A Responsum a Day Archives

Binyan Tzion on When an Invalid Torah Scroll Mixes with Others (29 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת בנין ציון י”ג 29 Adar Sheni 5613 (1853) A sefer Torah is known to have an error in it, somewhere in Bereshit, and then gets mixed in with a bunch of other Torah scrolls, and they checked all of them and could not find the error. What’s the community to do? The question relates […]

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R. Kook on Waiting to Marry After Having Lived with a Non-Jew (28 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת עזרת כהן (ענייני אה”ע) י”ד 28 Adar Sheni 5673 (1913) A young R. Uzziel asks R. Kook whether a woman who had left her non-Jewish boyfriend (by whom she had gotten pregnant, then miscarried) had to wait the standard three months (to be sure she was not pregnant, so that we know who the […]

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R. Herzog on Writing the Name Yerushalayim in a Get (27 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת היכל יצחק אבה”ע ב:נ”ז 27 Adar Sheni 5714 (1954) Rav Herzog was asked about the name of the city of Jerusalem, which was written in gittin, in bills of divorce, without a second yud. Howcome, when everyone in ordinary life wrote it that way? The discussion takes us through how it’s written in Tanach, […]

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Chatam Sofer on a Rabbi Who Had to be Removed (26 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת חתם סופר חו”מ ה:קס”ד שו”ת חתם סופר השמטות ה:ר”ז 26 Adar Sheni 5597 (1837) Chatam Sofer had supported revoking a rabbi’s ordination because of his brazen ruling on gittin issues, where he had not thought it was enough that the rabbi had made clear that he did not believe in basic Jewish ideas. Two […]

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R. Herzog on War on Shabbat (25 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת היכל יצחק או”ח לז 25 Adar Sheni 5708 (1948) Rav Herzog was asked about what actions Jews can take in the course of self-defense needs. Can they go on the offense? Keep a log of enemy movements?

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R. Elazar Fleckles Defends Noda BYehuda’s View of a Shiva House (24 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת תשובה מאהבה א:נ 24 Adar Sheni 5567 (1807) Elazar Fleckles was asked about his teacher, Noda BYehuda’s, claim that the priestly blessing is recited in a shiva home. He defends that view, and shows why it’s different from Tisha B’Av or when a groom is in shul. שו”ת דברי חיים או”ח ב:ב 24 Adar […]

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R. Moshe Feinstein Following Up on Medical Treatment Decisions (23 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת אג”מ חו”מ ב:עד 23 Adar Sheni 5744 (1984) R. Moshe Feinstein had ruled that one was not required– and maybe even not allowed– to extend the life of someone in constant pain for whom there was no cure. His questioner worried that would lead to euthanasia, since once we judge quality of live we’ll […]

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R. Chaim Berlin on Which Cities Were Given to Leviim (22 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת נשמת חיים קעט 22 Adar Sheni 5648 (1888) R. Chayyim Berlin was asked about verses that seem to say that the tribe of Yehudah gave eight cities to Levi’im, the tribe of Shim’on only one. That seemed unfair to the questioner, who suggested that some of the cities weren’t the ones we think they […]

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Klausenberger Rebbe on a Parent in Mourning Participating in a Child’s Wedding (21 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת דברי יציב יורה דעה רלז, רלט 21 Adar Sheni 5730 (1970) A parent is in mourning for his/her own parent, and a child is getting married. May the parent purchase new clothing for the wedding? May s/he participate fully in the wedding?

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R. Feinstein on a Disputed Marriage (20 Adar Sheni)

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שו”ת אג”מ אה”ע א:פ”ט 20 Adar Sheni 5711 (1951) A fifteen-year-old gets pregnant, and has a quick marriage. Except that she claims that the husband used a different woman as a stand in for her, so there never was a marriage. What’s the ruling?

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