Jacob Neusner

The Halakhah: Within Israel's Social Order (Brill Reference Library of Judaism) Jacob Neusner

In the normative law, the Halakhah embodies the theology of Judaism in the norms of concrete conduct. This encyclopaedia covers, rubric by rubric, all of the native category-formations that organize the diverse laws into a systematic and coherent structure. Each category formation is set forth with attention to its definitions and foundations, if any, in Scripture. The Halakhah of the Mishnah-Tosefta-Yerushalmi-Bavli is then summarized in detail, through verbatim abstracts. The detailed entries then take up, thirdly, the problematics of the law, the questions that the framers bring to bear upon the topic and the data they have in hand. Finally, in each category-formation, there is a religious commentary to the Halakhah of the Oral Torah. Volumes One and Two of this encyclopaedia address the category-formations that pertain to Israel in relationship to God. This third volume explains how holy Israel will restore and then maintain that society that comes into being when the Torah is realized by the kingdom of priests and the holy people. In Volumes Four and Five of the study, we take up the life of the Israelite household in the encounter with God. The account therefore moves from regulating relationships between Israel and God to establishing stable and equitable relationships among Israelites and finally to nurturing in the household itself a realm of sanctification: Israel at home in space and time with God.