To Halakhah, and Beyond!

Read this: a good argument made well. This related piece is also worth reading, IMO.

I was going to say certain profound things regarding the deep responsibilities of Jewishness, but I wrote music instead (both albums are coming along nicely, thank G!d), and my brain is all used up for the day. Perhaps I will come back to say more later, B"H. For now, this one thought: Mobius's reading of Torah implies that the Jew's calling is greater than what we'll crudely call the basics of halakhic practice; in fact, it raises the possibility that halakhah is a means to Judaism's ends in G-d's scheme, not the end in and of itself. If we accept this as a premise (which I do), then we are left with a practical problem -- that is, if it is possible, as has been amply demonstrated by chareydim, for the resources of Jewish individuals and communities to be spent entirely in the most particular canonization of halakhic basics, then how does one (invidual or community) balance the potential demands of halakhic observance with the potential demands of further callings? To put it glibly, can an integral Torah community justify the considerable expense of fancy water-filtration, in order to satisfy the strictest views re: microscopic copepods, over putting that same money toward feeding the NYC poor? The rabbinate tends to produce rulings that compel religious Jews toward total investment in a small handful of mitzvot (kaleidoscopically hair-split and chumrafied) -- which helps to keep rabbis in business. But is this in the true spirit of halakhah? Or is there a point past which the luxury to immerse in halakhic minutae becomes an unholy indulgence (an avoda zara, even)?

Discuss. :)