Are Women Light-Headed: Three Troublesome Passages in Halakhic Literature (2009)

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Egalitarianism: Halacha and Tradition (2007)

Intro: Ari Berman/Green/Jack Rudin... Lecture – controversial – no one will be happy. Bullet-proof vest – stones/tomatoes. I ask you to hold your prejudices in check, & understand this = complicated subject, no simple answer. Definition: EGM from French: égalité; is belief all equal, no hierarchy. EGM begins w Emancipation even < Fr Rev (1789) to Congress of Berlin (1878) & then to 1933 (Rise Nazism); EGM originates Europe; rejected by Catholic, some Protestant & most of Islam. In USA, EGM – Civil Rights Revol & also → moral relativism; personal autonomy (both unacceptable to Hal). Alexis de Tocqueville (1857) attributed idea of Equality to Jsm (monotheism). BUT W. Europe: Elitists – Democracy (via EGM) = enemy excellence; reject idea equality as work of Js, so: hateful. Islam too rejects democracy/EGM universality, foreign to Isl trad. (Explains today’s militant Islamic assault vs America, Isr). “The Great Satan.” So (2003) Pres Malaysia to 57 Islamic leaders: “We = against a ppl who think; survived 2000 yrs pogroms by not hitting back but by thinking; invented Communism/Socialism/human rights/Democracy” – basically repeating Hitler’s views. AMER EGM – opportunities Js rel Js to participate in Am society; Ideal צלם אלקים – EGM has been good for Js – not only Orth, but all who identify as Js; even Chinese impressed. Dan Elazar: EGM in synagogue – little interest to Israelis. Need for individual choice = incomprehensible. EGM Roots in Tor? Yes, but not dominant all else. Will explain. Arguments For EGM in Jsm: אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה׳ אלקיכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושטריכם כל איש ישראל – טפכם נשיכם וגרך אשר בקרב מחניך מחטב עציך עד שואב מימיך. ברכות דף יז/א מרגלא בפומייהו דרבנן דיבנה: אני בריה וחברי בריה; אני מלאכתי בעיר והוא מלאכתו בשדה; אני משכים למלאכתי והוא משכים למלאכתו; כשם שהוא אינו מתגדר במלאכתי כך אני איני מתגדר במלאכתו; ושמא תאמר אני מרבה והוא ממעיט – שנינו אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים. משנה סנהדרין פרק ד: לפיכך נברא אדם …

Women & Judaism

Halakhic Issues of Modern Times, Part 3: The Abortion Problem - The Basic Halacha (1974)

I. INTD. Subject too imp’t + maturity too extensive, torom lecture. 1) So…this lect: BASIC HAl. FRAMEWORK. 2) Next week: the moral save (suggestions purely techn. הלכה; Hal’s p it gentiles. AB; + what attitude Jews should be to PUBLIC policy. 2) When all this attention to Ab? Publ controv’n; 〜300,00 intuan Abr/gr 4) Some P’s in Hal: is fiction “mundane?” Is focus a “picion?” If not murder, is Ab permitted on

Talmudic Analysis Practical Halacha Women & Judaism

Halakhic Issues of Modern Times, Part 4: The Abortion Problem - The Moral Issue (1974)

I. Intro 1. Convent: NY leading פסקי הלכות – rather: illust’g How הלכה reacts. Illustrations, not denoirns. 2.Today – will touch even of relps law-morality – a/range an etremely siddre one ten laurders, philosophers, moralized. And from HAL to mor’y, to public pol’y 3. 3 parts: a) בני נח; b) J. view in Ab. legal’n (לפני מר); c) morality

Talmudic Analysis Practical Halacha Women & Judaism