Captivating Cases in Rabbinic Responsa

Listen in on the surprising, practical questions your ancestors asked rabbis across Jewish history.

Join this six-session course, taught by Rabbi Gurevitz, to discover the little-known world of rabbinic responsa, a vast archive of the real-life questions of ethics and practice Jews asked across history—and the scholarly answers rabbis wrote.

Algiers is under siege: May I pray in a bathhouse? The Inquisition is watching: How will I celebrate Passover? Seventeen Jews are held hostage in faraway Regensburg after a blood libel: Must I help pay their ransom? 

See what enables Jewish tradition to offer relevant guidance in a rapidly changing world—and come face-to-face with raw Jewish history. 

(If you don’t know what a “rabbinic responsa” is, you’ll fit right in.)

This course will satisfy the continuing education (CLE) requirements of lawyers and other legal professionals. 

You can sign up for the free lesson below. To sign up for the full course, click here.

Lesson 1 Outline
”The people who asked the questions”

What do these questions reveal about our ancestors? What did they think, feel, and value? Explore five fascinating stories to find out.

Cases BARCELONA, 1300; ALGIERS, 1450; MODENA, 1530; ALGIERS, 1732; AUSCHWITZ, 1944