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No phenomenon more accurately reflects the life and character of the Jewish people than the Halakhah

Nothing has made its influence more profoundly felt on the course of the history of the Jewish people, shaping its way of life and giving it form and substance, than the Halakhah. There is, therefore, no phenomenon that more accurately reflects the life and character of the people than the Halakhah.

Ephraim E. Urbach, The Halakhah: Its Sources and Development, trans. Raphael Posner (Ramat Gan: Massada; Jerusalem: Yad la-Talmud, 1986), 1.

“Halacha is the greatest chess game on earth. It is the Jewish game par excellence”

Halacha is the greatest chess game on earth. It is the Jewish game par excellence. For the man who wants to live a life of great meaning and depth, nothing is more demanding and torturous while simultaneously uplifting and mind-broadening. He loves the rules because they are the way to freedom. All he wants is to play chess. He recognizes that others wish to play with less complicated rules. And that is fine. But the chess player smiles. That is not chess. That is nothing but dominoes played by kids.

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, “Halacha: The Greatest Chess Game on Earth,” Thought to Ponder #301 (28 June 2012).