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Jewish Academy Past Courses

Captivating Cases in Rabbinic Responsa

  • CAPTIVATING CASES IN RABBINIC RESPONSA

    Listen in on the surprising, practical questions your ancestors asked rabbis across Jewish history.

    6 Tuesdays | 6:00 PM Buffet Dinner | 6:30 PM Class
    Starting January 20
    In-person & Zoom

    JLI Instructor: Rabbi Mendel Kleyman

    Course Cost: $99
    Early Bird: $89
    (includes textbook)

    Join this six-session course to discover the little-known world of rabbinic responsa, a vast archive of the real-life ethical and practical questions Jews asked across history and the scholarly answers rabbis wrote.

    Algiers is under siege: May I pray in a bathhouse? The Inquisition is watching: How will I celebrate Passover? Seventeen Jews are held hostage in faraway Regensburg after a blood libel: Must I help pay their ransom?

    See what enables Jewish tradition to offer relevant guidance in a rapidly changing world and come face-to-face with raw Jewish history.

    (No previous Jewish learning required.)

     

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  • Lesson Details

    Six sessions. Each lesson features real responsa cases across Jewish history and geography.
    Lesson 1
    The people who asked the questions
    What do these questions reveal about our ancestors? What did they think, feel, and value? Explore five fascinating stories to find out.
    Cases
    Barcelona, 1300 Algiers, 1450 Modena, 1530 Algiers, 1732 Auschwitz, 1944
    Lesson 2
    The quest for facts
    Do sages make assumptions about how reality works, or do they investigate the facts? Follow rabbis as they conduct five fascinating investigations worldwide.
    Cases
    Cairo, 1548 Altona, 1709 Hamburg, 1772 Jerusalem, 1866 Brooklyn, 1958
    Lesson 3
    How the Torah stays relevant
    See inside the process that enables the Torah’s ancient code to guide life in an ever-changing world. Witness the precise process of applying Talmudic precedent.
    Cases
    Barcelona, 1300 Valencia, 1380 Pavia, 1478 Berezhany, 1908
    Lesson 4
    When the exception is the law
    Explore unexpected rulings that reveal the hidden fallback mechanisms built into Jewish law. These cases show how the law itself protects deeper values like human dignity and family harmony.
    Cases
    Pavia, 1450 Salonika, 1550 Krakow, 1570 Liozna, 1790
    Lesson 5
    Answering the whole person
    Rules don’t always translate easily into reality. See how sages account for the practical, social, and emotional realities around a question to ensure their ruling leads to its intended outcome.
    Cases
    Cairo, 1173 Barcelona, 1300 Lodmir, 1615 Lubavitch, 1871 Brooklyn, 1954 Manchester, 1963
    Lesson 6
    Responsa from the future
    Could Artificial Intelligence decide Jewish law? Is lab-grown meat kosher? See how Jewish law is addressing the questions posed by tomorrow’s cutting-edge technology.
    Cases
    Jerusalem, 2003 Maaleh Adumim, 2009 New York, 2015 Beit Shemesh, 2022

    List of Questions

    All questions referenced across the six sessions, formatted for easy scanning.
    Brooklyn, 1958
    Can an Israeli ocean liner sail on Shabbat?
    Brooklyn, 1954
    May a patient with a catheter pray and study?
    New York, 2015
    Who is the mother when there’s a mitochondrial transfer?
    Hamburg, 1709 / 1763
    Is a chicken without a heart kosher?
    Hamburg, 1772
    Should burials be delayed due to the widespread fear of premature burial?
    Manchester, 1963
    May tefillin be brought into a hospital if they will be incinerated?
    Barcelona, c. 1300
    Is one obligated to contribute toward communal expenses despite holding a royal tax exemption?
    Barcelona, c. 1300
    Can an astrolabe be used on Shabbat?
    Barcelona, c. 1300
    Should donors be recognized on plaques?
    Valencia, c. 1380
    Is a synagogue seat-holder justified in opposing the addition of new seats that would narrow his access?
    Algiers, 1732
    Can a repurposed bathhouse be used for prayer during war?
    Algiers, c. 1450
    Can crypto-Jews eat grain-based foods on Passover that are typically avoided?
    Pavia, c. 1450
    Do parents have the authority to dictate whom their children marry?
    Pavia, c. 1478
    Can all German Jews be taxed to help ransom the Regensburg Jews accused of a blood libel?
    Modena, 1530
    Should Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon be annulled?
    Lublin (Lubavitch), 1871
    Are new breeds of chicken imported to Europe kosher?
    Liozna, c. 1790
    Do parents have the right to stop their children from switching to pray in the Chasidic manner?
    Lodmir, 1615
    Should the community invoke its autonomy to save a Jewish murderer?
    Auschwitz, 1944
    Can a father ransom his son, knowing another will be killed in his place?
    Kraków, c. 1570
    May a wedding take place after sunset on Friday, when delayed due to a dowry dispute?
    Berezhnay, 1908
    Does a hot air balloon hovering over a sukkah invalidate it?
    Salonika, c. 1550
    May immigrants from Italian lands switch over to the Sephardic prayer rite?
    Cairo, c. 1173
    Should one believe in the Yemenite Jew claiming to be the messiah?
    Cairo, 1548
    Is it permissible to use a canal formed by the Nile’s rise for ritual immersion?
    Jerusalem, 1866
    Are new breeds of chicken imported to Europe kosher?
    Jerusalem, 2003
    Who is the mother in cases of ectogenesis?
    Jerusalem, 2003
    How does one track Shabbat on Mars?
    Maaleh Adumim, 2009
    How does one track Shabbat on Mars?
    Worldwide, 2026
    Can AI be used for Halachic decisions?
    Beit Shemesh, 2022
    What’s the kosher status of lab-grown beef?
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