By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

There are different approaches to discussing rabbinic law and how those laws affect Jewish practice. An objective scholarly look at their development can be found in Elana Stein Hain’s “Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Loopholes and Legal Integrity.” (Click here to read The Reporter’s review of Hain’s book.) A different approach in “Yochanan’s Gamble: Judaism’s Pragmatic Approach to life” by Rabbi Marc Katz (The Jewish Publication Society), which offers a religious perspective on the subject, one that seeks to influence readers’ Jewish practice. Katz writes that his focus is on the way “the Rabbis came to view moral decision making as an imperfect dance. Ethical decisions were to be tempered by practical constraints. Laws would not only embody the Rabbinic understanding of God’s truth, but at times yield to the people’s needs and thereby encourage the masses to follow it.” He hopes readers will not only appreciate what the rabbis were able to do, but follow that path in their own lives.
Katz begins with the story of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakai, who escaped the Roman siege of Jerusalem and told Vespasian, the Roman commander, that he would become emperor of Rome. When that prediction came true, Vespasian offered Yochanan the opportunity to request a favor. Rather than ask the commander not to attack Jerusalem (something Yochanan knew wouldn’t be granted), he asked that the small town of Yavnah be spared and two other rabbis – one of whom was part of a rival rabbinic group – be allowed to live. While Katz notes the story might not be historically accurate, he sees it as offering an important message for future generations: the rabbinic project began by showing how communities must compromise in order to survive and thrive.
According to Katz, the ancient rabbis were more concerned with practical matters than they were with an abstract search for truth. While rabbinic texts state that God sees both sides of many disputes, they also make it clear that only God can do this. For society to function, lawmakers must pick a side. This includes when holidays will be celebrated, the contents of communal prayer, the rules of kashrut (the dietary laws), the laws of family purity and much more. But the genius of the rabbis is in realizing that people must be able to follow their decisions – that the laws’ financial and practical obligations don’t create too great a burden on the community. They recognized that if a particular law is too difficult to follow, then members of the community may feel that there is no point in keeping other laws.
Different chapters of “Yochanan’s Gamble” offer the methods the rabbis used to decide laws from a pragmatic point of view. They include “Upholding Compromise,” “Not Leading Too Far Out in Front,” “Abiding by the Wisdom of the Masses,” “Keeping Peace with the Neighbors,” “Avoiding Infighting” and “Sinning for the Greater Good.” Katz also notes how the rabbis tried to prevent the misuse of pragmatism. It’s impossible in a short review to discuss all his interesting ideas, but a few include:
The use of legal fictions and loopholes if they are beneficial to the community. These include selling hamatz (leavened products) to a non-Jew before Passover, using an eruv (a wire or string around a city) so people to carry or push baby carriages on Shabbat and allowing a woman to testify about the death of her husband so she can remarry.
Avoiding burdening people, both in time and money. That means not lengthening the amount of time spent in public prayer, limiting communal expenses so as not to saddle people with the cost of expensive, but unnecessary, items and allowing for less than perfect practice in order for people to fulfil a mitzvah (commandment).
Noting the times that sinning can be done for “The Sake of God.” This section includes several biblical stories: Lot’s daughters having sex with their father because they believe they are the only humans remaining in the world; Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, sleeping with her father-in-law after he refuses to allow her to marry his third son as required by Jewish law; and Yael, who breaks the laws of hospitality to a guest by (possibly sleeping with and then) killing Sisera, a Canaanite general. 
Katz notes that pragmatism “allows us to get things done, to sacrifice the perfect so that the good may blossom. It is pursuing the best possible path you can foresee even as you wish you could walk the best imagined one.” This makes “Yochanan’s Gamble” interesting reading since it offers an approach to Jewish practice of which people may not be aware. The prose is easy to read and the explanations well done so that even those unfamiliar with rabbinic writings will be able to follow their reasoning. The book is perfect for classes or discussion groups, in addition to being excellent reading for synagogue leadership.