Heschel’s Theory of Halakhah

Abstract

This article surveys Abraham Joshua Heschel’s writings on Jewish law in order to determine his influences and interlocutors, as well as to evaluate whether his work can serve the needs of those engaged in constructive Jewish thought today. Heschel’s thinking on Jewish law is shaped both by the Kantian critique of Judaism as well as by debates with Reform and Orthodox leaders of his own day. This article concludes that the vagueness in Heschel’s theology of halakhah, as well as a tendency to force halakhic questions into a simple framework of leniency and stringency, limits its usefulness for contemporary Jewish theology.