Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on March 6, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on December 8, 2016
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How is a Baby Made? More specifically, what determines the future characteristics of the child? One answer emerges from the story of Yaakov’s breeding of the sheep, an answer that seems to be endorsed by the Talmud: a child’s character is shaped by what the mother and father were thinking and doing at the time Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 3, 2016
Introduction We have seen how the mohar transformed from money up front and a type of bride-price to money paid at the end of the marriage, becoming our Rabbinic ketuvah. We have also seen how parallel to that the money given at the beginning of the marriage changed from being a significant sum to a Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on August 3, 2016
Introduction In Section A, we looked at the history of the ketuvah, and saw how it evolved from the Biblical mohar, and how this came with a raising of the wife’s status in the marriage. Here, in Section B, we will see how the shift from mohar to ketuvah was paralleled by a shift from Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on July 31, 2016
In the previous lecture we saw how the institution of marriage in the Torah seems to be based on a concept of ownership, and that this is paralleled by the way in which the marriage is effectuate – the giving of a mohar or bride-price from the groom to the father of the bride. We Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on July 31, 2016
Part I – In the Torah Section B – The Act of Marriage – Mohar and other Marriage-Monies We now turn to look at not the state of marriage, but the act of effectuating marriage. What act made an unmarried woman into an arusa, a betrothed woman? In the Torah, there are two stages Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on July 31, 2016
Our concept of marriage is one of a mutually entered partnership between husband and wife. But is this the Torah’s and halakha’s understanding of the institution? In this lecture, we will look at how the legal/halakhic institution of marriage is conceptualized in the Torah and how that has evolved through Rabbinic times until today. We Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on July 25, 2016
A. Forcing a Get due to Marital Incompatibility The Gemara says that a wife cannot be compelled to live with her husband if she cannot stand him. Rambam and Tosafot disagree as to what can be done in such a case (sources 1 and 2). The Geonim made an enactment that lasted for over 500 Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot Posted on July 22, 2016
מה מסכן את עולם התורה ואת הרבנות? By Rav Yoel Bin Nun Rav Yoel Bin Nun is the former rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Kibbutz Hadati and a founding faculty member of Michlelet Herzog of Yeshivat Har Etzion, and a faculty member at Yeshivat Har Etzion and other Torah institutions. He is a pioneer of the modern Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on July 5, 2016
This article was originally published on My Jewish Learning. In the traditional wedding ceremony, men play a more prominent role than women. This can be troubling for couples who, while wishing to be respectful of tradition and community, are also looking for ways to have a ceremony that reflects their vision of marriage as an equal Continue Reading »
by Michelle Friedman, MD Posted on July 5, 2016
Most studies investigating religiosity and sexual abuse have examined whether religiosity ameliorates the negative consequences of sexual trauma (1–4), rather than whether religiosity affects the occurrence of sexual trauma. There are currently no statistics regarding the lifetime prevalence of sexual abuse within religious communities. Accordingly, it is not possible to know whether cultures that constrain Continue Reading »
by Michelle Friedman, MD Posted on July 5, 2016
Taharat haMishpahah, literally, “family purity,” refers to the series of Jewish laws and customs governing sexual behavior between husbands and wives. The laws of taharat haMishpahah need to be understood in the larger context of observant Jewish life, which seeks to elevate everyday behavior in light of a divine plan. According to this understanding of Continue Reading »
