The Performative Speech Act in Jewish Law: Interpersonal vs. Human-Divine Speech
This article investigates the binding power of the spoken word in interpersonal relationships and compares it to that in the human-divine relationship, according to Jewish law. I focus in particular on the area of proprietary rights. Does the spoken word have any binding authority in halakhah? Can i...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
2015
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 2013, Volume: 84/85, Pages: 173-206 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | This article investigates the binding power of the spoken word in interpersonal relationships and compares it to that in the human-divine relationship, according to Jewish law. I focus in particular on the area of proprietary rights. Does the spoken word have any binding authority in halakhah? Can it create an actual contract between persons or between a person and God? Using the linguistic philosophy of John Austin, I will show that, while in contemporary Israeli law the spoken word indeed creates a new legal status, it has no such binding authority in traditional Jewish law in the area of interpersonal relationships. One must perform a physical deed such as moving or lifting the object in order to create a commitment. But in the area of the human-divine relationship, the spoken word has tremendous significance, to the extent that we may define it, with Austin, as a performative speech-act. By way of example I shall examine the concept of hekdesh, dedication of an object to the Sanctuary. In order to explain the difference between the two categories, I appeal to the idealistic philosophy of Fichte, who posited two concepts of the “Self”: the realistic Self and the idealistic one. I maintain that the dichotomy of the performative speech-act in Jewish law can be understood to follow this distinction. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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