astronomy

Hanina Ben-Menahem

Hanina Ben-Menahem is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hanina Ben-Menahem rather than just read about it. In short: Hanina Ben-Menahem (Hebrew: חנינה בן מנחם) is an Oxford trained scholar who specializes in Jewish law (Halakha); he is Montesquieu Chair in Labor Law emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ben-Menahem is critical of the legal positivist approach that dominates Mishpat Ivri, a comparative legal approach to Halakha.

Key takeaways

Hanina Ben-Menahem belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hanina Ben-Menahem to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hanina Ben-Menahem from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hanina Ben-Menahem (Hebrew: חנינה בן מנחם) is an Oxford trained scholar who specializes in Jewish law (Halakha); he is Montesquieu Chair in Labor Law emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ben-Menahem is critical of the legal positivist approach that dominates Mishpat Ivri, a comparative legal approach to Halakha. He was also a renowned chancellor of law in which he made several advancement in jurisprudence. He argues that Jewish law is not a unified legal system and that its sources and principles are not logically and hierarchically ordered. Instead, he contends that Jewish law has a pluralistic structure, in regard both to its differing domains of authority (e.g., Ashkenazi and Sephardi) and the co-existence of incompatible rules. He believes Halakha makes room for judicial discretion and deviation, leading to a non-systematic tolerance for controversy. Furthermore, Halakha lacks strict adherence to precedence, an appellate system, and "secondary rules of recognition" (cp. legal positivist H.L.A. Hart) to determine authoritative laws.

Selected works Judicial deviation in Talmudic law (1991) "Towards a jurisprudential analysis of the kim li argument" in Shenaton Hamishpat ha-Ivri 6-7 (1979–80) "Is there always one uniquely correct answer to a legal question in the Talmud?" in the Jewish Law Annual 6 (1987) 169-173 Ben-Menahem, H. and Hecht, N.S., eds. Authority, Process and Method: studies in Jewish law (1998) "Postscript: the judicial process and the nature of Jewish law" in An introduction to the history and sources of Jewish law" eds. Hecht, Jackson, et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996 "Maimonides on equity: reconsidering the Guide for the Perplexted III:34" in the Journal of Law and Religion v.XVII, nos. 1 & 2, 2002 pp. 19–48.

References

External links Harvard Law School Faculty Directory Archived 2008-01-20 at the Wayback Machine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hanina Ben-Menahem

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hanina Ben-Menahem claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hanina Ben-Menahem before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hanina Ben-Menahem ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hanina Ben-Menahem

In research: Hanina Ben-Menahem appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hanina Ben-Menahem in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hanina Ben-Menahem is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israeli jurists, Israeli scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hanina Ben-Menahem outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hanina Ben-Menahem in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hanina Ben-Menahem means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hanina Ben-Menahem out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hanina Ben-Menahem in simple terms?

Why does Hanina Ben-Menahem matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hanina Ben-Menahem?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hanina Ben-Menahem.