Takkanah


A takkanah is a major legislative enactment within halakha, the normative system of Judaism's laws. A takkanah is an enactment that revises an ordinance that no longer satisfies the requirements of the times or circumstances or which, being deduced from a biblical passage, may be regarded as new. A takkanah is enacted by a rabbinical decree or ordinance to improve and preserve religious life. It is, therefore, the antithesis of the gezerah. The term is applied also to the institution provided for in the enactment.
Takkanot were enacted even in the time of the Second Temple, those of unknown origin being ascribed to earlier leaders, and they have been promulgated at all subsequent periods of Jewish history.

Introduction

Classical Jewish law granted the Chazal, the first rabbinical authorities, wide legislative powers. There are two powerful legal tools within the Halakhic system:
  • Gezera: "preventive legislation" of the Chazal, intended to prevent violations of the commandments
  • Taqqana: "positive legislation", practice instituted by the rabbis not based on the commandments as such.
However, taqqanah can refer to either gezerot or taqqanot in later literature.
Taqqanot, in general, do not affect or restrict observance of mitzvot. However, the Talmud states that in exceptional cases, the Jewish sages had the authority to make a gezera even if it would "uproot a matter from the Torah". In Talmudic and classical Rabbinic literature, this authority refers to the power to prohibit specific actions that would otherwise be permitted by Jewish law, known as halakha. Rabbis may rule that a Torah-based mitzva should not be performed—e.g. blowing the shofar on Shabbat or blessing the four species of Sukkot on Shabbat. These gezerot are executed out of fear that some might otherwise carry the mentioned items between home and the synagogue, thus inadvertently violating one of the 39 Melakhot, a greater sin than neglecting a mitzva.
Another rare and limited form of taqqana involved overriding Torah prohibitions. In some cases, the sages permitted temporary exceptions to a prohibition to maintain the system as a whole. This was part of the basis for Esther's relationship with Ahasuerus.

Biblical taqqanot

Ascribed to Moses:
  1. the observance on holy days of the ceremonies peculiar to the festivals in question
  2. public Torah reading on the Sabbath, holy days, Rosh Hodesh, and Chol HaMoed
  3. the first blessing in Birkat Hamazon
  4. the eight Priestly watches managed by the Priestly divisions, four by Eleazar and four by Ithamar, which Samuel and David increased to twenty-four
  5. the seven days of wedding festivities for a virgin, and seven days of mourning for the dead
To Joshua:
  1. the second blessing in Birkat Hamazon
  2. ten regulations which, however, are not takkanot in the strict sense of the term
To Boaz, the ancestor of David:
  1. salutation in the name of God
To King David:
  1. increase of the eight watches of the priests to twenty-four ;
  2. the recitation of 100 blessings daily
  3. the third blessing in Birkat Hamazon
To King Solomon:
  1. the practise regarding the Eruv
  2. the washing of the hands before Kiddush, which Shammai and Hillel made obligatory for Terumah as well, while later authorities extended it to still other occasions
  3. the regulation regarding entrance upon another's fields after the harvest
To the early prophets:
  1. The singing of Hallel on every important occasion, and especially after escape from danger
  2. the introduction of twenty-four divisions of laymen, corresponding to the twenty-four watches of the priests
To the Prophets before the destruction of Solomon's Temple:
  1. payment of terumah and tithes in Babylon as well as in the Land of Israel
  2. payment of the second tithe in the seventh year
  3. payment of it in Egypt, Ammon, and Moab likewise
  4. payment of the poor tithe even in the seventh year
To the Prophets after the destruction of the Temple:
  1. fasting on the Seventh of Tammuz, Tisha B'Av, First of Tishri, and Tenth of Tevet
To Ezra:
  1. the reading of ten verses of the Torah by three men on Monday and Thursday
  2. the reading of Leviticus 26:14-46 before Shavuot, and of Deuteronomy 28:15-69 before Rosh Hashanah
  3. sessions of the courts on Monday and Thursday
  4. the washing of clothes on Thursday
  5. the eating of garlic on Friday
  6. early rising on Friday morning for the purpose of baking
  7. the wearing of a girdle by women for reasons of modesty
  8. the obligation of the mikvah
  9. the law obliging peddlers to traverse the city in case they deal in articles necessary for women
  10. ritual baths for those who have become unclean

    Second Temple period (excluding biblical figures)

To the men of the Great Assembly in the early Second Temple period
  1. introduction of blessings, prayer, Kiddush, and Havdalah
  2. the recitation of the Amida on weekdays
  3. the reading of the Book of Esther in the villages and unwalled cities on 14 Adar and in cities with defensive walls on the following day; banquets on those days; and the giving of alms
  4. the introduction of seven blessings into the Amidah on Shabbat and holidays; the addition of nine benedictions to the mussaf prayer for Rosh Hodesh and Chol HaMoed, and of twenty-four on fast-days
  5. Recitation of prayers:
  6. # recitation of several prayers
  7. # period of duration of each prayer
  8. # the offering of prayer daily
  9. # three times on weekdays,
  10. # four times on Shabbat, Jewish holidays, fasts, and Rosh Hodesh
  11. # five times on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement
  12. addition of the "Magen Avot" to the Amidah at Shabbat ma’ariv
  13. bowing before and after the first blessing and before and after the penultimate blessing of the Amidah
Ascribed to John Hyrcanus :
  1. Decree forbidding the recitation of the prayer of thanksgiving, Viddui Ma'aser by any who have not paid the proper tithes at the end of the third year
  2. the appointment of officials to collect the tithes
  3. the use of rings in the shambles to force the animals to stand still
  4. prohibition of blacksmithing on Chol HaMoed
By the court of the Hasmoneans:
  1. Celebration of Hanukkah beginning on the 25th of Kislev
  2. Insertion of the name of God in legal documents
By the priestly court:
  • the daughter of a priest to be entitled to 300 zuzim under her marriage contract, and the widow of a priest to 100 zuzim
  • the ketubah of a woman about to contract a levirate marriage to form a lien on the property of her first husband; and if he had no property, that of the levir to be appropriated
  • the ketubah of a virgin to be of the value of 200 zuzim, and that of a widow or divorcée, 100 zuzim
By Shimon ben Shetach:
  1. all the real estate of the husband to be entered in the marriage contract in favor of the wife, but the former may employ the dowry in his business;
  2. compulsory attendance at school
  3. the declaration that foreign glass is impure
By Hillel the Elder :
  1. Introduction of the prozbul
  2. the purchase-money of a house to be deposited in the Second Temple; the original owner may seize it by force to prevent its payment to the seller before the expiration of a year
By Gamaliel :
  1. The condemnation of 2000 cubits of ground in which Rosh Hodesh witnesses might freely move on the Sabbath
  2. the full names of the husband and the wife to be inserted in a get
  3. the signatures of witnesses to the bill of divorce
  4. a widow may take the portion secured to her by her marriage contract only after all claims of the orphans have been fully satisfied
  5. a bill of divorce may be declared invalid only in the presence of the messenger who has brought it, or in the presence of the wife before she has received it

    Tannaitic period

Most of the ordinances of Yohanan ben Zakkai were promulgated before the time of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. These include:
  1. the New Moon witnesses must go to the place where the court assembles
  2. the testimony of such witnesses to be received at any time during the day
  3. they may not desecrate the Sabbath by traveling, except in Nisan and Tishri, the most important two months
  4. the shofar to be blown even on the Sabbath
  5. the lulav to be swung on all the seven days of the festival
  6. the consumption of new grain is forbidden during the entire day of the waving of the Omer
  7. priests may not wear sandals when they ascend the "dukan," or platform, to pronounce the blessing
  8. a convert must deposit a quarter-shekel in the treasury to be able to bring his sacrifice when the Temple shall be rebuilt
  9. abolition of the ritual governing trials for adultery
Ascribed to Gamaliel II and the court of Yavne:
  1. Agriculture is permitted until the first day of the Sabbatical year
Ascribed to the court of Yavne:
  1. the fourth blessing of Birkat Hamazon, in memory of those who fell at Betar
  2. the insertion of the prayer against heretics in the time of Gamaliel, and, much later, of the "Adonai Sefatai" before the "Tefillah."
After R. Gamaliel's death the Sanhedrin of Yavne seems to have gone to Usha for reasons which are no longer known, and the grounds of its takkanot are equally obscure. In view of their ethical import, however, these enactments soon became binding. They were as follows:
  1. a man must support his minor children
  2. if a man transfers his property to his sons, both he and his wife enjoy a life income from it
  3. the gift of more than one-fifth of one's property for alms is forbidden
  4. a father must deal gently with his son until the latter reaches the age of twelve; but after that age he may be severe with him
  5. after a wife's death the husband may sell the property included in her dowry
  6. one who attacks an old man must pay one pound of gold for the injury
  7. elucidation of the seven doubtful reasons through which the terumah becomes unfit for use and must be burned
These ordinances were enacted by the rabbis of the second generation of tannaim, Rabbi Ishmael being especially mentioned.
An ordinance is also extant which dates from the time called the period of religious persecution. When Hadrian issued his decree forbidding the Jews to observe their religion, the teachers, including R. Akiba, R. Tarfon, and R. Jose the Galilean, met in council and agreed that during the time of the persecution the Law might be transgressed in all respects, except as regarded the commands relating to idolatry, chastity, and morality, although this regulation was observed only superficially and only when necessary in order to deceive the Roman spies.
Three ordinances have been preserved which were promulgated by R. Jose ben Halafta :
  1. during a funeral the mourners must remain standing while those who console them pass by
  2. women living in lonely places must associate with one another, so as not to attract the attention and evil desire of any man
  3. a child accompanied by its mother must not lag behind on the road, lest it come to harm
To R. Judah HaNasi:
  1. messengers must be sent every month to announce the new moon to the Diaspora
  2. concerning the purchase of fields among the Sicarii
  3. on menstruation