SHULA JACOBS,
NEW and BRILLIANT Upload!Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 285. Rabbi Issar Yehudah Unterman, Shevet Yehudah, First and Second Series, Jerusalem, Mosad Harav Kook, 1983, pp. 503. In these responsa and legal essays, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel ... Continue Reading ➨
Joel Teitelbaum, ‘Divre Yoel’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), pp. 284-5. Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, Divre Yoel, Brooklyn, New York: Jerusalem Book Store Publishing House, 1982, 2 Volumes, Pp. 95, Price: £40.00. Rabbi Teitelbaum, who died a year or two ago, ... Continue Reading ➨
Judah Herzl Henkin, ‘She’elot uteshuvot Bene Vanim’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 284. Judah Herzl Henkin, She’elot uteshuvot Bene Vanim, Jerusalem, Weiss Mekor Barukh, 1981, Pp. 226. These Responsa and other essays of the District Rabbi of Bet Shean deal with the ... Continue Reading ➨
Moshe Feinstein, ‘Iggerot Moshe’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 284. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Iggerot Moshe, Orah Hayyim, Part 4; Yoreh De’ah, Part 3, Bene Berak: Yeshivat Ohel Moshe, 1981, Pp. 556, Price £10.50. This is the sixth volume of Responsa by ... Continue Reading ➨
Review of Journal Issue: ‘Judaism’ 34.1 (Winter 1985)
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 274. Judaism, No. 133, Vol. 34.1, Winter, 1985, is devoted to a symposium on Patrilineal Descent. The historian, Dr. Shaya J.D. Cohen, traces the development from an original patrilineal ... Continue Reading ➨
Mordecai David Cohen, ‘Edut ushetarot’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 265. Mordecai David Cohen, Edut ushetarot, Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, 1983, Pp. 420. The question of evidence given in writing, as opposed to verbal testimony in the Court, is one of ... Continue Reading ➨
Yair Hayyim Bacharach, ‘Mekor Hayyim’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 7 (1988), p. 290. Yair Hayyim Bacharach, Mekor Hayyim, ed. Rabbi Eliyahu Dov Pines, Jerusalem: Makhon Yerushalayim, Vol. I, 1982, Pp. i, 356, Price £12.50; Vol. II, 1984, Pp. ii, 541, Price, £14.50. ... Continue Reading ➨
The Flexibility of Jewish Law
Originally published in Chayenu 15.1/2 (1951), pp. 4-5. Is Jewish law rigid? Insofar that any law to be effective must be somewhat rigid, the answer is, yes. But Jewish law is a remarkably flexible instrument. Although Jewish Law, like any other ... Continue Reading ➨
Modern Problems in the Responsa
Originally published in Chayenu 14:5/6 (1950), pp. 2-3. One often hears the accusation made that Orthodox Rabbanim have not learnt how to apply the traditional Dinim to modern life. It is seldom realised, except by those who have first-hand ... Continue Reading ➨
Halachah and Changing Conditions
Originally published in Chayenu 14:1/2 (1950), pp. 2-3. Reform Judaism has often taunted Orthodoxy with being a hidebound system incapable of adaptation to changing circumstances. Orthodox Jews have sometimes retorted to this that they are in fact ... Continue Reading ➨
Wisdom between High Holy Days and holidays
Dear Friends, The High Holy Days have passed, promptly giving way to Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simhat Torah over the next two weeks. The succession of yamim tovim can be quite challenging, even when working for the Friends of Louis Jacobs! ... Continue Reading ➨
Judaism and Freedom
Originally published in Chayenu 13:3/4 (1949), p. 2. Not least of the evils of slavery is that it encases the slave in a mental iron lung. The slave, though aware of the disabilities of slavery, yet comes to hate freedom because he has learnt to ... Continue Reading ➨
Bertrand Russel, ‘Why I am not a Christian and other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects’
Originally published in A.J.A. Quarterly 3:4 (1957), pp. 29-31. Why I am not a Christian and other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. By Bertrand Russell. Ed. by Professor Paul Edwards. George Allen and Unwin. 16s. The late Rav Kook was ... Continue Reading ➨
Kabbalistic World View
Originally published in Ultimate Reality and Meaning II:4 (1979), pp. 321-9. INTRODUCTION From the root meaning of Kabbalah ‘to receive’, hence the received tradition, the mystical lore of Judaism, the theosophical system thought of as ... Continue Reading ➨
The Placid and the Perplexed – A Review of 2 Books on Maimonides and Spinoza
Originally published in World Jewry 1:7 (1958), p. 26. The Credo of Maimonides, by Carol Klein. Philosophical Library, New York, 1958, $3.75. Spinoza, The Book of God. Edited and with an Introduction by Dagobert D. Runes. Philosophical Library, ... Continue Reading ➨
The Counting of the ‘Omer
Originally published in the Jewish Monthly 6:2 (1952), pp. 67-70. The summer half of the Jewish calendar begins with the seven weeks of the ‘counting of the ‘Omer.’ As the old Jewish skit puts it: ‘For seven weeks one counts, for three weeks one ... Continue Reading ➨
The Musar Movement
Originally published in the Jewish Monthly 5:6 (1951), pp. 346-8. In recent years great interest has been shown in the moralistic movement, originated in the last century in Lithuania by Rabbi Israel Lipkin, otherwise known as Israel Salanter ... Continue Reading ➨
Jose Faur, ‘Lessons for Our Day from Sephardi Halakhic Sources’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 5 (1985), pp. 119-120. Jose Faur, “Lessons for Our Day from Sephardi Halakhic Sources”, Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly of America 40 (1978), 57-74.—In this interesting, pioneering paper ... Continue Reading ➨
Schalom Ben-Chorin, ‘Die Tafeln des Bundes: Das Zehnwort vom Sinai’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 5 (1985), pp. 119-120. Schalom Ben-Chorin, Die Tafeln des Bundes: Das Zehnwort vom Sinai, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1979, ISBN 3-16-141332-6, Pp. 191, Price: DM 28.— This is a short but ... Continue Reading ➨
S. Frankel (ed.), ‘Mishneh Torah’
Originally published in the Jewish Law Annual 4 (1981), pp. 294-5. S. Frankel, ed., Mishneh Torah, vol. 2 Zemanim, New York: Congregation Bnei Yosef, 1975; vol. 3 Nashim, Bnei Brak: Yeshivat Ohel Yosef, 1977.—These are the first two volumes of a ... Continue Reading ➨