Q&A: Halakhic Truth.
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Halakhic Truth.
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Is there such a thing as halakhic truth, or is Jewish law simply whatever the sages determine (which would resolve the paradox of “these and those are the words of the living God”)? And if the second assumption is correct, on what basis do the sages determine the laws? What logical criterion stands before them when they formulate abstract laws like the Sabbath or kashrut?
Answer
I wrote about this here:
There is no logical criterion, as Nachmanides wrote in the introduction to Milhamot, that the wisdom of our Torah is not like the wisdom of astronomy and mathematics, whose proofs are conclusive.