Hanina Ben-Menahem

Hanina Ben-Menahem (Hebrew: חנינה בן מנחם) is an Oxford trained scholar who specializes in Jewish law (Halakha); he is Montesquieu Chair in Labor Law emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[1]

Ben-Menahem is critical of the legal positivist approach that dominates Mishpat Ivri, a comparative legal approach to Halakha. He was also a renowned chancellor of law in which he made several advancement in jurisprudence.

He argues that Jewish law is not a unified legal system and that its sources and principles are not logically and hierarchically ordered. Instead, he contends that Jewish law has a pluralistic structure, in regard both to its differing domains of authority (e.g., Ashkenazi and Sephardi) and the co-existence of incompatible rules. He believes Halakha makes room for judicial discretion and deviation, leading to a non-systematic tolerance for controversy. Furthermore, Halakha lacks strict adherence to precedence, an appellate system, and "secondary rules of recognition" (cp. legal positivist H.L.A. Hart) to determine authoritative laws.

Selected works

  • Judicial deviation in Talmudic law (1991)[2]
  • "Towards a jurisprudential analysis of the kim li argument" in Shenaton Hamishpat ha-Ivri 6-7 (1979–80)
  • "Is there always one uniquely correct answer to a legal question in the Talmud?" in the Jewish Law Annual 6 (1987) 169-173
  • Ben-Menahem, H. and Hecht, N.S., eds. Authority, Process and Method: studies in Jewish law (1998)[3]
  • "Postscript: the judicial process and the nature of Jewish law" in An introduction to the history and sources of Jewish law" eds. Hecht, Jackson, et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996
  • "Maimonides on equity: reconsidering the Guide for the Perplexted III:34" in the Journal of Law and Religion v.XVII, nos. 1 & 2, 2002 pp. 19–48.

References

  1. ^ "Prof. Hanina Ben-Menahem". Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 7 October 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  2. ^ Chernick, Michael (1993). "Review of Judicial Deviation in Talmudic Law: Governed by Men, Not by Rules". AJS Review. 18 (1): 116–119. doi:10.1017/S0364009400004475. ISSN 0364-0094. JSTOR 1486806. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  3. ^ Dow, Leon Wiener (2002). "Review of Authority, Process and Method: Studies in Jewish Law". Journal of Law and Religion. 17 (1/2): 223–226. doi:10.2307/1051423. ISSN 0748-0814. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
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