12
CHRISTIANITY IN TALMUD
recognised as a valid and therefore binding law of
religious practice. The connexion between this, its
undoubted meaning, and that of the root from which
it is derived, is uncertain, and has been variously
explained. The etymological question need not de-
tain us here.
Halachah
is therefore that system of
rule and precept to which the religious life of the Jew
must conform. The several rules and precepts, indi-
vidually, are called
Halrtchoth
(plural of Halachah).
The Torah of Moses was, first and foremost, Hala-
chah ; what it taught was, above all things, how a
man should love the Lord his God with all his heart
and soul and might ; in other words, how he should
serve God most perfectly (see above, p. 7). The
task of Rabbinism was to ascertain and determine
Halachah, in its fullest extent, to discover the whole of
what divine wisdom had decreed for the guidance of
man. And it was in regard to Halachah that the
principle of Tradition was most rigorously upheld,
because it was above all things essential that
Halachah, the law of right conduct binding on
every Israelite, should be accurately defined and
based upon ample authority.
The other main division of Rabbinical teaching,
known as Haggadah, differed from Halachah both in
its object and its method. Haggadah denotes illus-
trative teaching ; and it includes all that can help to
build up religious character otherwise than by the
discipline of positive command. It includes theo-
logical speculation in its widest range, also ethical
instruction and exhortation ; and its object is to
throw all the light of past thought and experience
upon the present duty. It is thus the necessary
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