Rabbi Dr. Moshe Zemer is founding director of the Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah in Tel Aviv, where he lives. A congregational rabbi for over thirty-five years, he is one of the rabbis who established the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, and serves as president of its Rabbinical Court. Zemer has edited a series of books on Jewish law and published many articles about Halakhah, and is currently senior lecturer in Rabbinics at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.

Acknowledgements xv
Foreword by Justice Haim H. Cohn, Deputy President Emeritus of the Israel Supreme Court xvii
Introduction xxi

I. FOUNDATIONS 1
Chapter 1: Halakhah as an Evolving Ethical System 3
Chapter 2: Maimonides and the "Lesser Evil" 23
Chapter 3: The Essence of Evolving Halakhah 37

II. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 59
Chapter 4: Yibbum and H|alitzah 61
Chapter 5: Marriages Forbidden to a Kohen 73
Chapter 6: Mamzerut (Halakhic Illegitimacy) 87
Chapter 7: Marriage Blacklists:

III. Conversion 121
Chapter 8: Rabbi Goren's Reform Conversion 125
Chapter 9: Ambivalence about Conversion 143
Chapter 10: Disqualifying Jews from India to Ethiopia 157
Chapter 11: You Shall Not Oppress the Stranger 171

IV. THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND GENTILES 177
Chapter 12: The Sabra and Shatilla Massacre 181
Chapter 13: Demolishing Houses in the Territories:
Chapter 14: Halakhah and the Intifada 193
Chapter 15: The Attitude toward the Enemy 205
Chapter 16: Ransoming Captives 225
Chapter 17: "Halakhic" Justifications for Murder 231

V. THE STATUS OF WOMEN 239
Chapter 18: Is a Woman Permitted to Hold a Public Position? 241
Chapter 19: Women and Service in the Israel Defense Forces 249
Chapter 20: A "Women's Gallery" in the Cemetery 255
Chapter 21: Delaying a Funeral Until the Daughter of the Deceased Arrives 261
Chapter 22: The Right of Women to Say Kaddish 265
Chapter 23: Is a Woman's Voice Sexually Enticing? 275

VI. THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX 281
Chapter 24: Desecrating the Sabbath in Order to Sanctify It 283
Chapter 25: Religious Violence against a Progressive Congregation 291
Chapter 26: The Cult of the Newly Ultra-Orthodox 295
Chapter 27: Religious Tolerance among Jews: A Critique of Rulings by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein 301
Chapter 28: Archaeology as a Mitzvah 313
Chapter 29: Circumcising a Corpse 317

VII. MEDICINE 321
Chapter 30: A Dialogue on Autopsies 323
Chapter 31: Abortion Is Not Murder 335
Chapter 32: Artificial Insemination 339
Chapter 33: To Smoke or Not to Smoke: A Jewish Question 345
Chapter 34: "It Is Forbidden to Delay Death" 351

VIII. BURIAL 357
Chapter 35: For the Sake of Peace 359
Chapter 36: Burial and Superstition 373

Afterword 377
Bibliography 379
Notes 391
Index 429