Book contents
- The Codification of Jewish Law on the Cusp of Modernity
- The Codification of Jewish Law on the Cusp of Modernity
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Rules of Style
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Joseph Caro and His Codification of Jewish Law
- 2 A Difficult Beginning
- 3 Rabbi Solomon Luria’s Legal Methodology
- 4 Rabbi Moses Isserles’s Responses
- 5 Codification and Legal Creativity
- Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Codification and Legal Creativity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2022
- The Codification of Jewish Law on the Cusp of Modernity
- The Codification of Jewish Law on the Cusp of Modernity
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Rules of Style
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Joseph Caro and His Codification of Jewish Law
- 2 A Difficult Beginning
- 3 Rabbi Solomon Luria’s Legal Methodology
- 4 Rabbi Moses Isserles’s Responses
- 5 Codification and Legal Creativity
- Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In adhering to rules to decide between competing legal opinions and codify the law, Caro and Isserles limited their own legal creativity. Both were free to craft the wording of their positions, however, Caro’s self-declared “majority rule” and Isserles’s dedication to legal principles such as hilketa’ ke-batra’y muffled their own voices. Solomon Luria was also bound by various principles, including precedent, received traditions, and majority rule, but by generally following reason to arbitrate between the views of earlier authorities Luria assumed a much more personal and dynamic role in codifying the law. This becomes clear through a comparison of their methods and conclusions in a number of cases.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Codification of Jewish Law on the Cusp of Modernity , pp. 256 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022