Choice Responses from the RA Law Committee

Orah Hayyim

Tzitzit

• Shoshana Gelfand, "May Women Tie Tzitzit knots?" OH 14:1.1997

Tefillin

• Charles Simon, "The Kashrut of Mashuah Tefillin" OH 32:7.2002

Blessings

• Ben Zion Bergman, "Commemorating the Shoah" OH 46:7.1988
• Philip Sigal, "Responsum on the Status of Women: With Special Attention to the Questions of Shaliah Tzibbur, Edut and Gittin" OH 53:4.1984
• David H. Lincoln, "May an Avowed Atheist Serve as a Shali'ah Tzibbur?" OH 53:4.1987
• David J. Fine, "Women and the Minyan" OH 55:1.2002
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Wired to the Kadosh Barukh Hu: Minyan via Internet" OH 55:15.2001

The Priestly Blessing  

• Stanley Bramnick and Judah Kogen, "Should Nesiat Kapayim Include B'not Kohanim?" OH 128:2.1994b

Torah Reading

• Joel Roth, "The Status of Daughters of Kohanim and Leviyim for Aliyot" OH 135:3.1989a
• Herbert Mandl, "May a Non-Kohen Be Called First to the Torah?" OH 135:3.1991
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Joint Aliyot" OH 136.1992
• Lionel E. Moses, "Is There an Authentic Triennial Cycle of Torah Readings?" OH 137.1987b
• Nechama D. Goldberg, "Hazak, Hazak v'Nithazak" OH 139:11.2000

The Synagogue

• Elliot Dorff, "Use of Synagogues by Christian Groups" OH 153:9.1990

Minhah and Maariv

• Gerald Skolnik, "Late Minhah and Early Maariv" OH 233:1.1994

Shabbat

• Joel Roth and Norman Krivosha, "Shabbat Lease Arrangement" OH 243.1995a
• Ben Zion Bergman, "Shabbat Corporation Arrangement" OH 243.1995b
• Elliot N. Dorff, "Jewish Businesses Open on Shabbat and Yom Tov: A Concurring Opinion" OH 243.1995c
• David H. Lincoln, "Fixing a Bar Mitzvah Date Before the Birthday " OH 282:3.1981
• Joel Roth, "May a Minor Read from the Torah? " OH 282:3.1982a
• David H. Lincoln, "May a Pre-Bar Mitzvah Boy Read from the Torah? " OH 282:3.1982b
• Ben Zion Bokser, "Shabbat Morning Bat Mitzvah" OH 284:4.1981
• Kassel Abelson, "Preparing and Serving Food on Shabbat " OH 318:1.1981a 
• Mayer Rabinowitz and Dvora Weisberg, "Rabbinic Supervision of Jewish Owned Businesses Operating on Shabbat" OH 318:1.1986a
• Howard Handler, "Should Bakeries Which are Open on Shabbat Be Supervised? A Response to the Rabinowitz-Weisberg Opinion" OH 318:1.1986b
• David H. Lincoln, "Videotaping on Shabbat " OH 340:3.1982a
• Mayer Rabinowitz, Dvora Weisberg, "Tape Recording and Photography on Shabbat " OH 340:3.1984
• Amy Eilberg, "The Use of a Remote Audio/Video Monitor on Shabbat and Yom Tov: A Dissenting Opinion" OH 340:3.1989d
• Howard Handler, "On Recording Shabbat and Yom Tov Services: A Dissenting Opinion" OH 340:3.1989e

Pesah

• Kassel Abelson, "When Pesah Begins on Saturday Night" OH 444.1993 
• Mayer E. Rabinowitz, "Canned Tuna Fish on Pesah" OH 447:5.1995
• Kassel Abelson, "Kashering a Microwave Oven for Pesah " OH 451:5.1983
• Morris Feldman, "Does Milk Need a Kasher L'Pesah Label?" OH 448:7.1985
• Mayer Rabinowitz, "A Pesah Guide " OH 453.1984 
• Kassel Abelson, "May Baking Soda Be Used During Pesah? " OH 462:1.1982
• Morris Feldman, "Does Milk Need a Kasher L'Pesah Label?" OH 488:7.1985
• Mayer Rabinowitz, "The Question of Yom Tov Sheini for Visitors to Israel " OH 496:3.1981

Rosh Hashanah

• Kassel Abelson, "Omission of the Silent Amidah" OH 582.1995

Yom Kippur

• George Pollak, "Blowing the Shofar After Ma'ariv Following Yom Kippur" OH 623:6

Yoreh De'ah

Kosher Slaughter

• Kassel Abelson, "Is a 'K' Kosher?" YD 1:1.1993
• Elliot Dorff and Joel Roth, "Shackling and Hoisting" YD 6.2000
• Mayer E. Rabinowitz, "A Stunning Matter: Stunning and Bolting After Shehitah" YD 27:1.2001a
• Avram Israel Reisner, "On the Matter of Stunning (and Bolting)" YD 27:1.2001b

Meat and Milk

• Kassel Abelson, "The Kashrut of Mono- and Di-Glycerides " YD 87:10.1982
• Kassel Abelson, Mayer Rabinowitz, "Definition of a Davar Hadash" YD 87:10.1984
• Kassel Abelson, "The Kashrut of Microbial Enzymes" YD 87:10.1994
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Curiouser and Curiouser" YD 87:10.1997

Foreign Foods

• Paul Plotkin, "On Mixing Fish and Meat" YD 116.2:1998
• George Pollak, "Synagogue Policy Concerning Bringing Foods Prepared in the Home into the Synagogue" YD 119:7.1988

Kosher and Non-Kosher Wine

• Elliot Dorff, "On the Use of All Wines" YD 123:1.1985

Monetary Interest

• Ben Zion Bergman, "A Question of Great Interest: May a Synagogue Issue Interest-Bearing Bonds?" YD 167:1.1988a
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Dissent: A Matter of Great Interest" YD 167:1.1988b

Idolatry and Sorcery

• Alan Lucas, "Tattooing and Body Piercing" YD 180.1997

Jewish Education

• Elliot Dorff, "Joint Conservative-Reform Religious Schools" YD 245:15.1988

Circumcision

• Morris M. Shapiro, "Improperly Circumcised Children and Parents' Synagogue Membership" YD 262:1.1981
• David H. Lincoln , "Naming of an Improperly Circumcised Child " YD 262:1.1984
• David Novak, "The Question of Hattafat Dam Brit (Hebrew)" YD 264:1.1982a
• Joel Roth, "Hatafat Dam Brit " YD 264:1.1982b
• Vernon Kurtz, "Anesthesia and Brit Milah" YD 264:3.1998
• Arnold M. Goodman, "Shabbat and Brit Milah" YD 266.1988
• Vernon Kurtz, "Induction Leading to Birth of a Baby on Shabbat and Brit Milah" YD 266:2.1996

Conversion

• Joel Roth, Akiba Lubow, "A Standard of Rabbinic Practice Regarding Determination of Jewish Identity " YD 268.1986
• David Novak, "The Status of Non-Halakhic Conversions " YD 268:3.1982
• Herbert J. Mandl, "Conversion to Judaism Without Circumcision Due to Medical Complications" YD 268:1.1994
• Aaron L. Mackler, "Maternal Identity and the Religious Status of Children Born to a Surrogate Mother" YD 268:6.1997
• Avram Israel Reisner, "On the Conversion of Adopted and Patrilineal Children" YD 268:7.1988
• Joel Roth, "Should the Kashrut of Conversions Be Investigated?" YD 268:10.1984a
• David Novak, "A Teshuvah on the Subject of the Investigations of Conversions Today (Hebrew)" YD 268:10.1984b
• Steven Saltzman, "The Status of Ethiopian Jews" YD 268:10.1986
• Steven Saltzman, "May a Conversion Obtained Through Deceit Be Annulled?" YD 268:12.1989a
• Avram Israel Reisner, "On Annulling a Conversion Obtained by Deceit: A Concurring Opinion" YD 268:12.1989b
• Morris Shapiro, "Addendum I On: May a Conversion Obtained by Deceit be Annulled" YD 268:12.1989c (part 1)
• Morris Shapiro, "Addendum 2 On: May a Conversion Obtained by Deceit be Annulled" YD 268:12.1989d (part 2)
• Gerald Zelizer, "The Return of Second Generation Apostates" YD 268:12.1995

The Torah Scroll

• Kassel Abelson, "Official Use of God" YD 276.1993
• Morris Shapiro, "The Printing of the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew on Synagogue Stationery " YD 276:13.1981
• Kassel Abelson, "Display of Pasul Torah in Museum Case" YD 282.1997

Pidyon HaBen

• Gerald Skolnik, "Should There Be a Special Ceremony in Recognition of a First-Born Female?" YD 305:1.1993
• Vernon Kurtz, "Delay of Pidyon HaBen" YD 305:11.1995
• Howard Handler, "Pidyon HaBen" YD 305:24.1991

Visiting the Sick and Medicine

• Joseph H. Prouser, "Chesed or Chiuv: The Obligation to Preserve Life and the Question of Post-Mortem Organ Donations" YD 336.1995
• Joseph Prouser, "Organ and Tissue Donation Card" YD 336.1996
• Joel Roth, "Organ Donation" YD 336.1999-
• Elliot Dorff, "Stem Cell Research" YD 336.2002
• Elliot N. Dorff and Aaron L. Mackler, "Responsibilities for the Provision of Health Care" YD 336:1.1998
• James Rosen, "Mental Retardation, Group Homes and the Rabbi" YD 336:1.2000
• Avram Israel Reisner, "A Halakhic Ethic of Care for the Terminally Ill" YD 339:1.1990a
• Elliot N. Dorff, "A Jewish Approach to End-Stage Medical Care" YD 339:1.1990b
• "Mai Beinaihu?" YD 339:1.1990c
• Amy Eilberg, "On Halakhic Approaches to Medical Care for the Terminally Ill: A Response" YD 339:1.1990d
• Joel Roth, "A Response to Rabbis Dorff and Reisner" YD 339:1.1990e
• Aaron L. Mackler, ed., "Jewish Medical Directives for Health Care" YD 339:1.1993
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Peri- and Neo-Natology: The Matter of Limiting Treatment" YD 339.1995

Responding to a Death

• Isidoro Aizenberg, "Treatment of the Loss of a Fetus Through Miscarriage" YD 340:30.1987
• Debra Reed Blank, "Response to Miscarriage" YD 340:30.1991a
• Amy Eilberg, "Response to Miscarriage: An Alternate View" YD 340:30.1991b
• Stephanie Dickstein, "What Should Jewish Practice Be Following a Stillbirth?" YD 340:30.1996a
• Ben Zion Bergman, "What's In a Name?: A Concurrence and Dissent" YD 340:30.1996b

Mourning

• Elliot N. Dorff, "Assisted Suicide" YD 345.1997a
• Statement on Assisted Suicide YD 345.1997b
• Paul Plotkin, "Burial of Jews Practicing Christianity" YD 345:5.1994
• Morris Shapiro, "Cremation in the Jewish Tradition" YD 348.1986
• Ben Zion Bergman, "I Shall Sprinkle Pure Water Upon You and You Shall Be Purified" YD 352:3.1998
• Ben Zion Bokser, "A Statement on Funerals in the Synagogue " YD 353:3.1983
• Morris Feldman, "May a Mausoleum Be Used for Jewish Burial? " YD 362:1.1983
• David H. Lincoln, "The Use of Mausoleums for Jewish Burial " YD 362:1.1983
• Myron S. Geller, "Exhuming the Dead" YD 363.1996 
• Myron S. Geller, "Peaceful Paths" YD 367:1.1994
• Joel Rembaum, "Converts Mourning the Death of Close Relatives" YD 374:5.1998
• Isidoro Aizenberg, "Mourning for a Newborn" YD 374:8.1987
• Stephanie Dickstein, "What Should Be Jewish Practice Following the Death of an Infant Who Lives Less Than Thirty One Days?" YD 374:8.1992a
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Kiyyam Li: A Dissenting Concurrence" YD 374:8.1992b
• Kassel Abelson and Mayer Rabinowitz, "Ritual of Mourning When a Body is Not Recovered" YD 375:7.2001
• Isidoro Aizenberg, "On the Status of Missing Persons" YD 397.1987
• Baruch Frydman-Kohl, "Welcoming Mourners on Shabbat" YD 400:1.2000

Even HaEzer

Marriage and Fertility

• David H. Lincoln, "Surrogate Motherhood" EH 1:3.1984
• Elliot N. Dorff, "Artificial Insemination, Egg Donation and Adoption" EH 1:3.1994
• Aaron L. Mackler, "In Vitro Fertilization" EH 1:3.1995
• Aaron Mackler and Elie Spitz, "On the Use of Birth Surrogates" EH 1:3.1997a
• Elie Spitz, "Mamzerut" EH 4.2000a
• Daniel S. Nevins, "A Concurring Opinion Regarding Mamzerut" EH 4.2000b
• David H. Lincoln, "Accepting Egyptian Karaites into Our Communities " EH 4:37.1984

Interpersonal Relations

• Kassel Abelson, "The Non-Jewish Spouse and Children of a Mixed Marriage in the Synagogue " EH 16.1982a
• Jacob B. Agus, "The Mitzvah of Keruv" EH 16.1982b
• Joel Roth, Daniel Gordis, "Keruv and the Status of Intermarried Families " EH 16.1982c
• Seymour Siegel, "Comments on "Keruv and the Status of Intermarried Families " EH 16.1982d
• Harry Z. Sky, "The Mitzvah of Keruv " EH 16.1982e
• Joel Roth, "Synagogue Honors for the Intermarried Jew " EH 16.1984a
• Henry A. Sosland, "May the Reception Following an Intermarriage be Held in a Conservative Synagogue?" EH 16.1987
• Jerome M. Epstein, "Congratulations to Mixed Marriage Families" EH 16.1989 
• Jerome M. Epstein, "Participation of Non-Jewish Parents or Grandparents in Home Religious Ceremonies" EH 16.1995
• Jerome M. Epstein, "Issues Regarding Employment of an Intermarried Jew by a Synagogue" EH 16.1997
• Consensus Statement on Homosexuality EH 24.1992a
• Joel Roth, "Homosexuality" EH 24.1992b
• Reuven Kimmelman, "Homosexuality and the Policy Decisions of the CJLS" EH 24.1992c
• Mayer E. Rabinowitz, "On Homosexuality" EH 24.1992d
• Elliot Dorff, "Jewish Norms for Sexual Behavior: A Responsum Embodying a Proposal" EH 24.1992e
• Kassel Abelson, "The Status of Homosexuals in the Synagogue: A Concurring Opinion" EH 24.1992f
• Avram Israel Reisner, "On Homosexuality and Biblical Imperatives: A Concurrence" EH 24.1992g
• Kassel Abelson, "Placing Homosexual Rabbis in Congregations" EH 24.1993a

The Ketubbah

• Joel Roth, "When There Was No Ketubbah" EH 66:3.2002
• Joel Roth, Daniel Gordis, "Sociological Reality and Textual Traditions: Their Tension in the Ketubbah " EH 66:6.1983b
• "A New Ketubbah Text" EH 66:6.1987

Divorce

• Lionel E. Moses, "Mix and Match: The Use of Aramaic Phrases in Legal Documents Written in Hebrew" EH 126:1.1996
• Edward M. Gershfield, "A Statement on Gittin " EH 131:7.1981
• Ben Zion Bergman, "On Restoring the Shaliach L'Kabbalah" EH 140:3.2000
• Kassel Abelson and Mayer Rabinowitz, "Renewal of Marriage for Couples Without Get" EH 150:4.1999a

Hoshen Mishpat

Testimony  

• Joseph H. Prouser, "On Women Serving as Witnesses" HM 35:14.2001d

Employing Labor

• Elliot Dorff and Elie Kaplan Spitz, "Computer Privacy and the Modern Workplace" HM 331:1.2001

Robbery and Extortion

• Henry A. Sosland, "A Statement on Gambling" HM 370.1981
• David H. Lincoln, "Co-Ops for Kosher Meat" HM 376:1.1986

Harming Others

• Elliot N. Dorff, "Family Violence" HM 424.1995
• David M. Feldman, "Abortion: The Jewish View" HM 425:2.1983a
• Robert Gordis, "Abortion: Major Wrong or Basic Right? " HM 425:2.1983b
• Ben Zion Bokser, Kassel Abelson, "Statement on the Permissibility of Abortion " HM 425:2.1983c
• Kassel Abelson, "Prenatal Testing and Abortion " HM 425:2.1983d
• Isaac Klein, "A Teshuvah on Abortion " HM 425:2.1983e
• Avram Israel Reisner, "Ein Dohin Nefesh Mipnei Nefesh" HM 425:2.2001

Health and Safety