\u201cWhat do you mean I can\u2019t hang my wet clothes opposite the furnace on Shabbos? That\u2019s not cooking!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t I eat rice on Passover? It\u2019s not chametz<\/i> (leavened food)!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t we listen to recorded music during the Three Weeks? The rabbis couldn\u2019t have meant that because it didn\u2019t exist!\u201d<\/p>\n
The other complaint is that we contrive loopholes to get around halacha<\/i> on a technicality or some legal fiction:<\/p>\n
\u201cAn eruv<\/i> (line circumscribing an area)? That\u2019s just a loophole to carry on Shabbos!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSelling your chometz<\/i> before Pesach? That\u2019s just a dodge to avoid doing what the Torah really says!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA siyum<\/i> (meal celebrating the completion of a volume of Torah study) during the Nine Days? That\u2019s just a trick so you can eat meat when you\u2019re not supposed to!\u201d<\/p>\n
So, which is it? Do we make things unnecessarily hard on ourselves or do we conspire to avoid our responsibilities? Logically, it can\u2019t be both!<\/p>\n There are no doubt some who object to certain stringencies or certain leniencies based on philosophical differences. And there are also no doubt some people whose opinions are formed because the halacha<\/i> conflicts with how they\u2019d like to act. But I\u2019m sure there are others who would object to things less if they had a better understanding of how halacha<\/i> actually works.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s use eruv<\/i> as an example. The idea that running a string around a neighborhood magically turns a public domain into a private domain seems ridiculous \u2013 largely because it is. What many don\u2019t understand is how an eruv<\/i> works and where the idea originated.<\/p>\n When it comes to the laws of Shabbos, there are more than two types of domain. In addition to the public domain and the private domain, there\u2019s the makom patur<\/i> (\u201cexempt area\u201d) and the carmelis<\/i>. The carmelis<\/i> is a gray area, a kind of quasi-public domain. Most people cannot easily distinguish between a carmelis<\/i> and a full-fledged public domain, so in the time of King Solomon, it was instituted to treat these outdoor areas alike. There was an exemption, however. By setting up a series of virtual \u201cdoorways\u201d in the form of verticals (the poles) and a horizontal (the string), we are again permitted to carry in a carmelis<\/i>. So, really, all an eruv<\/i> does is restore our ability to carry in an area originally permitted by the Torah, which was rabbinically prohibited as a safeguard to the sanctity of Shabbos.<\/p>\n This phenomenon of \u201cexemption-built-into-the-restriction\u201d occurs in many places. When a yom tov<\/i> (festival) falls on a Friday, we do not cook on that day for Shabbos unless we have already begun our Shabbos preparations. We do this by putting aside a cooked item and a baked item in what we call an \u201ceruv tavshilin<\/i>.\u201d Is this a trick or a ruse? Not at all. The Torah originally permitted us to cook on yom tov<\/i> for Shabbos. The rabbis prohibited this as a safeguard to the sanctity of yom tov<\/i>. But once again, they built in an exemption: \u201cunless one started his Shabbos preparations before yom tov<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n One more example: As a first-born son, I attend a siyum<\/i> on erev<\/i> Pesach, as the alternative is to fast. Again, this is not a loophole; it\u2019s part and parcel of the law as instituted. \u201cFirstborn sons may not eat on the day before Passover,\u201d the rabbis instituted, \u201cunless they participate in a festive meal like a bris<\/i>, a pidyon haben<\/i>, or a siyum<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019ll notice that all of these examples include an aspect of stringency (don\u2019t carry, don\u2019t cook, don\u2019t eat) and an aspect of leniency (unless you make an eruv<\/i>, an eruv tavshilin<\/i>, or a siyum<\/i>). So is Judaism too restrictive or too permissive? Maybe it just is<\/i>.<\/p>\n The Talmud tells us (Chullin 44a) that one might follow either the school of Hillel or the school of Shammai, so long as he does so consistently. If one follows the leniencies of both schools, that makes him a wicked person, caring only to follow the path of least resistance. And if one should follow the stringencies of both schools? That would make him a fool.<\/p>\n Moderation is key. We see this in many places. Maimonides famously speaks of the \u201cmiddle path\u201d (Hilchos Deos 1:4). According to this principle, a person should be neither too miserly, nor too loose with his money. He shouldn\u2019t be a glutton, but he shouldn\u2019t deprive himself. One shouldn\u2019t be too easily angered, nor should he be an emotionless automaton. By this logic, one should not be completely stringent, nor completely lenient. There\u2019s a time and a place for each of these.<\/p>\n Sometimes we prohibit a permitted activity as a safeguard to prevent violating a Torah law. This is why we don\u2019t blow shofar<\/i> (a ram\u2019s horn) when Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbos. As important a mitzvah<\/i> (commandment) as shofar<\/i> is, invariably, someone somewhere is going to end up carrying a shofar through the public domain. It\u2019s better for all of us to act passively when it comes to blowing the shofar than for some of us to actively transgress the laws of Shabbos.<\/p>\n On other occasions, we may split hairs and permit things on a technicality that would otherwise be prohibited. An example of this would be the pruzbul<\/i>, a document instituted by the sage Hillel that transfers one\u2019s debts to beis din<\/i> (the Jewish court) so that they might be collected during the sabbatical year. You see, personal debts are canceled every seventh year. People in Hillel\u2019s day had stopped lending to the needy out of fear that they would not be able to collect. By means of the pruzbul<\/i>, the poor would be able to borrow and the lenders were assured they\u2019d be repaid. The situation was not ideal but it was necessary because people were not acting charitably.<\/p>\n Each of these pieces of legislation was deemed necessary by our sages based upon the needs of the situation. Sometimes that means being lenient and other times it means being stringent.<\/p>\n A man once complained to Rav Chaim Soloveitchik ztz\u201dl about Jewish law being too stringent. He asked for the rav<\/i> to grant him some leniency. \u201cAll right,\u201d the rav<\/i> responded. \u201cAccording to halacha<\/i>, we\u2019re not allowed to fast on Rosh Hashana. I grant you special permission to do so.\u201d (Technically, that\u2019s a leniency!) Ultimately, all people are unique and everyone has his or her own baseline.\u00a0What you or I consider “normal” may seem “lenient” to one person and “stringent” to another.<\/p>\n Halacha<\/em> is not about leaping straight for the most stringent or the most lenient position. It\u2019s about experts making an informed analysis of a situation and deciding upon the best course of action within the Torah\u2019s framework – even though that decision may fall to the left or the right of what you or I might have decided given our limited understandings. As was the case with the schools of Hillel and Shammai, what’s important for us is to select appropriate rabbis for our personal lives and, having done so, to follow them consistently.\u00a0That way, we\u2019ll actually enjoy a more well-rounded Judaism \u2013 which certainly beats being wicked or a fool.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rabbi Jack Abramowitz<\/strong>\u00a0is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. He is the author of five books, including\u00a0<\/em>The Tzniyus Book. His latest work,\u00a0<\/em>The Taryag Companion<\/a>, is available from\u00a0OU Press<\/a>\u00a0as well as on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do we make things unnecessarily hard on ourselves or do we conspire to avoid our responsibilities?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":31835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Phonelines](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/iStock_000001447213Small1.jpg\")
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