Rabbi John D. Rayner and Progressive Halachah

Abstract This article describes John Rayner's study of Halachah during his stay at the Hebrew Union College, and his collected writings on the subject in his 1998 volume Jewish Religious Law: A Progressive Perspective . It summarises his evaluation of the Halachah in a 1970 talk, in which he dialectically arrives at a position between complete acceptance and complete rejection: a middle way of a truly Progressive Halachah. Turning to a paper from 1980, it describes Rayner's theological argument for such a Liberal reconstruction of the Jewish legal system. It then focuses on the example of Rayner's skilful discussion of the history of Jewish divorce law, which concluded with his creative suggestion for a Liberal divorce procedure. Here, the article comments on some problems with Rayner's approach, which, it concludes, is nevertheless worth re-engaging with seriously.