Halakhic Decision Making in Matters of 169Belief and Outlook in the Late Modern Period

Fundamental Approaches and Widespread Practices

Abstract

This article explores whether, and to what extent, theological and philosophical disagreements in Jewish tradition have definitive resolutions. The work surveys the main directions set forth by earlier thinkers and commentators and described in the scholarly literature, indicating the difficulties in each. The article examines the inner dynamic of disagreements and discussions of this type, and offers another position that, in my opinion, underlies the discourse of many thinkers on such matters. I maintain that a decision is reached on some topics, but the nature of the decision is not dogmatic and refers to the external framework but not to its contents or details.