Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

by Aharon Ziegler

Overview

In Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, insights into Jewish law from the preeminent figure of twentieth-century modern Orthodoxy are presented in a clear and concise manner. Commonly known as "the Rav," Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt"l, has stimulated and influenced the intellectual mind and touched the sensitive hearts of thousands of people.

While he was not necessarily known as a decisor, or poseik, of halakha, he was widely recognized as an individual who had the uncanny ability to conceptualize the spirit of Jewish law on a universal level. Throughout his lifetime, the Rav published few works, transmitting his Torah knowledge through classes and lectures instead. As a student of Rabbi Soloveitchik for many years, Rabbi Aharon Ziegler accumulated a vast library of notes and tapes on the Rav's halakhot. In this volume he shares the Rav's unique and perhaps lesser known halakhic positions on a wide range of topics, including:

*The procedure for lighting candles on Friday night;
*Celebrating Thanksgiving and eating turkey;
*Using grape juice for the four cups of wine at a Seder;
*Giving an aliyah on Mincha Yom Kippur to someone who cannot fast;
*Covering one's head during davening;
*Fast days and pregnant women;
*Bris Milah through a nonobservant Mohel;
*Discarding old, worn-out tzitzis; and
*Many other issues involving the Sabbath, holidays, prayer, and life cycle events.

Whether studied in the synagogue, school, or Jewish home, these words of wisdom from the Rav provide glimpses into the exceptional mind of one of the greatest thinkers in Jewish history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461628682
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	202
File size:	936 KB

About the Author

Rabbi Aharon Ziegler, spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Achim of Boro Park in Brooklyn, New York for the past thirty-five years, is a retired librarian for the New York City Board of Education. A Student of the Rav for many years, Rabbi Ziegler does extensive lecturing and writing on the halakhic positions of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

Table of Contents

I	Tefillin, Tefillah, and Kriat Hatorah	1
1	Procedures in Putting on the Tefillin	3
2	Using Borrowed Tefillin	5
3	Procedure for Donning the Tefillin Shel Yad	7
4	Removing Tefillin before Mussaf on Rosh Chodesh	9
5	Reciting One Hundred Berachot Daily	11
6	Amen Is a Required Response	14
7	Davening Together with the Shliach Tzibbur	17
8	Women and Mitzvat Tallit	19
9	Appointing a Woman as President of a Shul	22
10	The Prayer of Tachanun (Supplication)	24
11	Counting a Minor in a Minyan	26
12	Forgetting Yaaleh Veyavoh on Rosh Chodesh Morning	29
13	The Meaning of Yishtabach Shim'cha	31
14	Torah Reading on Monday and Thursday Afternoon	33
15	Standing or Sitting during the Torah Reading?	36
16	The Torah Reading: An Individual or Communal Requirement	38
17	Calling a Levi in the Absence of a Kohen for the Torah Reading	41
18	Facing the Torah Reader during Torah Reading	43
19	Procedure for Birkhat HaTorah	45
20	The Structure of Kriat HaTorah	48
II	Issues Pertaining to Shabbat	51
1	Reading by Candlelight on Shabbat	53
2	Opening a Container on Shabbat	55
3	Opening Cans on Shabbat	57
4	Plastic Rain Hats on Shabbat	60
5	Electricity on Shabbat	62
6	Squeezing Lemons on Shabbat	64
7	Carrying a Child in a Public Domain on Shabbat	67
8	Halakhic Themes of Shabbat	70
9	A Spiritual Enhancement	73
10	Accepting Early Shabbat	75
11	Setting Out Food before Kiddush	77
12	Eating the Lechem Mishneh	80
13	Differences between Kiddush and Havdalah	82
14	Beverages for Havdalah	85
15	Shalom Aleichem in Kiddush L'vanah	88
III	Issues Pertaining to a Chatan and Kiddushin	91
1	The Chatan Is Compared to a King	93
2	Aliya to the Torah for a Chatan	95
3	A Chatan on the Seventh Day of Yemei Hamishteh	98
4	Birkhat Kiddushin under the Chupah	100
5	A Chupah in a Synagogue	103
IV	Issues Pertaining to Chanukah	105
1	Placement of Chanukah Candles	107
2	The Ideal Time to Light Chanukah Candles	110
3	Torah Reading on Chanukah	112
V	Bread, Birkhat Hamazon, and Bishul Akum	115
1	Only Bake Pareve Bread	117
2	Beracha after Bread	120
3	Showing Gratitude	123
4	Bishul Akum-Canned Foods	125
VI	Aveilut and Sefira	127
1	Aveilut: When Does It Begin?	129
2	Shaving during Sefira and the Three Weeks	131
VII	Halakhic Decisions	133
1	Rendering Halakhic Decisions	135
2	Functions of the Bet Din Hagadol	137
3	The Difference between Monetary Rulings and Decrees: Why People React Differently	140
VIII	Miscellaneous Issues	143
1	Chalav Yisrael	145
2	Yibbum (Levirate Marriage) in Our Days	147
3	Converting Adopted Infants	150
4	Is It Permissible to Live outside of Eretz Yisrael?	152
5	Tefillat Haderech in Automobiles	155
6	Righteousness of Tzedaka	157
7	Al Tifrosh Min Hatzibbur	160
8	A Jewish Nation	163
9	Metzitza for Brit Milah	166
10	A Jewish King Cannot Be a Levi	168
11	Semicha in Our Days	170
12	Do Not Despair	173
13	Teaching and Transmitting Torah	175

Editorial Reviews

Always precise and eminently readable, this important contribution to contemporary Jewish thought and practice is a valuable addition to any Jewish library and of ready use to the rabbi and layman alike.

David J. Schnall

This is straight-from-the-shoulder halakhic decisions, excellent for the layman who wants to know what the Rav said, not why.

Norman Lamm

The Torah of one of the greatest halachists of our generation, HaRav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt"l, whose rulings are much sought after, are alive in the masterful works of our dear friend, colleague and columnist, HaRav Aharon Ziegler."

Yaakov Klass

Always precise and eminently readable, this important contribution to contemporary Jewish thought and practice is a valuable addition to any Jewish library and of ready use to the rabbi and layman alike.--David J. Schnall, Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University

This is straight-from-the-shoulder halakhic decisions, excellent for the layman who wants to know what the Rav said, not why.--Norman Lamm, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

The Torah of one of the greatest halachists of our generation, HaRav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt"l, whose rulings are much sought after, are alive in the masterful works of our dear friend, colleague and columnist, HaRav Aharon Ziegler."--Yaakov Klass, The Jewish Press

From the Publisher