Jewish Salvational Visions, Utopias, and Attitudes Towards the Halacha

Abstract

The institutionalized Jewish salvational vision of the Halacha and alternative salvational visions are presented. Two patterns of alternatives emerge: one which does not impinge upon the broader society but only upon spiritual elites and while subordinating the Halacha, does not reject it; and one which rejects the Halacha and attempts a utopian reconstruction of the broader social order. At the root of these differences are differing resolutions of central ambiguities in the basic salvational conception of Judaism: the Covenant.