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