New Books Network Zev Eleff et al. eds., "The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Feb 27, 2026
Chaim Saiman, Chair in Jewish Law at Villanova, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, law scholar at DePaul, and Zev Eleff, historian and president of Gratz College, discuss The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law. They trace the handbook's origins and interdisciplinary, law-centered aims. They compare halakhah across traditions, explore modern challenges like family, denomination differences, authority, and the future of transmission.
01:14:56
Halakha Governs More Than Ritual
- Halakha broadly shapes life beyond ritual, claiming authority over ethics, commerce, family, and thought.
- Chaim Saiman and Roberta Rosenthal Kwall emphasize halakha's dual nature: legal in form yet often thought‑shaping, not limited to state‑style enforcement.
Two Framing Lenses Reconcile Time and Concept
- The handbook structures Jewish law analysis both diachronically and conceptually to balance historical development with core legal institutions.
- Part one traces layers of textual authority; part two isolates institutions like codification, stringency, and custom to reveal system features.
Study Modern Halakha Through Social Effects
- When studying modern halakha, examine both legal texts and social impacts like family law, denominational differences, and technology.
- Part three models this by covering movements, Zionism, COVID, divorce, personhood, and commercial law to reveal varied modern trajectories.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
How the Handbook Project Began
01:39 • 3min
Editors' Aims: Law-Centered, Interdisciplinary Approach
04:34 • 3min
Defining Halakhah for Newcomers
07:24 • 7min
Contextualizing Jewish Law Across Traditions
14:47 • 1min
Book Structure: Historical to Modern Sections
16:12 • 3min
Part Three: Jewish Law in Modernity
19:40 • 4min
Denominational Diversity and Halakhic Meaning
23:14 • 36sec
Zev on Family as a Prism for Halakhah
23:50 • 5min
Lived Halakhah vs. Textual Authority
29:10 • 2min
Torah Study and the Scholarly Character of Halakhah
31:06 • 3min
Transmission, Vitality, and Future of Halakhah
33:52 • 2min
Conservative Movement Lawmaking Challenges
36:09 • 5min
Membership, Observance, and Movement Trajectories
41:24 • 2min
Formalism in Orthodox Halakhic Practice
43:33 • 9min
Modern Orthodoxy's Tensions Over Norms
52:05 • 57sec
Authority: Whence Halakhic Power?
53:01 • 7min
Future Directions: Conferences and Law Schools
01:00:14 • 3min
Editors' Research Agendas and Concerns
01:03:29 • 7min
Outro
01:10:53 • 6sec
#
The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Chaim Saiman
Zev Eleff
The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law is an edited volume offering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of halakhah, its development over two millennia, and its contemporary relevance.
Edited by Zev Eleff, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, and Chaim Saiman, the handbook assembles essays from historians, legal scholars, and religious thinkers to address theology, interpretation, and institutional practice.
The volume is organized to balance historical periodization, conceptual themes (like Torah study and codification), and modern issues including denominational responses, Zionism, family law, and technology.
Contributors analyze how authority is constructed, how texts are read across time, and how Jewish law adapts (or resists) modern pressures.
The handbook aims to catalyze further interdisciplinary scholarship and to inform both academic and policy audiences about Jewish legal practice and theory.
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The Oxford Handbook of American Jewish History
Shari Rabin
Michael R. Cohen
The Oxford Handbook of American Jewish History gathers leading scholars to present state-of-the-field essays on topics ranging from immigration and community formation to culture, politics, and religion in American Jewish life.
Edited by Shari Rabin and Michael R. Cohen, the volume aims to synthesize decades of scholarship and highlight new directions for the discipline.
Chapters address methodological issues, key themes, and influential debates that have shaped study of American Jewry.
The handbook functions as both a reference for specialists and an accessible overview for readers new to the field.
It situates American Jewish history within broader social, cultural, and political contexts.
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Translating the Ketubah
Benjamin Steiner
Translating the Ketubah traces the history and cultural significance of the Jewish marriage contract as it migrated and transformed in Anglo-American contexts.
Benjamin Steiner explores translation choices, legal implications, and how translations shaped and reflected social understandings of marriage.
The book situates the ketubah within broader debates about gender, legal pluralism, and modernity.
By examining archival sources and translated texts, Steiner reveals how the ketubah mediated cultural assimilation, legal recognition, and communal identity.
The study contributes to scholarship on family law, ritual texts, and Jewish social history.
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Halakhah
The Rabbinic Idea of Law
Chaim Saiman
Chaim N. Saiman's Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law examines rabbinic Judaism through the lens of legal theory, arguing that halakhah functions as a distinctive legal system with its own methods and institutions.
The book analyzes textual reasoning, precedent, and the role of rabbinic authorities to show how halakhic norms emerge and stabilize.
Saiman engages comparative legal theory to illuminate differences and similarities between halakhah and modern state law.
He addresses challenges in interpreting ancient legal texts for contemporary application and the dynamics of legal change.
The work has influenced scholars seeking to treat Jewish legal materials with tools from legal studies and jurisprudence.
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Remix Judaism
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Remix Judaism argues that Jewish tradition can be preserved through creative adaptation and selective reinvention in diverse contemporary contexts.
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall examines how communities reinterpret rituals, laws, and cultural practices to maintain continuity while accommodating change.
She draws on legal, cultural, and historical analysis to show examples of successful adaptation across Jewish denominations.
The book challenges binary views of tradition versus change, proposing a framework for intentional preservation through remixing practices.
It offers practical and theoretical insights for those seeking to sustain Jewish life across shifting social landscapes.
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Holy Rebellion
Ronit Irshai
Tanya Zion-Waldoks
Holy Rebellion examines the rise of religious feminism in Israel and how activists, legal changes, and religious institutions have interacted to transform women's roles and rights.
The authors analyze key campaigns, legal battles, and community movements that challenge patriarchal religious structures.
They situate these developments within Israeli politics and Jewish law, showing both resistance and accommodation by religious authorities.
The book highlights how grassroots activism and legal strategies produce tangible changes in religious practice and rights.
It offers insight into the tensions between tradition and modern gender equality within Israeli society.
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An Impossible Divorce?
East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939
Geraldine Gudefin
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The Myth of the Cultural Jew
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
The Myth of the Cultural Jew critiques the notion that Jewish identity can be maintained through cultural affiliation alone without meaningful engagement in religious practice and law.
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall explores how rituals, legal frameworks, and community institutions shape Jewish continuity.
The book argues for intentional approaches to preserving tradition amid modern pluralism and assimilation pressures.
Kwall uses legal and cultural analysis to show how law and ritual function in identity transmission.
The work speaks to policymakers, community leaders, and scholars concerned with Jewish continuity.
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Polarized
Why American Jews are Divided and What to Do About It
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
Jewish law, known as halakhah, is a unique legal system that has developed over a period of nearly two millennia, across multiple continents, and in innumerable different contexts. Dealing not only with ritual, Jewish law extends to virtually every aspect of life including ethics, business, war, and sex. This Handbook highlights foundational questions about the nature of Jewish law, emphasizing what distinguishes it from other legal systems and illuminating its vitality throughout history. The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law (Oxford UP, 2025) navigates core issues such as halakhah's authority, its interpretation, and the meaningfulness of an ancient legal system in a modern period. With contributions from an interdisciplinary cast of authors, the Handbook spans law, history, sociology, and religion. Its chapters draw from a wide range of sources, including traditional texts such as Mishnah and Talmud, rabbinical codes, and legal opinions known as responsa. Moreover, chapters addressing pressing modern issues cover the material from diverse denominational perspectives. As halakhah remains deeply woven into the fabric of Jewish life and scholarship, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law offers readers an in-depth understanding of this rich and enduring legal tradition.
Zev Eleff is President and Professor of American Jewish history at Gratz College.
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall is the Raymond P. Niro Professor at DePaul University College of Law.
Chaim Saiman is Chair in Jewish Law at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.
Geraldine Gudefin is a modern Jewish historian researching Jewish migrations, family life, and legal pluralism. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the National University of Singapore, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Ronit Irshai and Tanya Zion-Waldoks, Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women's Rights in Israel (Brandeis University Press, 2024).
- Shari Rabin and Michael R. Cohen (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American Jewish History (Oxford University Press, 2025).
- Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2022).
- Chaim N. Saiman, Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law (Princeton University Press, 2018).
- Benjamin Steiner, Translating the Ketubah: The Jewish Marriage Contract in America and England (University Alabama Press, 2025).
Essays from the Oxford Handbook of Jewish Law:
- Chapter 15: Chaim Saiman, “Formalism in Jewish Law.”
- Chapter 19: Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, “Lawmaking in the Conservative Movement: A Balance of Law and Norms.”
- Chapter 21: Arye Edrei, “The Impact of Zionism on Jewish Law.”
- Chapter 24: Rachel Levmore and Steven Gotlib, “Divorce and Agunah: Halakhic Responses to Modernity.”
- Chapter 30: Zev Eleff, “Judaism and the Modern Family.”
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