A TREE OF LIFE: Diversity, Flexibility, and Creativity in Jewish Law (SECOND EDITION) by LOUIS JACOBS, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2000

A TREE OF LIFE

INTRODUCTION Halakhah and Aggadah 3

1 The Talmud, Source of the Halakhah 14

2 The Spirit ofHalakhah

3 Exemptions and Extensions

4 The Influence of Philosophy

5 The Influence of Mysticism and Kabbalah

6 Hasidism and Halakhah

7 Responses to the Gentile Wodd

8Halakhah and Sectarianism

9 Halakhic Responses to Social Change: General Principles

10 Halakhic Responses to Social Change: Further Examples

11 New Inventions and Discoveries and the Halakhah

12 Halakhah and Ethics

13 Halakhah and Social Conduct (Derekh Erets)

14 Halakhah and Psychology

15 Halakhah and Minhag: The Customs of the People as Law

16 Towards a Non-Fundamentalist Halakhah 220

APPENDIX A The Literary Form of the Halakhah 232