Q&A: Shulchan Arukh
Shulchan Arukh
Question
Hello,
A religious Jew in practice subjects his will to God’s will—to Jewish law.
But, for example, the Shulchan Arukh rules that a person is obligated to say, “Whatever God does, He does for the good”—it seems to me this is in siman 230, סעיף 5.
Seemingly this clashes with the idea that God has abandoned the land.
If so, what practical force does this Jewish law have?
Answer
First of all, the wording in the Shulchan Arukh is that “a person should always accustom himself to say,” so it is clear that this is not a law but a recommendation. The Shulchan Arukh does not always carefully maintain the distinction between laws and recommendations, but here it is actually quite clear.
Beyond that, even if he had ruled that way, I would not agree with him. There is no meaning to a halakhic ruling regarding facts.
And finally, in light of what I said in the previous two points, these are views held by the Shulchan Arukh, not God’s will (if he is mistaken, then obviously it is not God’s will). A Jew’s submission is supposed to be to God’s will, not to the will of Rabbi Yosef Karo (except insofar as he expresses God’s will).
Discussion on Answer
Not in any clear-cut way. Rabbi Wolbe once wrote that the criterion is whatever appears in the Rif. But that is of course a fairly weak criterion, both because the Rif leaves quite a bit out, and because one does not have to agree with him.
Thank you. Let’s say, “A person should not walk four cubits without head covering.” Is that a recommendation or an expression of God’s will? Is there a way to tell when it is this and when it is that?