This collection contains books authored by Cardozo Law faculty, showcasing contributions to legal scholarship across a wide range of subjects.
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Bircas Hachammah : Blessing of the Sun-Renewal of Creation
J. David Bleich
Every twenty-eight years, for a few hours on a Wednesday morning in April, throngs of Jews fill streets, sidewalks, rooftops and parks for the most infrequent ritual in Judaism the Blessing of the Sun. The ancient rite marks the return of the sun to the exact place it occupied on the fourth day of Creation on the same day and at the same hour that the sun began to shine in the primordial heavens.
Questions about Bircas HaChammah abound. How is the 28-year cycle, which is not at all discernible to the naked eye, calculated? Was it known to the ancients? How do Jews reconcile the solar and lunar calendars? What are the appropriate prayers for this rare event, and what do they mean? What is the underlying spiritual message of the practice?
Bircas HaChammah: Blessing of the Sun-Renewal of Creation tackles these questions and more. The book also features the complete prayer service for the Blessing of the Sun, along with translation and commentary.
Author and renowned scholar Rabbi J. David Bleich brings to the book his boundless knowledge of the subject matter and his familiarity with the entire corpus of rabbinic literature -- including many rare works that have long been out of print related to the topic.
The result is a masterful treatment of a little-known ritual that nonetheless bears profound significance for the many who believe that there is a Creator who preserves and renews His universe. -
Contemporary Halakhic Problem Volume 1
J. David Bleich
This series is an outstanding example of how normative Halakhah engages and grapples with modern issues that arise in the modern age. Rabbi Bleich, in his remarkable erudition of classical and modern Jewish sources, mastery of the American legal system, and ability to write with great clarity and precision, tackles the most controversial and pressing modern issues from a halakhic perspective. Volume 1 of this influential series addresses: What is the Jewish perspective of abortion? What are the halakhic criteria of death? Is it permitted to rebuild the Temple in the modern day? How can the Agunah problem be resolved? What is the halakhic perspective of the Ethiopian Jews? These and many more issues are carefully and meticulously addressed, and this volume has become a twentieth-century classic reference guide for the scholar and layman alike.
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Providence in the Philosophy of Gersonides
J. David Bleich
Gersonides (1283-1344) was the first significant figure to arise in Jewish philosophic thought after the death of Maimonides. Regarded as the greatest and most independent of the post-Maimonideans, Gersonides' philosophical writings reflect broad scholarly interest. This is the first translation into English of a treatise of Gersonides' "Milhamot Adonai". Milhamot Adonai has been compared to Maimonides guide of the perplexed and Aristotles's work in terms of critical analysis, rigorous logical precision and technical exposition.
