Category: Marriage & Family

Rachel’s Cry: Single Women and Pru U’rvu

Amy Pollak (Posted on May 2, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

To read this teshuva in hebrew click here: Should community resources be allocated to help an older single woman become pregnant using artificial insemination?[1] Rav Shlomo Aviner addresses this question as follows: Question: A single woman, about forty years old, who realistically doesn’t expect to marry and wishes, with all her soul, to have a child to love and devote herself  to – is she permitted halakhically to use artificial insemination to bear a child?…

May a Husband Give His Wife Supportive Touch During Childbirth? – Part 2

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on April 26, 2018

May a husband hold his wife’s hand or give her a massage during childbirth, according to halakhah?  We began to answer this question last week and came to the following interim conclusions: A pregnant woman is not considered to be in niddah until either she experiences uterine bleeding (distinct from mere stains), or until a limb of the baby emerges from the womb. …

May a Husband Give His Wife Supportive Touch During Childbirth?  – Part 1

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on April 19, 2018

QUESTION:  I am nine months pregnant, and my husband and I have been doing Lamaze classes to prepare for the birth of our baby.  Part of the Lamaze method includes pressure massage and massage of the abdomen.  I have been told, though, that it is forbidden by halakhah for my husband to do this because I will be in niddah at that time. …

Rachel’s Cry: Single Women and Pru U’rvu (Hebrew)

Amy Pollak (Posted on April 19, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

To read this teshuva in english click here:…

May A Single Man Fulfill The Mitzvah Of Pru U’rvu (procreation)?

Amy Pollak (Posted on March 11, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

To read this teshuva in hebrew click here: Introduction Until the last generation, marriage and reproduction always went together. The only legitimate way of producing children was in the framework of marriage since non-marital sexual relationships are halakhically forbidden or, minimally, strongly discouraged.[1] In our generation, technologies have evolved that enable reproduction outside the context of marriage that do not cross these lines.…

May A Single Man Fulfill The Mitzvah Of Pru U’rvu (procreation)? (Hebrew)

Amy Pollak (Posted on March 8, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

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Honoring an Abusive Parent?

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on February 1, 2018

Must a Person Honor and Mourn for an Abusive Parent? The short answer is “no.”  One of the core principles in halakha when it comes to our obligation to others is hayekha kodmin, meaning our first ethical obligation is to ourselves.  …

Thinking About Mikveh Before Marriage- Joy of Text 2:11

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 10, 2017

Recorded Live at Harvard Hillel! Should an unmarried woman who is in an intimate relationship use the mikveh before marriage? What are the relevant and often competing halakhic, personal, and communal  issues that must be considered? Includes Q&A with Harvard students on this theme and related topics, and heartfelt reflections by our hosts on why this podcast is the most important project they’ve undertaken.…

Thinking About Mikveh Before Marriage- Joy of Text 2:11

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on August 24, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

Recorded Live at Harvard Hillel! Should an unmarried woman who is in an intimate relationship use the mikveh before marriage? What are the relevant and often competing halakhic, personal, and communal  issues that must be considered? Includes Q&A with Harvard students on this theme and related topics, and heartfelt reflections by our hosts on why this podcast is the most important project they’ve undertaken.…

Marriage for People with Down Syndrome

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on July 31, 2017

This is a shiur that Rabbi Linzer gave at the Young Israel of Sharon, MA, on July 26, 2017. Click on the following audio link to listen to the shiur and follow along with the sources below:   https://library.yctorah.org/wp-content/audio/SBM2017RabbiLinzerFellowsShiur.mp3   1.…

May a Woman Recite Birkat Eirusin?

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on March 6, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

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How a Baby Is Made

by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on December 8, 2016

SOURCE SHEET

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 of conception.…