to do so every odd-numbered hour?
Is this a difficulty against the Men of the Great Assembly? I don’t really understand the discussion.
Everyone feels a strong commitment to Jewish tradition. The difference between them lies in their different souls and in their ability to cope with and contain religiosity at different levels of intensity. It isn’t so simple to say that every Jew, whoever he is, needs to be enveloped in commandments 24/7.
Fine, I don’t understand what this is about. Who spoke about 24/7? As far as I’m concerned, let him do it 5 minutes a day. Every Jew is obligated in all the commandments. How much time that takes out of his day? I don’t know, and it also isn’t important.
If you don’t clarify your words further, then we’ll end here. I simply can’t manage to understand what is being discussed here.
Rabbi, in your opinion is it realistic to demand of all parts of the people (at least today) to observe all the details? Maybe even to know all the details of the Shulchan Arukh?
In my opinion this is a demand that is not fulfilled in practice, and therefore quite a few of the Jewish people today also do not observe all the laws and their subsections.