responsa
Edit Pronunciations
| responsa | (reh-SPOHN-suh) | listen |
Definitions
n. Written decisions and legal rulings by rabbis appointed to be legal deciders.
Example Sentences
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"Since the Torah does not mention it, rabbis had to write a responsum on whether or not it was okay for a flag of Israel to be on the bima."
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"Responsa literature has its roots in the Geonic period (8 th century), and it continues to be written to this very day. By the year 2000, over 5,600 volumes - comprising over half a million rabbinic responsa - had been published." (source)
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
- English
Etymology
Responsum is Latin for answer, parallel to Hebrew teshuva.
- Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
- North America
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- Australia / New Zealand
- View More
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
Who Uses This
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Dictionaries
Notes
singular: 'responsum'
Hebrew she'elot u-teshuvot (questions and answers), abbreviated as shu"t / shutim.
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