Halachah is the Hebrew word meaning “the walk.” Put simply, halachah is the set of rules that we follow as we move through life. We use these rules as guides in our decision making with respect to the varied aspects and situations that we encounter on our journeys this side of the Jordan.

For Hebrew Israelites and Jews, the common source for all halachah comes from the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. Israelites who are Christian or Messianic also include the New Testament and various teachings from denominations and pastors. Jews have their rabbinical teachings, and for Orthodox Jews, in particular, the Oral Law contained in the Mishnah and Gemara, collected into the Talmud.

The Pharisees, and later the rabbis, developed the idea of a fence around the Torah. Their thought was that by adding a protective fence around the mitzvot, chuqqim, and mishpatim (commandments, statutes and judgments), there would be less risk of violating the actual ordinance at issue. In other words, the Pharisees engaged in risk management to avoid being deported from the Land again!

While, in the beginning after they returned from Babylon, they may have had good intentions, what resulted several centuries later was a tradition of the elders that could be burdensome. This was the issue of the Acts 15 council: should new converts from the Gentiles be ordered to keep both the Written Law of Moses and the Oral Law of the Pharisees? Acts 15:5 states the issue before the council:

5 But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”

Acts 15:5 NRSV

The circumcision mentioned here was not the simple circumcision of Abram (Genesis 17:10) and Moses (Exodus 4:24-25). It was a formal process of conversion. This Wikipedia article will give the interested reader an idea of what Jewish conversion looks like today after two thousand years of development.

But Shimon Cephas (Simon Peter) rose up to make a crucial contribution to the debate.

6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. 10 Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

Acts 15:6-11 NRSV

Ya’acov haTzaddik (James the Just/Righteous) rendered his decision. He grounded the four requirements to be laid on new converts squarely in the Torah of Moses with an eye to the circumstances that the ex-Gentiles were in.

19 Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood. 21 For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every sabbath in the synagogues.”

Acts 15:19-21

Ya’acov rejected placing the burden of the Oral Law by saying “we should not trouble those Gentiles…” but expected them to listen to Moses in the synagogues. Simply put, every male convert should learn what his obligations are and how he is to walk and teach his family by learning the mitzvot, chuqqim, and mishpatim.

This decision should govern the elders in every congregation and every man in the homes. Halachah should first and foremost be all of the applicable mitzvot, chuqqim and mishpatim. That should constitute at least 98% or higher of halachah!

In addition, halachah should not be an unbearable yoke to bear, nor should it be viewed as trouble. If someone proclaims a decree that turns off people from Moses because it is too heavy, too hard, that decree should be closely scrutinized. Perhaps it is appropriate; after all, a lot of people love pork and shrimp!!! But perhaps it’s not appropriate, say, a total ban on drinking alcohol and dancing.

Halachah should be:

  • grounded in the mitzvot, chuqqim, and mishpatim
  • derived from the behavior of the holy men as applicable
  • as light as possible, intended to help people to fulfill their obligations to YHVH.

Halachah should not be:

  • a fence distancing people from the actual mitzvot, chuqqim and mishpatim
  • unreasonable or detached from the actual mitzvot, chuqqim and mishpatim
  • heavy and burdensome
  • causing people to leave and not keep their obligations

Jews have been working on halachah since the days of Moses. Those returning to God from among the Gentiles for the past two thousand years have been following the halachah of their denomination. Since the Six Day War when Israel recaptured Jerusalem, Messianics have been learning about making their halachah based on the Torah. So, this article isn’t teaching anything new, really, but providing the foundation for future articles where I talk about the mitzvot, chuqqim, and mishpatim and how they can be applied in what remaining time we have before Yeshua graces us with His Parousia (Presence)!

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