Typically translated as “Jewish law,” halakhah is not an easy match for what is usually thought of as law. This is because the rabbinic legal system has rarely wielded the political power to enforce its rules, nor has it ever been the law of any state. Even more idiosyncratically, the talmudic rabbis claim the study of halakhah is a holy endeavor that brings a person closer to God—a claim no country makes of its law. Chaim Saiman traces how generations of rabbis have used concepts forged in talmudic disputation to do the work that other societies assign not only to philosophy, political theory, theology, and ethics but also to art, drama, and literature. Guiding readers across two millennia of richly illuminating perspectives, this panoramic book shows how halakhah is not just “law” but an entire way of thinking, being, and knowing.
Awards and Recognition
- One of Mosaic's Best Books of 2018 (Moshe Koppel)
Chaim N. Saiman is professor in the Charles Widger School of Law at Villanova University.
"Saiman's vast erudition and conceptual depth shines through every page of this wonderful book."—Moshe Halbertal, author of Maimonides: Life and Thought
"A superb, much-needed, and enlightening work."—Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
"This is a terrific book."—Noah Feldman, Harvard University
"Saiman expresses an undiminished youthful passion for his subject, distilled through the prism of mature legal scholarship."—Mosheh Lichtenstein, dean of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Israel
"Saiman writes with almost astonishing clarity, and I literally cannot think of a better introduction to what often appears to be the truly forbidding reality of Talmud."—Sanford Levinson, Villanova Law Review
"In this pellucid and captivating book, Chaim Saiman provides a new understanding of halakhah. At stake is our very conception of what law is and could be."—Christine Hayes, author of What's Divine about Divine Law?
"A deep and close investigation into the idea of rabbinic law-as-culture written by a master of the field of rabbinics."—Suzanne Last Stone, Villanova Law Review
"Saiman's smart, comprehensive, and regularly brilliant book will stand as a significant contribution for some while to come."—Yehudah Mirsky, Brandeis University
"Saiman does an excellent job of leading the reader through an inherently recondite subject."—Adam Kirsch, Book Post
"Highly recommended."—Jonathan Schofer, Reading Religion
"Saiman masterfully succeeds at once in clarifying the unique discourse of halacha for those who have never encountered it, while clarifying to those most familiar with halacha just how unique it is."—Ilana Kurshan, The Forward
