Rav Herschel Schachter, Rosh Kollel at Yeshiva University 

LECTURES:

"Halacha and Modern Family; Divorce, Adoption, Second Families, Single Women as Biological Mothers, etc."  (December 15, 2010)

 "Laws and Customs of Pesach" (April 7, 2011)

  "The Tuition Crisis, Family Obligations, Communal Obligations and Tzedaka". (September 21, 2011)

To download mp3 file- cick here  The lecture is sponsored by Saul Zimmerman in memory of his father, Morris.

 Seeming Contradictions between Halachic Practice and the Jew's Role as a "Light Unto the Nations"

(December 14, 2011) Rav Schachter discussed issues such as:

 · From a recent post on the web, "The Dutch ban on Shechitah is just one more sign of a gathering storm of anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism in what was once called Christendom, The West; as it spirals deeper into post-Judeo-Christian, post-Modernism and post-middleclass.  

 · This comes on the heels of San Francisco's and other cities' and counties' bans on circumcision" 

 · Does Halacha prohibit stunning the animal during Shechitah and why?

 · Do Diaspora Ashkenazim omit saying Shehecheyanu at a bris because of pain to the baby? What's wrong with an anesthetic?

 · If a man dies childless, his brother is expected to perform Chalitza. If that is the proper practice, why must the degrading aspects be continued?

 · A convert is expected to limit contact with his (her) birth parent. Doesn't that go against natural law?

Rav Herschel Schachter, Rosh Kollel at Yeshiva University, and a noted Talmudic scholar, has had a distinguished career with RIETS for nearly 40 years. He joined the faculty in 1967, at the age of 26, the youngest Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS. Since 1971, Rabbi Schachter has been Rosh Kollel in RIETS' Marcos and Adina Katz Kollel (Institute for Advanced Research in Rabbinics) and also holds the institution's Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud.  In addition to his teaching duties, Rabbi Schachter lectures, writes, and serves as a world renowned decisor of Jewish Law. A prolific author, he has written more than 100 articles, in Hebrew and English, for such scholarly publications as HaPardes, Hadarom, Beth Yitzchak, and Or Hamizrach. Seforim written include Eretz HaTzvi, B'ikvei HaTzon and Nefesh HaRav and MiPninei HaRav.  At age 22, Rabbi Schachter was appointed assistant to the renowned Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt"l. Rabbi Schachter earned his B.A. from Yeshiva College, an M.A. in Hebrew Literature from the Bernard Revel Graduate School in 1967, and was ordained that same year.