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The Boldness of a Halakhist analyzes the writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein (1829–1908), author of the Arukh Hashulkhan, a bold and unusual approach to Jewish law. Based primarily on the original text of Rabbi Epstein's legal codes and homilies, this work covers topics such as women, modernity, customs, and secular studies. It analyzes the rabbi's approach to Jewish law and Jewish life, designed to promote the spiritual welfare of Jews under the pressures of growing secularization and Russification. Although based upon the principles of the traditional judicial process, the rabbi’s rulings demonstrate a profound understanding of the contemporary social and historical reality facing the Jews of Russia at the turn of the century.
Price: $109.00
Pages: 208
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Series: Judaism and Jewish Life
Publication Date:
01 March 2008
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781934843031
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
"Professor Fishbane’s collection of studies focusing upon AHS as well as other writings of Epstein is for that reason a welcome addition to the library of research into recent halakhic literature...Those interested in the history of contemporary halakhic literature and culture owe him a debt of thanks, and all subsequent studies of Epstein and AHS will of necessity engage with this book."
Simcha Fishbane (Ph.D. - Concordia University, Montreal, Canada 1998) is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Executive Assistant to the President of Touro College. Dr. Fishbane's books include Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature (Brill, 2007), Jewish Studies in Violence, edited by and introduced by Simcha Fishbane (UPA, 2006), Voodoo or Judaism, The Ritual of Kapparot: People Medicine and Magic in Jewish and Slavic Cultural Tradition (Moscow, 2007).
Preface. Introduction by Ira Robinson. 1. Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstien: His Life and Works. 2. "Long Live the Tsar": Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Epstein and the Russian Political System. 3. "Today Not Yesteryear": Rabbi Y.M. Epstein's Adjudicative Process as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan. 4. "In Any Case There are no Sinful Thoughts": The Role and Status of Women in Jewish Law as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan. 5. The Courage of a Religious Adjudicator: Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Epstein and Modernity. 6. "Mercy is Vouchsafed from Heaven": Halakhah's Response to Violence as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan Orakh Hayyim. 7. "Secular Studies are the Supplement of Torah Studies" : Kol Ben Levi- The Homilies of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein - The First Sermon. 8. Recurrent Themes in the Homilies of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein. 9. Social Reality or the Written Word: Minhag as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.