by R. Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer This year, Midreshet Lindenbaum issued a book of Halachic responsa written by two women (Rabbanit Idit Bartov and Rabbanit Anat Novoselsky) who were ordained by the institution with heter hora’ah (license to render Halachic decisions). [1][The book is available online here: link (PDF) – ed.] While one may be tempted to review the work on ...

by Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer Love and marriage in the Jewish community is a perennial source of perplexity. An imagined historical past, a romanticized shtetl-like system of matchmakers and parents creating healthy marriages, serves only to confuse. To the best of my knowledge, the system of courtship practiced by my ancestors both in Eastern and Central Europe, bore strong resemblance ...