One of the major questions that Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik addressed in his philosophical works is that of the role of law and regulation in Jewish thought and practice. In 1946 and 1947, Soloveitchik explored this theme in a course titled “Concepts in Halakhah as Elaborated Upon by the Aggadah and Kabbalah,” which he taught at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. The notes of one of the students in that class, published for the first time by the journal Tradition, contain—as Shlomo Zuckier puts in in his foreword—a “sustained argument for the preeminence of halakhah [law] within Jewish tradition, over and above the realms of aggadah [narrative and exegetical teachings] and Kabbalah [mysticism].” Moreover, Soloveitchik contends, halakhah is at its heart an intellectual form of religiosity rather than an ethical or ritual one.

The greatest contribution of the halakhah was its purging Judaism of all magical, mythical, and ceremonial elements. It deprives Jewish life of its mythical nature. The mitzvot are all intellectualized, thereby severing them from all mystical rites. The halakhah did not want sacraments in its mitzvot. It resented cultic, worship performances. How was it to accomplish this? By taking the transcendent and the sacramental and intellectualizing them. The method the halakhah used to purge the mythical element was to atomize and mathematize the mitzvah.

To illustrate this point, Soloveitchik suggest that if Jews were obligated to have Christmas trees, there would be so vast and intricate body of regulations governing these objects that each “would no longer be a tree, but rather a complex of concepts.” But what could be the purpose of this intellectualization of religion which, as Soloveitchik repeatedly emphasizes, eschews the holistic, preferring instead to break down every obligation into component parts? The answer lies in understanding the difference between halakhah and the “legalism” imagined by its critics:

Some say the halakhah is dry, esoteric, etc. These people, however, misunderstand what the rabbis were aiming for, their direction and tendency. Mythical religion is most dangerous; it leads to most absurd acts and performances.

The halakhic act is religious in the sense that it is meaningful, redeeming, and uplifting. There is no happiness in being a “law-abiding” citizen. No one achieves happiness or bliss when paying his taxes. This does not exist in a legal system. The legal experience is not only formal in its method, but also in its realization. It contains no spark, or inspiration, or enthusiasm. The halalakah, on the other hand, is meaningful, human, and redeeming.

Halakhah gives content and meaning to one’s life; it redeems man. There is the affirmation of one’s existence in the religious act.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.