Halakhah and Historical Reality
Tomer Persico has a posted (Hebrew) about another article by Yoav Sorek, this one was about Tisha B’av and how the historical reality of Israel behooves us to change the way the day is observed. I haven’t read Sorek’s article, but Persico posted his own response which was printed in Makor Rishon. Persico wrote that much of the opposition to Yoav Sorek’s ideas probably stems from the role that Sorek wants historical reality to play in the halakhic process, e.g. the state of Israel exists and is flourishing, therefore that must affect halakhic reality. Persico points out that this is a slippery slope, which isn’t necessarily negative, and asks what are the parameters of the affect that historical change can have on the halakhic process.
For my translation of an interview with Yoav Serok along with the original Hebrew, see here.
Update: Yoav Sorek was kind enough to send me this link which includes all of the responses to his article and an interview with him.