Thursday, 8 September 2016

Rabbinic Halakha

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When dealing with extra-biblical practices, the rule for any culture is that those practices that are good, beautiful, and true by the standard of cohering with the New Covenant order are to be honored and embraced as people are led by the Spirit. Some people have argued that we should embrace everything practiced by Orthodox Jewry as long as it does not contradict the Bible. However, cohering with the spirit of the New Covenant is a broader and more adequate test. This includes a degree of liberty in the Spirit that precludes such a rule. In addition, our evaluation of calling, adjusting to contemporary life, and more make the Orthodox life not feasible except for those who have a special call to it. We are not bound by tradition as a legalistic straitjacket, but follow the leading of the Spirit in practical reflection.

However, I believe that if one eliminates the heritage of Rabbinic Judaism, one is left with a Messianic Judaism with little texture and color. Even those who profess to want to abandon Rabbinic Judaism, while yet maintaining Jewish life with Sabbath and feasts, do much more that is rabbinic than they profess. From weddings to Passover seders, rabbinic practices are embraced as part of the common usages of our people.

Jewish Roots, Chapter Eight: Extra-Biblical Practices