Responsa in a Historical Context
A View of Post-Expulsion Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities through Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Responsa
A Winner of the 2024 Association for Jewish Studies' Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Awardtestimony to the human spirit and determination.
The volume includes eight chapters, each built around one responsum from one of the great halakhic authorities of the time. Topics include excommunication in Amsterdam, ʻagunotobligatory contracts and breach of agreement, heresy and humanist scholarship, informing on someone to the Venetian Inquisition, and more.
Read a sample: bit.ly/koren-sampler
Debby Koren is an independent researcher in the fields of halakha and responsa literature. She has lectured and taught Talmud and halakha in informal and formal adult settings. She has a Ph.D. in mathematics from The City University of New York and an M.A. in Talmud and Halakha from the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem.
