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February 6, 2024

Halakhah for the Ages? Reading Responsa from a Bygone Era

Rachel Furst

Rachel Furst

Rachel Furst is a post-doctoral fellow at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, having completed her PhD in Medieval Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  She received a BA in Medieval Studies from Barnard College and an MA in Jewish History from Hebrew University and is a graduate of the Advanced Talmud Institute at Matan. Rachel teaches Jewish history, Jewish law, and rabbinic literature at institutions in Israel and abroad.

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Halakhic responsa provide a window into the minds of legal scholars and decisors – and also into the social, political, and religious fabric of the societies they serve. In this course, we will study a sampling of such texts from medieval Europe on topics ranging from organized crime to marital conflict and interfaith cooperation. We will examine these premodern rabbinic rulings with an eye to their legal significance and creativity, as well as to their value as sources of Jewish history. Class discussions will address fundamental questions about the evolving and contingent nature of halakhah and the role of scholars and laypeople in its development and dissemination. Sources will be provided in both original language and English translation.

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

Session 7

Session 8

Session 9

Session 1: Source

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Session 2: Source

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Session 3: Source

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Session 4: Source

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Session 5: Source

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Session 6: Source

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Session 7: Source

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Session 8: Source

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