Takkanot Ha-Kahal: Communities Creating Halakhah
Throughout the medieval and the early modern periods, autonomous Jewish communities around the world used the legal mechanism known as takkanat ha kahal to shape the culture and character of their societies by enacting new legislation on a wide array of civil, criminal, and public matters. What gives a community the authority to create law? Who is bound by these communal directives? What is the relationship between local takkanot and universally recognized halakhah? After examining this legal phenomenon in historical context, we will also consider its utility and value to Jewish communities today.