The Pluralistic Halakhah: Legal Innovations in the Late Second Commonwealth and Rabbinic Periods

This study examines the pluralism of the Halakhah in the pre-70 period which stands in contrast to the fixed Halakhah of later periods. The Temple’s destruction provoked, for political motives, the initiation of this significant shift, which protracted itself, in developmental stages, for a longer period. The transition from the Tannaitic to the Amoraic era was a consequential turning point on the extended path from flexibility to rigidity in Jewish law. The theological foundation of the rabbinic halakhic system, the Sages’ extensive authority of scriptural interpretation and the relationship of ethics and law in their decisions are substantiated by a meticulous analysis of abundant rabbinic citations to reveal their ideological background.