בעיות הלכתיות עכשוויות, כרך ב, הקדמהContemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol II, Preface
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1Much of the material presented in this volume originally appeared in my "Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature" which is regularly featured in the columns of Tradition. Those items have been expanded and amplified for presentation in their present form. A portion of this material was first published in the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society. I am indebted to the editors of both journals for permission to reprint those articles. Some sections appear here for the first time. Portions of this work served as the subject matter of shi'urim and seminars conducted on behalf of students of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
ב׳
2The present volume has been divided into two sections. Part I is composed of chapters each of which contains a series of relatively brief discussions of related issues in a given area. The material presented in this section is to a large extent, although by no means exclusively, drawn from current periodical halakhic literature. Each of the chapters in Part II is devoted to an extensive analysis of a single halakhic topic and focuses upon a more wide-ranging array of sources.
ג׳
3This work is not intended to serve as a practical halakhic guide, and, indeed, no attempt has been made to present definitive psak halakhah. It is devoted to an analysis of Halakhah and halakhic reasoning rather than to the formulation of halakhic decisions. As such, it is directed primarily to those who have at least some background in the study of rabbinic literature but lack the requisite skills or the leisure to assimilate and analyze the maze of responsa pertaining to the topics treated in this volume. It is intended as an invitation to the reader to join in the noblest of Jewish activities and the supremest of joys—the study of Torah.
ד׳
4I wish to express my thanks to the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for a grant to defray expenses incurred in preparation of this manuscript; to Dr. Norman Lamm for initiating the Library of Jewish Law and Ethics; to my brother-in-law, Rabbi Mordecai Ochs, for his insightful reading of the manuscript and his many valuable comments; to my good friends, Dr. Fred Rosner, Chairman, Department of Medicine, Long Island Jewish Hospital, and Rabbi Judah Dick, Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of New York, for making their knowledge and expertise readily available to me; to Rabbi Jacob B. Mandelbaum of the Mendel Gottesman Library of Yeshiva University whose encyclopedic bibliographic knowledge has been of immeasurable aid; to Mrs. Sarah Levy of the Mendel Gottesman Library, who goes far beyond the call of duty in placing the resources of the library at my disposal; to Miss Chaya Gordon of the Mendel Gottesman Library for her constant helpfulness and assistance; and especially to my students for their incisive and relentless questioning. My thanks also to the publisher of this volume, Mr. Bernard Scharfstein, for his indulgence and patience and to Mr. Irving Ruderman of Ktav Publishing House for his painstaking efforts in shepherding the manuscript through the various stages of publication.
ה׳
5Above all, I am grateful to the Almighty for my cherished collaborators—the members of my family. Our prayer to the Almighty is that we continue to be numbered among the mashkimim le-divrei Torah and, to paraphrase the words of the hadran, ke-shem she-azartanu le-sayyem sefer zeh, ken ta'azrenu le-hatḥil sefarim aḥerim u-le-sayyemam lilmod u-le-lamed lishmor ve-la'asot u-le-kayyem.
