Category: Lifecycle Events

Abortion in Halakha: A Study Guide

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on February 7, 2019)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

Halakhic Parameters of Abortion: A Study Guide Guided Questions for Chavruta Learning Sources 1-7 were covered in the previous sheet.  Look at sources 8-12.  Do they indicate that a fetus has the legal status / protections of a human life or not? …

Hair Covering Episode, Joy of Text 4:03

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on January 25, 2019)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

These sources accompany the hair covering episode of the Joy of Text podcast.   A. Nature of Obligation The verse in Numbers {source ‎1} implies that women (perhaps specifically married women) would normally have their head covered. This point is made explicit from Sifrei {source ‎2}, which emphasizes the fact that this was a norm, and does not frame it as an obligation. …

Rav Hisda’s Seduction Advice to His Daughters, Joy of Text 4:02

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on December 26, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

These sources accompany the seduction episode of the Joy of Text podcast. 1. Shabbat, 140b בבלי מסכת שבת דף קמ עמוד ב אמר להו רב חסדא לבנתיה: תיהוי צניעתן באפי גברייכו, לא תיכלון נהמא באפי גברייכו, לא תיכלון ירקא בליליא, לא תיכלון תמרי בליליא, ולא תשתון שיכרא בליליא, ולא תיפנון היכא דמפני גברייכו.…

Should a Father Personally Circumcise His Son? – The Mitzvot of Bris and Milah

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on October 17, 2018

QUESTION: I am the father of a newborn beautiful baby boy.  The bris is coming up in a few days.  Since I have a mitzvah to give my son a bris, and the mohel is just an agent, is it better that I do the bris myself (after the mohel sets everything up, of course)?…

The Surrogacy Episode, Joy of Text 3:10

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on July 11, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

On the Season 3 Finale we interview a Jewish woman who made the decision to be a surrogate and carry a child for someone else, with the support of her husband and their three young children. Carrie and Jamie Bornstein share personally and poignantly about what it means to help another couple become parents, and how their kids and their community dealt with this new reality.…

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

Rabbi David Bigman (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?…

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

Rabbi David Bigman (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)? (Hebrew)

Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky (Posted on March 8, 2018)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

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Honoring an Abusive Parent?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted 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.  …

Saying Kaddish for a non-Jewish Parent

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on January 25, 2018

May a Jew by choice sit shivah and say kaddish for their non-Jewish parent? To answer this question we must address two issues: (1) What is halakhah’s view of the parent-child relationship in these cases? The gemara states, “A person who converts is like a newborn infant,” (Yevamot 22a).…

May a Woman Be a Mohelet?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer Posted on January 4, 2018

May a woman be a mohelet? Although women are not circumcised, they are members of the covenant that the Jewish people, have with God: “You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God.. all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in your camp… that you enter into covenant with the Lord your God…” (Deut.…

Eating the Placenta: A Halakhic Option?

Rabbi Dov Linzer (Posted on March 22, 2017)
From the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies

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