Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin responsa, plural of responsum, "answer".

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Examples

  • What we are embracing with this title is not the stamp of authority that a responsa from a learned rabbi brings with it; rather we are embracing the dialectical approach which characterizes a great many of them.

    Rapid Responsa: An Invitation to Meet on 3/27 and Talk About Obama’s Philadelphia Speech on Race and Resentment « The Blog at 16th and Q 2008

  • If you read the Talmud and modern Jewish legal responsa, the connections are pretty clear.

    Matthew Yglesias » A Back and Forth on Israel 2009

  • In addition, as Rabbi Yehuda Silman states in one of his responsa Yeshurun, Volume 15, page 589, "of course it is assumed that the rabbi will seek the advice of professionals in the field as may be necessary."

    Nicole Neroulias: Blind Faith And Child Sexual Abuse: Is Any Group Getting This Right? Nicole Neroulias 2011

  • Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef has devoted many responsa to this subject.

    Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. 2009

  • Of his numerous works the major one is Responsa: Yabbia Omer (YO), the ten volumes of which contain his responsa on many subjects of Jewish law.

    Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. 2009

  • The subject of her dissertation was women in the responsa of Rabbi Moses Feinstein.

    Norma Baumel Joseph. 2009

  • That which derives from contemporary responsa is colored by the status and gender of the respondents and the degree to which they wish to reform the halakhic situation which governs male-female relationships.

    Samaritan Sect. 2009

  • The most plentiful source material from the Middle Ages in Ashkenaz are responsa — questions and answers written by the leading rabbinic authorities of the time.

    Medieval Ashkenaz (1096-1348). 2009

  • Sources from the Cairo Genizah and responsa from the Rambam indicate that there were learned women in Mediterranean society who were literate and studied Torah, even if they did not reach the high levels mentioned above.

    Torah Study. 2009

  • The Sages relied upon their deeds and their testimony regarding the customs of their fathers and husbands, and their statements constituted binding precedent (Maimonidean responsa, Laws of Forbidden Foods 5).

    Torah Study. 2009

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