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. …
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. …
Amy Pollak (Posted on March 11, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies
Amy Pollak (Posted on March 8, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies
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. …
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.…Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on August 24, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies
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.…
Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on March 6, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies
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.…
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted 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 small symbolic amount –a perutah – thus transforming the act from one of kinyan to one of kiddushin. … by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted 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 kinyan to kiddushin in the act of the marriage itself. …
