When is the Law Not the Law?

The Gemara (Berakhos 31a) states that when you leave a friend, you should depart with words of halakhah, Jewish law, because that will cause your friend to remember you whenever he thinks of this law. The Gemara then tells the story of how R. Kahana escorted R. Shimi Bar Ashi and then left him with a discussion about the palm trees in Babylonia having been there since the time of Adam.

The Maharatz Chajes (Glosses, ad loc.) points out that this is not a matter of law! Rather, it is an issue of aggadah, Torah legends.

Click here to read moreThe Maharatz Chajes (Glosses, ad loc.) points out that this is not a matter of law! Rather, it is an issue of aggadah, Torah legends. The Maharatz Chajes explains that this is just one of many instances where the term "halakhah" refers to Torah in general and not specifically a law.

For example, the Gemara (Sanhedrin 107a) says that King David forgot a halakhah, and then proceeds to discuss a man's sexual appetite, certainly an aggadic and not halakhic statement. Another example the Maharatz Chajes brings is from Rashi's commentary to the Torah (Gen. 33:4) that it is a halakhah that Esav hates Ya'akov. This, the Maharatz Chajes writes, is another example where an aggadic statement is called a "halakhah."