“In Spanish/Portuguese congregations, hagbah was entrusted only to a select group known as levantadores….”
The Mishnah Berurah (147:7) cautions that a weak person should never be honored with...
Category Archives: Halakhah
“Emotional input is the reason why mature people go to a human being for psaq halakhah and not a computer”
There is a beautiful narrative in Ketubot 23a where Shmuel considered declaring a group...
“…we can now better appreciate why certain rabbis have attempted to find solutions within Jewish law to the contemporary agunah problem”
I have been told that the Beth Din of America operates on the principle...
“…the question of whether halakhah excludes women from holding specific roles or offices”
…the question of whether halakhah excludes women from holding specific roles or offices. From...
“The halakhic inquiry…does not start out from the point of absolute zero as to sentimental attitudes and value judgments”
The halakhic inquiry, like any other cognitive theoretical performance, does not start out from...
“For Rabbi Gordimer, all poskim share the same ‘process’. Not only is this historically incorrect, it isn’t even ‘doctrine'”
Rabbi Gordimer claims that there is no such thing as Modern Orthodox pesak, and...
A couple of “considerations regarding the words of מר עוקבא” re: waiting between meat and milk
Here are two additional considerations regarding the words of מר עוקבא: אמר מר עוקבא...
“While some earlier rishonim required waiting between eating beheima meat and eating dairy, Rambam was the first to state that one must wait after eating poultry, as well”
While some earlier rishonim required waiting between eating beheima meat and eating dairy, Rambam...
“…within Mishna Torah, there may be Talmudic laws which have been redefined or reformulated for anti-Qaraite reasons”
Professor Haym Soloveitchik has argued convincingly that the unique arrangement of Hilchos Shabbos in...
“Modern Orthodox Jews often express ambivalence about these workarounds”
Modern Orthodox Jews often express ambivalence about these workarounds. On the one hand, the...