DOCSLIB.ORG

Jewish Edited by ' 1 P Leora Batnitzky and Legal Yonatan Y

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jewish Edited by ' 1 P Leora Batnitzky and Legal Yonatan Y Jewish Edited by ' 1 P Leora Batnitzky and Legal Yonatan Y. Brafman Theories WRITINGS ON STATE, RELIGION, And morality Brandeis University Press Waltham, Massachusetts Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii 1 Jewish Law and the Rise of the Modem Nation-State l 1 Benedict de Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise 3 2 Selections from the Writings of Moses Mendelssohn and an Associated Text 7 3 Abraham Geiger, Posthumous Writings 15 4 Selections from the Writings of Samson Raphael Hirsch 20 5 Zacharias Frankel, “Judicial Evidence According to Mosaic Talmudic Law” 24 6 Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews tj 7 Selections from the Writings of Hermann Cohen 29 8 Menachem Elon, “The Legal System of Jewish Law” 35 9 Selections from the Writings of Robert Cover 38 Eastern European Views of Law: Dissolution of Jewish Communal Power 43 10 Selections from the Writings of Eliyahu of Vilna and Associated Texts 45 11 Hayyim of Volozhin, The Soul of Life 51 12 Selections from the Writings of Shneur Zalman of Liady 55 13 Nahman Krochmal, Guide of the Perplexed of the Age 58 14 Yisrael (Lipkin) Salanter, Light of Israel 65 15 Hayyim Soloveitchik, Novellae and Clarifications on Maimonides 69 16 Shimon Shkop, Novellae on Tractates Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, and Bava Batra 74 17 Selections from the Writings of Yisrael Meir Kagan and Associated Texts 77 i8 Selections from the Writings of Joseph B. Soloveitchik 84 ill Ultra-Orthodoxy and the Rejection of the Modern Nation-State 93 19 Selections from the Writings of Moshe Sofer and Associated Texts 95 20 Selections from the Writings of Akiva Yosef Schlesinger and an Associated Text 108 21 Moshe Shemuel Glasner, Fourth Generation 118 22 Isaac Breuer, “The Philosophical Foundations of Jewish and of Modern Law” 125 23 Selections from the Writings of Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz 130 24 Moshe Feinstein, Epistles of Moshe 140 25 Selections from the Writings of Yoel Teitelbaum and Associated Texts 146 IV Jewish Law and the State of Israel 161 26 Selections from the Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook 163 27 Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Uziel's Rulings 1/8 28 Shlomo Goren, “Is a Torah Constitution Possible?” 184 29 Isaac Halevi Herzog, Constitution and Law in a Jewish State According to the Torah 196 30 Yeshayahu Leibowitz, “The Religious Significance of the State of Israel” 204 31 Eliezer Berkovits, Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function ofHalakhah 206 32 Shaul Yisraeli, Pillar of the Right 211 33 Eliezer Waldenberg, Laws of the State 216 34 Ovadiah Yosef, “Regarding Women’s Recital of the Blessing over the Lulav and Other Time-Bound Positive Commandments” 224 V ] Jewish Feminist Views of Law 233 35 | Rachel Adler, Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics 235 36 | Tamar Ross, Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism 240 37 | Tova Hartman, Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism: Resistance and Accommodation 244 38 | Ronit Irshai, “Toward a Gender Critical Approach to the Philosophy of Jewish Law (Halakhah)” 248 Index 253.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Holy War in Modern Judaism? "Mitzvah War" and the Problem of the "Three Vows" Author(S): Reuven Firestone Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol
    Holy War in Modern Judaism? "Mitzvah War" and the Problem of the "Three Vows" Author(s): Reuven Firestone Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 954- 982 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4139958 Accessed: 18-08-2018 15:51 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Academy of Religion This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Sat, 18 Aug 2018 15:51:16 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Holy War in Modern Judaism? "Mitzvah War" and the Problem of the "Three Vows" Reuven Firestone "Holy war," sanctioned or even commanded by God, is a common and recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible. Rabbinic Judaism largely avoided discussion of holy war for the simple reason that it became dangerous and self-destructive. The failed "holy wars" of the Great Revolt and the Bar Kokhba Rebellion eliminated enthusiasm for it among the survivors engaged in reconstructing Judaism from ancient biblical religion. The rabbis therefore built a fence around the notion through two basic strat- egies: to define and categorize biblical wars so that they became virtually unthinkable in their contemporary world and to construct a divine con- tract between God, the Jews, and the world of the Gentiles that would establish an equilibrium preserving the Jews from overwhelming Gentile wrath by preventing Jewish actions that could result in war.
    [Show full text]
  • An Old/New Anti-Semitism
    בס“ד Parshat Vayera 15 Cheshvan, 5778/November 4, 2017 Vol. 9 Num. 9 This week’s Toronto Torah is dedicated by Rabbi Charles and Lori Grysman Bernie Goldstein z”l ,דב בן גרשון ,for the shloshim of Lori’s father An Old/New Anti-Semitism Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner In 2004, then-MK Natan Sharansky (26:18-19), they suggested that Yitzchak was not a true heir to described a “New Anti-Semitism”: anti- Yishmael shot arrows at his baby Avraham. She responded by insisting Jewish activism which disguises itself brother, pretending that it was only a that Yishmael be evicted; onlookers as political opposition to the State of joke. Since Yishmael posed a mortal would expect that Avraham would not Israel. A central characteristic of this threat to his brother, Sarah ordered him evict his biological child in order to school is delegitimization – claiming evicted. (Bereishit Rabbah ibid.) protect the reputation of his stepchild. that we lack the right to our Israeli homeland. However, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Finally, our Sages offered a third Per Netziv, Sarah exiled Yishmael Yehuda Berlin (“Netziv”) contended approach, relying not so much on the because he threatened the identity of more than a century ago that word mitzachek as on Sarah’s Yitzchak, and his heirs, as members of delegitimization is not new. Rather, it statement, “This maid’s son will not Avraham’s family. This was the original dates back to the first biblical enemy inherit with my son, with case of “New Anti-Semitism”, an attempt of the Jewish people: Yishmael. Yitzchak.” (Bereishit 21:10) Yishmael to delegitimize the Jews’ claim to the laughed at Yitzchak, saying, “Fools! I mantle of our ancestors.
    [Show full text]
  • Rabbi Shlomo Goren and the Military Ethic of the Israel Defense Forces
    Divine Spirit and Physical Power: Rabbi Shlomo Goren and the Military Ethic of the Israel Defense Forces Arye Edrei* The renewal of Jewish sovereignty in 1948 created a grave challenge to Jewish tradition. As a system that was constructed in exile for a non-sovereign society, Jewish law was lacking "laws of state." The legitimacy of military action and the distinction between just and unjust wars are prime examples of fundamental issues that Jews did not have to confront for a very long period of time. This article examines contemporary Jewish legal responses to the challenges posed by the creation of the Israeli military. It focuses on the efforts of Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the first Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, to create a modern corpus of Jewish law and ethics relating to war and the military. The Diaspora-based rabbinic literature seemed to oppose the use of force, reinterpreting Biblical references to military heroism as allegorical expressions of valor in the study of Torah. In an attempt to create an approach that legitimized the use of force while, at the same time, maintaining the rabbinic moral compunction regarding reliance on force, Rabbi Goren’s innovative corpus integrated Biblical and rabbinic sources, as well as pre-rabbinic apocryphal and historical sources. His writings on the subject are studied on a historical level, trying to uncover the various personalities and ideological positions to which he reacted. Rabbi Goren’s approach is examined through an * Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University. The author wishes to thank Mr. B. Zalmanovitz for his assistance and the Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law at Tel Aviv University for its support.
    [Show full text]
  • Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments
    Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III by Marc B. Shapiro This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Chaim Flom, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr David in Jerusalem. I first met Rabbi Flom thirty years ago when he became my teacher at the Hebrew Youth Academy of Essex County (now known as the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy; unfortunately, another one of my teachers from those years also passed away much too young, Rabbi Yaakov Appel). When he first started teaching he was known as Mr. Flom, because he hadn’t yet received semikhah (Actually, he had some sort of semikhah but he told me that he didn’t think it was adequate to be called “Rabbi” by the students.) He was only at the school a couple of years and then decided to move to Israel to open his yeshiva. I still remember his first parlor meeting which was held at my house. Rabbi Flom was a very special man. Just to give some idea of this, ten years after leaving the United States he was still in touch with many of the students and even attended our weddings. He would always call me when he came to the U.S. and was genuinely interested to hear about my family and what I was working on. He will be greatly missed. 1. In a previous post I showed a picture of the hashgachah given by the OU to toilet bowl cleaner. This led to much discussion, and as I indicated, at a future time I hope to say more about the kashrut industry from a historical perspective.[1] I have to thank Stanley Emerson who sent me the following picture.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Investigation Into Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli's Views on The
    HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422 Page 1 of 7 Original Research A critical investigation into Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli’s views on the phenomenon of labour Author: Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli (1909–1995) was one of religious Zionism’s greatest rabbis and 1 Amir Mashiach adjudicators. He served for many years as the rabbi of Moshav Kfar Haroeh, sat as a judge Affiliation: in the supreme Rabbinical Court and was head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. The purpose 1The Israel Heritage of this study is to shed light on Yisraeli’s attitude towards work. Did he see work as a basic Department and the School human obligation spelled out by the physical need for survival? Did he associate an of Education, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel ideological value with work, as part of a worldview integrating religious values with extra- religious ones, similar to socialism? Or did he see work as a religious value, one that stemmed Corresponding author: from his theology? Amir Mashiach, [email protected] Keywords: Rabbi Yisraeli; Religious Zionism; Rabbi Kook; Work; Labour; Mizrachi; Ha-poel Dates: Ha-Mizrchi; Activism. Received: 17 Dec. 2018 Accepted: 31 May 2019 Published: 23 Oct. 2019 This article seeks to understand the concept of work in the teachings of Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli (1909–1995). Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli was one of religious Zionism’s greatest rabbis and adjudicators How to cite this article: (ed. Sharir 1999; Roness 2012). He was born in Belarus, and only at the age of 24, he made Aliyah Mashiach, A., 2019, ‘A critical 1 investigation into Rabbi Shaul to the land of Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • Ou Vebbe Rebbe Rav Daniel Mann
    FROM THE VIRTUAL DESK OF THE OU VEBBE REBBE RAV DANIEL MANN an expression of Hashem’s affection for The Son of one who choses to embrace a challenging path to serving Him to the fullest. A a Convert midrash (Shochar Tov 146:9) describes it beautifully with a mashal of a king who Feeling Looked had special love for a deer that would follow his flock to their pen even though Down Upon it is naturally undomesticated. Potentially offensive sources are centered Question: My father converted (his in two areas. Rav Yehuda Halevi (The mother was not Jewish). I have struggled Kuzari) speaks of certain special spiritual with my identity due to what I have read qualities that come from a Jew’s lineage, in the Kuzari, Maharal and Kabbalistic and as a descendant of the forefathers. Not Chassidic works, which seem to view gerim all agree. Some (Rav Soloveitchik, Al as lesser than born Jews. Does Judaism Hateshuva, p. 136; Rav Kook) posit that a ger view someone like me as somewhat receives all he needs, including connection defective? to the forefathers, by joining the Jewish people through conversion (see Shulchan Answer: You are wise to seek information Aruch, Orach Chayim 53:19). Some posit and perspective to overcome natural that gerim have Jewish-typical “neshamot,” feelings, which the gemara (Sanhedrin just that they entered the world in a 94a) foresaw for some descendants of manner that required them to find their gerim to have about their identity for generations. (Mentors should ensure that Arthur Samuels, DPM conversion candidates consider such things).
    [Show full text]
  • War and the Military in Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach's Halakhic
    The Review of Rabbinic Judaism 21 (2018) 134–149 brill.com/rrj War and the Military in Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s Halakhic Decisions Amir Mashiach Ariel University of Samaria and Orot Israel College, 19 Weizmann Street, Petach Tikva, Israel, 4955619 [email protected] Abstract Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910–1995) was one of the most influential Halakhic authorities of the twentieth century. Although he was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Rabbi Auerbach dealt with the complexity of army and military life. This article shows that he possessed of a clear “operational way of thinking,” reflecting deeply on the unique needs of the military of the Jewish State. Additionally, the article examines various ap- proaches of filling the normative gap in issues of war and the military. Rabbi Auerbach based his specification of the Halakhah on his personal understanding and his own S’vara, that is, Halakhic logic. Keywords Shlomo Zalman Auerbach – Halakhah – laws of war – operational thinking – Shaul Yisraeli – Shlomo Goren Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (RA, 1910–1995), one of the most influen- tial Halakhic authorities of the twentieth century, for more than forty years headed the Kol Torah yeshiva in Jerusalem.1 He lived in Jerusalem’s Shaarei Chesed, a neighborhood associated with the Yishuv ha-Yashan, the Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] segment of the Jerusalem public. Taken together, these 1 On RA and his philosophy of Halakhah, see Amir Mashiach, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s Halakhic Philosophy in a Dynamic Era of Socio-Technological Transformation
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Press Staff Reporter Wednesday, August 29, 2007
    A Training Ground For Tomorrow's Rabbinic Leadership: Eretz Hemdah Celebrates 20 Years By: Shlomo Greenwald, Jewish Press Staff Reporter Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Twenty years ago this September, Rabbi Yosef Carmel and Rabbi Moshe Ehrenreich approached Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli, a longtime member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court and rosh yeshiva of the religious Zionist flagship Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, about starting Eretz Hemdah. Rabbi Yisraeli agreed and became president of the institute. “And he said that from this moment your time is my time,” Rabbi Carmel said. Today Eretz Hemdah is the only religious Zionist institute for Torah studies for post-semicha students – that is, students who had already received the first level semicha called yoreh yoreh before entering. Eretz Hemdah is a seven-year program, during which time students take tests to receive a higher-level semicha called yadin yadin. The tests and ultimate semicha are administered by the chief rabbinate of Israel. “The program is much wider,” said Rabbi Carmel during a recent interview with The Jewish Press. “It’s really to be the next generation of gedolei Torah. One of the ways to climb up on top of the hill is take this examination of yadin yadin, which is one of the most difficult examinations in Israel from the chief rabbinate of Israel.” In order to foster the next generation of Torah leaders, Eretz Hemdah’s program is intensive, with the young student rabbis dedicating 12 hours each day to Torah study. And the hours pay off. While the national average of passing all the yadin yadin tests is approximately 50 percent, Eretz Hemdah students have been averaging around 90 percent.
    [Show full text]
  • The Next Generation of Modern Orthodoxy
    The Next Generation of Modern Orthodoxy Next Generation.indb 1 4/3/12 3:43 PM Chancellor of Yeshiva University, meets each year to consider major issues of concern to the Jewish community. Forum participants from throughout the world, including academicians in both Jewish and ah, Jewish educators, and Jewish communal professionals, gather in conference as a think tank to and disseminate a new and vibrant Torah literature addressing the critical issues facing Jewry today. gratefully acknowledges the support of the Joseph J. and Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund established by Morris L. Green, of blessed memory. OF 19 r10 draft 08 balanced.indd ii 9/23/2008 8:19:37 AM Next Generation.indb 2 4/3/12 3:43 PM The Next Generation of Modern Orthodoxy EditEd by Shmuel Hain Robert S. Hirt, Series Editor the michael scharf publication trust of the yeshiva university press new york Next Generation.indb 3 4/3/12 3:43 PM Copyright © 2012 Yeshiva University Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The next generation of modern orthodoxy / edited by Shmuel Hain. p. cm. -- (Orthodox Forum series) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-60280-206-3 1. Orthodox Judaism--Congresses. 2. Judaism--21st century--Congresses. I. Hain, Shmuel. BM30.N49 2012 296.8’32--dc23 2012013967 Distributed by KTAV Publishing House, Inc. 888 Newark Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306 [email protected] www.ktav.com (201) 963-9524 Fax (201) 963-0102 v Next Generation front-chp 11 rev 2.indd 4 4/10/12 10:16 AM Contents Contributors xi Series Editor’s Preface xvii Robert S.
    [Show full text]
  • DRAFT NOT for CITATION the Interaction of Religion and Human Rights Discourses: Babel Or Translation, Conflict Or Convergence?
    DRAFT NOT FOR CITATION The Interaction of Religion and Human Rights Discourses: Babel or Translation, Conflict or Convergence? Suzanne Last Stone Nearly two decades ago, I was invited to contribute to a collection of essays, much like this one, convened to explore the possibility of “articulating a position of human rights on assumptions of humankind and of the cosmos other than those of Western liberal civilization.”1 The aim was to break decisively with the conventional essays by representatives of the world’s religions, each one claiming that its tradition had anticipated, if not actually given birth to, contemporary understandings of human rights. Instead, we were charged with marshaling the resources of our respective traditions to defend political and social liberties without necessarily invoking the language of rights; or the political and philosophic assumptions of secular, liberal modernity, such as the view of society as a collection of discrete, autonomous, rights-bearing individuals and the 1 Adam B. Seligman, “Introduction,” in Religion and Human Rights: Conflict or Convergence, ed. Adam Seligman (Hollis: Hollis Publishing Company, 2005), 11. The conference also generated: Adam B. Seligman, ed., Modest Claims: Dialogues on Toleration and Tradition (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004) Suzanne Last Stone, “Tolerance versus Pluralism in Judaism,” Journal of Human Rights, 2/1 (Spring 2003). 1 view of the individual as a self-regulating moral agent. The project was self-consciously constructive: to creatively mine potentialities within a given religious tradition that could support certain desirable insights of modernity — chief among them, tolerance and pluralism — while maintaining a commitment to tradition and religious identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Yom Ha'atzmaut and the Disappearance of the Three Oaths
    Yom Ha’atzmaut and the Disappearance of The Three Oaths: An Analysis of Rav Shaul Yisraeli’s Approach hen we look back gratefully on the many obstacles that Am Yisrael Rabbi Daniel Mann hasW overcome on the way to Jewish Ram, RIETS Israel Kollel statehood in Eretz Yisrael, one of Dayan, Eretz Hemdah the most intriguing to the student of Torah is the Three Oaths: does] Rav Yehuda [respond]? There is Yisrael. We also see that Rav Zeira ר’ זירא הוה קמשתמיט מיניה דרב יהודה, another verse: “I administered an oath disagreed, and reasoned that it was דבעא למיסק לארץ ישראל, דאמר רב יהודה: to you, Daughters of Jerusalem, by deer permitted for him as an individual, but כל העולה מבבל לארץ ישראל עובר בעשה, and gazelles of the field lest you arouse he conceded that it did preclude going שנאמר )ירמיהו כז,כב(: “בבלה יובאו ושמה and lest you awaken the love until it is there “as a wall,” for which we accept יהיו עד יום פקדי אותם נאם ה’”. ורבי זירא? desirable” (Shir Hashirim 2:7). [How Rashi’s explanation as by force, or ההוא בכלי שרת כתיב. ורב יהודה? כתיב קרא .does] Rav Zeira [respond]? That verse perhaps, en masse אחרינא )שיר השירים ב,ז(: “השבעתי אתכם teaches that they should not go up in a While there were groups of Jews who בנות ירושלים בצבאות או באילות השדה אם wall (or as a wall) [in force (Rashi)]. came to Eretz Yisrael throughout the תעירו ואם תעוררו את האהבה עד שתחפץ”. How does] Rav Yehuda [respond]? ages, there was no attempt to come en] ורבי זירא? ההוא שלא יעלו ישראל בחומה.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Philosophy of Halakha (Jewish Law): the Justification of Halakhic Norms And
    Critical Philosophy of Halakha (Jewish Law): The Justification of Halakhic Norms and Authority Yonatan Yisrael Brafman Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Yonatan Yisrael Brafman All rights reserved ABSTRACT Critical Philosophy of Halakha (Jewish Law): The Justification of Halakhic Norms and Authority Yonatan Brafman Contemporary conflicts over such issues as abortion, same-sex marriage, circumcision, and veiling highlight the need for renewed reflection on the justification of religious norms and authority. While abstract investigation of these questions is necessary, inquiry into them is not foreign to religious traditions. Philosophical engagement with these traditions of inquiry is both intellectually and practically advantageous. This does not demand, however, that these discussions be conducted within a discourse wholly internal to a particular religious tradition; dialogue between a religious tradition and philosophical reflection can be created that is mutually beneficial. To that end, this dissertation explores a central issue in philosophy of halakha (Jewish law): the relation between the justification of halakhic norms and halakhic-legal practice. A central component of philosophy of halakha is the project of ta’amei ha-mitzvot (the reasons for the commandments). Through such inquiry, Jewish thinkers attempt to demonstrate the rationality of Jewish religious practice by offering reasons for halakhic norms. At its best, it not only seeks to justify halakhic norms but also elicits sustained reflection on issues in moral philosophy, including justification and normativity. Still, there is a tendency among its practitioners to attempt to separate this project from halakhic-legal practice.
    [Show full text]