Rabbinic Authority : The Vision and the Reality

Introduces the English-speaking public to the parameters and scope of rabbinic authority in general, and the workings of the institution of the beit din (Jewish court of law) in particular.

In this work, the author presents ten rulings in cases of Jewish civil law which he handed down as a member of a beit din panel. These piskei din (decisions) touch on issues of employment termination, tenure rights and severance pay, rabbinic contracts, issues in the not-for-profit boardroom, real estate brokerage commission, drafting a halakhic will, a revocable living trust agreement, the division of marital assets upon divorce, spousal abuse, and a father’s duty to support his estranged children. Accompanying these presentations is an examination of the notion of rabbinic authority, the business judgment rule, and an agunah’s ability to recover for the infliction of emotional stress.

About the Author:

ince 1999, Rabbi Dr. A. Yehuda Warburg has served as a dayan (rabbinical judge) on various battei din panels in the Hassidic, Modern Orthodox, Sephardic, and Yeshiva communities in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. For over fifteen years, he served as a research fellow at the Institute of Jewish Law at Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the editorial board of Tradition and served on the editorial board of The Jewish Law Annual. For over two decades, Rabbi Warburg has delivered shiurim in Hoshen Mishpat and Even ha-Ezer to Yeshiva Rabbi Issac Elchanan’s semikha (rabbinic ordination) students. Rabbi Warburg has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals in the areas of jurisprudence, family law, bioethics, contracts and securities law, addressing the interface of Halakhah and American law.