Jewish Law

Judaism is not just a set of beliefs about G-d, man and the universe. Judaism is a comprehensive way of life, filled with rules and practices that affect every aspect of life: what you do when you wake up in the morning, what you can and cannot eat, what you can and cannot wear, how to groom yourself, how to conduct business, who you can marry, how to observe the holidays and Shabbat, and perhaps most important, how to treat G-d, other people, and animals. This set of rules and practices is known as halakhah.

The word "halakhah" is usually translated as "Jewish Law (the path that one walks)

Many rabbis think that Halakhah increases spirituality in a person’s life, because it turns the most trivial acts, such as eating and getting dressed, into acts of religious significance. Keep kosher or light Shabbat candles, pray after meals or once or twice a day. when you do these things, you are constantly reminded of your relationship with God, and it becomes an integral part of your entire existence.

Sources of Halakhah

Halakhah comes from three sources. Halakhah from any of these sources can be referred to as a mitzvah. The word "mitzvah" is also commonly used in a casual way to refer to any good act. Mitzvot(commandments) from all three of these sources are binding, though there are differences in the way they are applied.

1) Commandments from the Torah 

At the heart of halakhah are the unchangeable 613 mitzvot (commandments) that G-d gave to the Jewish people in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Some of the mitzvot from Tora are clear, explicit commands in the text of the Torah (must not murder; you shall write words of Torah on the doorposts of your house), others are more implicit (the mitzvah to recite grace after meals, which is inferred from "and you will eat and be satisfied and bless the L-rd your G-d"), and some can only be ascertained by deductive reasoning (that a man shall not commit incest with his daughter, which is deduced from the...