The Jewish Law Annual Volume 17 (Jewish Law Annual)

329 Pages·2008·1.41 MB·English

by  Berach Lifshitz

THE JEWISH LAW ANNUAL
VOLUME SEVENTEEN
Volume 17 of the Jewish Law Annual adds to the growing list of articles
on Jewish law that have been published in volumes 1–16 of this series,
providing English-speaking readers with scholarly articles presenting
jurisprudential, historical, textual and comparative analysis of issues
in Jewish law. The volume contains seven articles diverse in their
scope and focus. Two articles are devoted to the halakhic thought of
Rabbi A.I. Kook; two treat classic legal questions: breach of a promise
to marry, and the legal capacity of minors; two examine aspects of
the judicial process, one exploring talmudic analyses of the biblical
requirement that courts be established in every town, and the other,
post-talmudic views on judicial authority in cases of suspected fraudu-
lent claims. Another article addresses the fascinating question of the
epistemic–pedagogic worldviews of the rival Tannaitic legal academies,
the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. The volume concludes
with a section on Israeli legislation that adduces or is informed by
Jewish law, and two reviews of a much-discussed recent book on a
topic of considerable contemporary interest: the agunah problem.
The Institute of Jewish Law
Boston University School of Law
765 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA 02215
Publication No. 33
THE JEWISH LAW
ANNUAL
VOLUME SEVENTEEN
THE INSTITUTE OF JEWISH LAW
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
First published 2007
by Routledge-Cavendish
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© 2007 Trustees of Boston University
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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ISBN 0-203-93099-1(cid:13)(cid:10) Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978–0–415–45723–1
ISBN10: 0–415–45723–8
eISBN13: 978–0–203–92976–6
eISBN10: 0–203–92976–4
To Joel and Sharon Chefitz
in appreciation
The Jewish Law Annual is published under the auspices of the Institute
of Jewish Law, Boston University School of Law.
Editor
Berachyahu Lifshitz
Executive Board
Hanina Ben-Menahem
Neil S. Hecht
Berachyahu Lifshitz
Board of Editors
Hanina Ben-Menahem, Jerusalem Berachyahu Lifshitz, Jerusalem
Dov Frimer, Jerusalem Stephen M. Passamaneck, Los Angeles
Neil S. Hecht, Boston Daniel Sinclair, Jerusalem
Bernard Jackson, Liverpool Ronald Warburg, Teaneck NJ
Manuscript Editor
Nessa Olshansky-Ashtar
Editorial communications should be addressed to Prof. Berachyahu
Lifshitz, Institute for Research in Jewish Law, Faculty of Law, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem,
Israel. All communications should be clearly marked “Attention:
Editor, Jewish Law Annual.” Contributors should consult the style
sheet that appears at the end of the volume; it is also available from
the editor upon request. Submissions are welcome from all. Neither the
editor nor members of the Board of Editors are to be associated with the
views expressed by contributors.
This book is part of a series. The publisher will accept continuation orders, which may be
cancelled at any time, and which provide for automatic billing and shipping of each title in the
series upon publication. Please write for details.
CONTENTS
PART ONE
Neria GUTTEL, It is Indeed in Heaven: The Uniqueness of
the Laws of the Temple in the Halakhic Doctrine of
Rabbi A.I. Kook 3
David HENSHKE, The Number of Judges in Ancient Israel 27
Leib MOSCOVITZ, “The Actions of a Minor are a Nullity”?
Some Observations on the Legal Capacity of Minors in
Rabbinic Law 63
Avinoam ROSENAK, Prophecy and Halakha: Dialectic in
the Meta-Halakhic Thought of Rabbi A.I. Kook 121
Haim SHAPIRA, The Schools of Hillel and Shammai 159
Yuval SINAI, Judicial Authority in Fraudulent-Claim Cases
(din merume) 209
Ronnie WARBURG, Breach of a Promise to Marry 267
PART TWO
Daniel B. SINCLAIR, Jewish Law in the State of Israel 285
1 The Constitutional Validity of the Sabbath Observance Law 285
2 Terminally Ill Patient Law, 5766–2005 292
viii CONTENTS
PART THREE
Book reviews of Aviad Hacohen, The Tears of the
Oppressed, An Examination of the Agunah Problem:
Background and Halachic Sources 303
Bernard S. JACKSON 303
Avishalom WESTREICH 306
Style Sheet 317
PART ONE