Modern responsa (she'elot u-teshuvot)

The responsa literature (she'elot u-teshuvot) — that is, questions addressed to rabbinic authorities and their reasoned replies — has constituted since the Middle Ages a major mode of development of halakha. In the modern and contemporary period, it was compelled to confront unprecedented questions posed by technological advances, medicine, economic life, the Shoah, and the creation of the State of Israel. Decisors such as the Hatam Sofer in the nineteenth century, followed by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in the United States and Rabbi Ovadia Yossef in Israel, illustrate through their collections the vitality of this process. Their responsa seek to apply traditional principles to new situations, sometimes at the cost of vigorous debates between currents. This legal output remains a central instrument of the adaptation of Jewish law to changing realities.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Sefaria ↗