A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates

Abortion, stem-cell research, conversion standards, female rabbis, DNA testing, animal cruelty, civil marriages in Israel. While today's most hot-button halakhic issues elicit strong opinions on all sides, few understand the halakhic origins of their views, their historical development or social implications. Without fully grasping the issues at hand, respectful dialogue between conflicting opinions becomes impossible.

In A Guide to the Complex, Brody presents over 130 of the most provocative, controversial topics in Jewish law today. The book's concise, articulate essays, based on the author's popular "Ask the Rabbi" column in The Jerusalem Post, cite sources and scholars from across the ideological spectrum in an effort to increase respect for the diversity of voices of the halakhic dialogue. This compendium of highly relevant essays gives an accurate picture of the legal, historical, and sociological factors that are fundamental to understanding halakhic debates.

RABBI SHLOMO BRODY serves as senior instructor at Yeshivat Hakotel and is the founding director of the Tikvah Israel Seminars for Post-High School Students. He is also a fellow at Bar-Ilan University Law School and at the Israel Democracy Institute. Rabbi Brody's essays have appeared in The Jerusalem Post, Mosaic, First Things, Tablet, Jewish Action, The Forward, The Jewish Press, Meorot, Hakirah, Jewish Ideas Daily, and other publications. A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College, he received an MA in Jewish philosophy from the Hebrew University and rabbinic ordination from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Originally from Houston, Texas, Rabbi Brody now lives in Modi'in with his wife Rocky and four children.