Halakha () ( Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation ) ( ha-la-chAH )— also transliterated Halocho ( Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation ) ( ha-LUH-chuh ), or Halacha — is the collective body of religious laws for Jews, including biblical law ( the 613 mitzvot ) and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.

Halakha is often translated as " Jewish Law ", although a more literal translation might be " the path " or " the way of walking ".

The name Halakha is derived from the Hebrew halakh ה ָ ל ַ ך ְ, which means " to walk " or " to go "; thus a literal translation does not yield " law ", but rather " the way to go ".

Halakha is often contrasted with Aggadah, the diverse corpus of rabbinic exegetical, narrative, philosophical, mystical, and other " non-legal " literatures.

At the same time, since writers of Halakha may draw upon the aggadic and even mystical literature, there is a dynamic interchange between the genres.

Because Halakha is developed and applied by various halakhic authorities, rather than one sole " official voice ", different individuals and communities may well have different answers to halakhic questions.

* Dina d ' malchuta dina (" the law of the land is law "): an additional aspect of Halakha, being the principle recognizing non-Jewish laws and non-Jewish legal jurisdiction as binding on Jewish citizens, provided that they are not contrary to any laws of Judaism.

On the one hand, there is a principle in Halakha not to overrule a specific law from an earlier era, after it got accepted by the community as a law or vow.

See below: How Halakha is viewed today.

Orthodox Judaism holds that Halakha is the divine law as laid out in the Torah ( First five books of Moses ), rabbinical laws, rabbinical decrees and customs combined.

Conservative Judaism holds that Halakha is normative and binding, and is developed as a partnership between people and God based on Sinaitic Torah.

While there are a wide variety of Conservative views, a common belief is that Halakha is, and has always been, an evolving process subject to interpretation by rabbis in every time period.

Orthodox Jews maintain Halakha is derived from the divine law of the Torah ( Bible ), rabbinical laws, rabbinical decrees and customs combined.

Orthodox Jews believe that Halakha is a religious system, whose core represents the revealed will of God.

This work encompasses the full range of Talmudic law ; it is organized and reformulated in a logical system — in 14 books, 83 sections and 1000 chapters — with each Halakha stated clearly.

) It is the main source of practical Halakha for many Yemenite Jews — mainly Baladi and Dor Daim — as well as for a growing community referred to as talmidei haRambam.

A ten volume work, five discussing Halakha at a level " midway between the two extremes: the lengthy Beit Yosef of Caro on the one hand, and on the other Caro's Shulchan Aruch together with the Mappah of Isserles, which is too brief ", that particularly stresses the customs and practices of the Jews of Eastern Europe.

The Mishnah Berurah of Rabbi Yisroel Meir ha-Kohen, ( the " Chofetz Chaim ", Poland, 1838 – 1933 ) is a commentary on the " Orach Chayim " section of the Shulchan Aruch, discussing the application of each Halakha in light of all subsequent Acharonic decisions.

Aruch HaShulchan by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein ( 1829 – 1888 ) is a scholarly analysis of Halakha through the perspective of the major Rishonim.

Yalkut Yosef, by Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, is a voluminous, widely cited and contemporary work of Halakha, based on the rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Whereas Jewish philosophers often debate whether God is immanent or transcendent, and whether people have free will or their lives are determined, Halakha is a system through which any Jew acts to bring God into the world.

Rabbeinu Chananel trained Alfasi to deduce and to clarify the Halakha from Talmudic sources, and Alfasi then conceived of the idea of compiling a comprehensive work that would present all of the practical conclusions of the Gemara in a clear, definitive manner.

In antiquity, the Sanhedrin functioned essentially as the Supreme Court and legislature for Judaism, and had the power to administer binding law, including both received law and its own Rabbinic decrees, on all Jews — rulings of the Sanhedrin became Halakha ; see Oral law.

* Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, on the premise that all the main movements are legitimate expressions of Judaism, will accept the legitimacy of other rabbis ' leadership, though will not accept their views on Jewish law, since Reform and Reconstructionism reject Halakha as binding.

This custom is not required by Halakha ( Jewish religious law ), however, and Israelites may be called up for all aliyot.

The reasons being that what is prized in the communities they serve and lead is most of all a supreme mastery of the Talmud with a vast knowledge of the commentaries of the Rishonim and Acharonim and Responsa, added to knowledge of the Shulchan Aruch and Halakha (" Jewish Law ").

* 2010: The International Rabbinic Fellowship, a fellowship of about 150 Orthodox rabbis, adopted a resolution stating that properly trained Orthodox Jewish women should have the opportunity to serve as " teachers of Torah ", " persons who can answer questions and provide guidance to both men and women in all areas of Jewish law in which they are well-versed ", " clergy who function as pastoral counselors ", " spiritual preachers and guides who teach classes and deliver divrei Torah and derashot, in the synagogue and out, both during the week and on Shabbatot and holidays ", " spiritual guides and mentors helping arrange and managing life-cycle events such as weddings, bar-and bat-mitzvah celebrations and funerals, while refraining from engaging in those aspects of these events that Halakha does not allow for women to take part in " and " presidents and full members of the boards of synagogues and other Torah institutions "; the resolution does not, however, mention whether these women should or can be ordained or what titles they can hold.

B ' nei Anusim (, " children the forced "; singular male, Ben Anusim, " son the forced "; singular female, Bat Anusim, " daughter the forced ") is a term, in the plural form, which refers to the children and all later descendents of anusim — " anusim " in turn being a category of Jews in Jewish religious law ( Halakha ) who were forced or coerced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically whilst force converted to another religion.

Orthodox Jews consider Halakha, Jewish law as derived from the Talmud, binding upon all Jews.

His first publication was Ueber Einige Fragmente aus der Mischna des Abba Saul ( Berlin, 1876 ), in which he showed that the Mishnah collections of the foremost teachers in the period before the final redaction of the Mishnah itself, including that of Abba Saul, agreed as regards all the essential points of the Halakha.

Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but numerous aspects of day-to-day life.

) In content, Mishpat Ivri refers to those aspects of Halakha (" traditional Jewish law ") that many in modern society generally consider relevant to " non-religious " or " secular " law.

According to Burton, " that Muhammad accepted a doctrine of external naskh cannot be doubted ", and indeed naskhs Qur ' ānic " proof text ", Q. 2: 106, coming as it does right after a series of verses abrogating many aspects of the Jewish Halakha, may intend this sort of naskh.

Mevo Hatalmud ( The Student's Guide Through the Talmud, English edition published by Feldheim, 1952 ) deals with both the Halakha, the legal aspects of the Talmud, and the Aggadah, the non-legal portions.

Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides in his codification of Halakha cautioned judges to preserve the self-respect of people who came before them: " Let not human dignity be light in his eyes ; for the respect due to man supersedes a negative rabbinical command ".

Halakha, the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of the Torah, and the oral tradition-the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its commentaries.

" Hurwitz herself said, " In fact, Halakha does not support the eradication of women from public leadership and ritual life.

His influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he engaged in kiruv (" Jewish outreach "), thereby creating a greater role for Torah and Halakha in the life of the city and the nearby settlements.

Halakha (; literally " walking "), the rabbinic Jewish way of life is based on a combined reading of the Torah, and the oral tradition, including the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud, and its commentaries.

And in any case it is known that the Rabbis who preceded me were subordinate to their Ashkenazi counterparts, the Gaon Rabbi Benzion Uziel Z " l was subordinate to the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook ZT " L ... and the Gaon Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Toledano Z " l in his capacity as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa could not even raise his head towards his colleague, may he be chosen for a good life, the Gaon Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman Shlit " a and to disagree with him on Halakha ...

He is known for introducing the notion that in the event of a " life or death situation ", Halakha does not apply ( unless it involves the transgression of Judaism's three " cardinal sins ": Worship of idols ( avoda zara ), sexual immorality ( gilui arayot ), and murder ( shfichut damim when a Jew is then obligated to give his life ( yehareg ve ' al ya ' avor ) rather than transgress the Torah's commandments ).

Orach Chayim ( אורח חיים ) " manner of life " is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha ( Jewish law ), Arba ' ah Turim.