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b"Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is Senior Director of the Tikvah Fund and founding Dean of the Tikvah and Maimonides Scholars at Yale University. Prior to joining Tikvah, Rabbi Gottlieb served as Head of School at Yeshiva University High School for Boys and Principal of the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA.His writing has appeared inFirst Things,Public Discourse,the University Bookman,the Algemeiner,andthe Jewish Review of Books. Rabbi Gottlieb is a member of the Orthodox Forum Steering Committee and serves on the Editorial Committee ofTradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought.As theseParshiosintroduce the concepts ofChukimandMishpatim, specifically as they relate to the laws that govern sexual behavior, Rabbi Gottlieb presents a cogent examination of the traditional terminology ofChokandMishpatand how they have been understood over the centuries.Beginning with salient passages in the Talmud, Rabbi Gottlieb examines the definitions offered bySaadia Gaonas well as the nuanced usage made by theRambamin his commentary to theMishnaand inMishneh Torah.Rejecting the archaic translations that still hang cumbersomely around these crucial terms, Gottlieb looks to the definitions used by the Talmud, especially the phrase\\u05d3\\u05d9\\u05df \\u05d4\\u05d5\\u05d0 \\u05e9\\u05d9\\u05db\\u05ea\\u05d1as being open to two competing interpretations.While acknowledging that the formulations of thinkers as important as Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi David Novak as equatingMishpatwith completely organic Natural Law has been useful for reading the Torah system against the backdrop of a more universal lens, Gottlieb recognizes that the approach of seeingMishpatimas Divine Directives, whose logical hooks lend themselves to become chains of utilitarian limits on a society through common consensus, is likely more of a piece with what the term Biblically implies.In our post-modern time both traditional approaches toMishpatimandChukimare in danger of being rejected by theZeitgeist, which could render the categories obsolete, Gottlieb suggests.He therefore puts forth a nuanced idea championed by Rabbi Menachem Schrader that these categories are fluid, and one generation'sMishpatcan become another'sChokand vice versa.Rabbi Gottlieb finds a strong traditional precedent for Schrader's idea in the words of the Piasecne Rebbe inChovas HaTalmidim, where he describes how the emotional and intellectual comfort withMishpat, can be channeled through deep fervor into anyChok, giving the Jew who submits to the complex detail of ceremonial or sacrificial law the overlay of a child wanting to kiss his heavenly Father on the mouth.The Yeshiva of Newark @IDT is proud to partner with Rabbi Gottlieb in sharing his insightsand thoughtsto as wide an audience as possible .We thank the Tikvah Fund for use of this materialPlease visithttp://tikvahfund.orgto discover the richness of the programs and educational opportunitiesoffered by that institution as well as scintillating lectures and interviewsPlease leaveusa review or email us atravkiv@gmail.comFor more information on this podcast visityeshivaofnewark.jewishpodcasts.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate"