Responsa Literature

FRONT MATTER......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Dedication Page......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
Introduction......Page 14
1. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESPONSA......Page 20
Germany and Spain to the Fifteenth Century......Page 35
Turkey and Poland, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries......Page 38
Hungary and Galicia, the Nineteenth Century......Page 42
2. THE LEADING RESPONDENTS......Page 48
Solomon ben Adret......Page 66
Isaac bar Sheshet ("Perfet")......Page 69
Meir ben Baruch of Rothenburg......Page 72
Israel ben Petachiah Isserlein......Page 75
Joseph ben Solomon Colon (Maharik)......Page 77
David ben Solomon ibn Zimra (Radbaz)......Page 81
Meir ben Gedaliah of Lublin (Maharam Lublin)......Page 83
Jair Hayyim Bacharach (Havot Ya'ir)......Page 85
Ezekiel Landau (Noda bi-Yehudah)......Page 88
Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer)......Page 90
Joseph Saul Nathanson (Sho'el u-Meshib)......Page 92
Isaac Elhanan Spektor ("En Yitzhak," "Be'er Yitzhak")......Page 94
Sholom Mordecai Schwadron (Maharsham)......Page 97
3. A SELECTION OF RESPONSA......Page 100
The Letter of the Gaon Amram......Page 104
The Ban Against Philosophy......Page 106
The Captive Women......Page 110
The Ordination Dispute in France......Page 112
Marriages of Marranos......Page 116
Rabbinical Competition......Page 119
Taxation for Charity......Page 122
Teaching the Karaites......Page 125
Wearing the Hat......Page 130
A Charge Against an Anticipated Inheritance......Page 132
Divorce by Post......Page 137
The Jew's Oath......Page 141
Church Building Used As Synagogue......Page 145
4. WIDESPREAD DEBATES......Page 148
The Ancona Boycott......Page 151
The Divorce in Cleves......Page 159
The Sturgeon Controversy......Page 162
The Controversy Over Reform Judaism......Page 167
The Etrogim of Corfu......Page 174
The Shohet of Berdichev......Page 178
Machine-made Matzot......Page 182
5. HISTORY IN THE RESPONSA......Page 192
Polish Jewry......Page 196
The Marranos......Page 211
6. MODERN INVENTIONS......Page 226
Printing......Page 230
Electricity......Page 236
7. CURIOUS RESPONSA......Page 244
The Robot and the Minyan......Page 247
The Balloon Over the Succah......Page 250
The Self-winding Watch......Page 252
The Fore-edged Book......Page 254
Thumb-Prints on the Sabbath......Page 256
Pouring Out the Soda Water......Page 258
The Hypnotized Shohet......Page 260
Selling a Portion of Paradise......Page 262
Insurance for Wages Lost During Seven Days of Mourning......Page 263
8. PROSPECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESPONSA LITERATURE......Page 266
NOTES......Page 280
REFERENCE LIST OF RESPONSA......Page 292
INDEX......Page 298