Collected Essays

Written at different times and for different audiences - some for scholars of rabbinic literature, others for readers with a less specialist interest - the essays gathered in this volume nevertheless have an inner coherence, reflecting author Haym Soloveitchik's lifelong interest in the history of halakhah and the unfolding of halakhic ideas. What was it that stimulated change, and why? What happened when strong forces impinged on halakhic observance, and both the scholarly elite and the community as a whole had to grapple with upholding observance while adapting to a new set of circumstances? Soloveitchik shows that the line between adaptation and deviance is a fine one, and that where a society draws that line is revelatory of both its values and its self-perception. The book opens with a brief description and characterization of the dramatis personae who figure in all these essays: Rashi and the Tosafists. It covers the halakhic commentaries and their authors, the creativity of Ashkenaz, and the halakhic isolation of the Ashkenazic community. A second section focuses on usury, moneylending, and pawnbroking - widespread practices that shaped the image of the Jew in Europe for centuries. The third section deals with the ban on Gentile wine and how that is connected to the development of moneylending. The final section presents general conclusions in the form of four studies of the communal self-image of Ashkenaz and its attitude to deviation and change. Many of the essays have been published before and are well known in the field, although some were published only in Hebrew and two are completely new. Most of those previously published have been updated; in particular, the major essay on pawnbroking has been significantly expanded.