Rabbinic Authority, Volume 1 Volume 1: The Vision and the Reality - Hardcover

Introducing English-speaking readers to the parameters and scope of rabbinic authority in general, and the workings of the institution of the beit din—the Jewish court of law—in particular, this book presents 10 rulings in cases of Jewish civil law that the author handed down as a member of a beit din panel. These decisions touch on matters pertaining to 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.

A. Yehuda Warburg has served as a rabbinical judge on various battei din panels in the Hasidic, Modern Orthodox, Sephardic, and Yeshiva communities in the New York–New Jersey metropolitan area. He is a former research fellow at the Institute of Jewish Law at Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Tradition and served on the editorial board of the Jewish Law Annual. He is the author of dozens of articles in the areas of jurisprudence, family law, bioethics, contracts, and securities law that address the interface of Halakha and U.S. law.