You are here
Back to topResponsa in a Historical Context: A View of Post-Expulsion Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities Through Sixteenth- And Seventeenth-Century Responsa (Studies in Orthodox Judaism) (Paperback)
$35.00
Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Description
A Winner of the 2024 Association for Jewish Studies' Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication AwardThis book contains a collection of eight annotated translations of responsa, alongside the original Hebrew texts, focusing on the post-expulsion Spanish-Portuguese communities of the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. This collection will acquaint the reader with Jews who, following their expulsion, settled in the Ottoman Empire, in Palestine under the Mamluks, in Amsterdam and in Brazil. The period of the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula was a tragic time in Jewish history, but the revitalization of the post-expulsion Spanish-Portuguese Jewish communities in new locales is testimony 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, ʻagunot, inheritance rights of a converso son, obligatory 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
About the Author
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.