Course Overview

Listen in on the surprising, practical questions your ancestors asked rabbis across Jewish history.

 Join this five-session course to discover the little-known world of rabbinic responsa, a vast archive of the real-life questions of ethics and practice Jews asked across history—and the scholarly answers rabbis wrote.

Algiers is under siege: May I pray in a bathhouse? The Inquisition is watching: How will I celebrate Passover? Seventeen Jews are held hostage in faraway Regensburg after a blood libel: Must I help pay their ransom? 

See what enables Jewish tradition to offer relevant guidance in a rapidly changing world—and come face-to-face with raw Jewish history. 

(If you don’t know what a “rabbinic responsa” is, you’ll fit right in.)

This course will satisfy the continuing education (CLE) requirements of lawyers and other legal professionals.

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Course Details

The course will be offered twice each week. Students are welcome to alternate between course tracks. Classes will also be offered virtually on Zoom.

Morning Track - At Chabad of New Canaan:
5 Wednesday mornings, beginning February 25: 10:00 - 11:30am
At Chabad of New Canaan
137 Putnam Road, New Canaan, CT

Evening Track - At Congregation Agudath Shalom (Stamford):
5 Wednesday Evenings, beginning February 25: 7:30 - 9:00pm
At Congregation Agudath Shalom
301 Strawberry Hill Ave, Stamford, CT 06902

$120 (Includes textbook)

This course is co-sponsored by the Jewish Learning Institute and Congregation Agudath Shalom