Law and Judaism | Emory University School of Law

Our Law and Judaism program is an analysis of the contributions of historical and contemporary Jewish law, theology, and ethics to modern issues of marriage and family, liberty, and rights. Michael J. Broyde has directed this program for many years, with contributions from Mark Goldfeder, the Spruill Family Fellow in Law and Religion; David R. Blumenthal, the Jay and Leslie Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies, Emory College Department of Religion; Michael S. Berger, Associate Professor, Department of Religion; and others. Sponsors of the Judaism and Law program have included the Steinhardt Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, Inc.

Lectures

Law and Religion in a Jewish State

Shahar Lifshitz, Dean of Bar-Ilan University and Senior Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, delivered the 2018 Restoring Religious Freedom lecture: Power and Faith: Law and Religion in a Jewish State.

Religious Courts and the Rule of Law

Michael J. Broyde delivered a lecture at Stanford University School of Law titled, Religious Courts and the Rule of Law: Friend or Foe?

Holocaust Denial, Theological Reflections

In this 1990 lecture, Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, and Norman Lamm, President Emeritus of Yeshiva University, speak about the libel trial brought against Lipstadt by British author David Irving and reparation for Holocaust survivors.

News

Broyde wins Fulbright

Michael J. Broyde has won a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship. He will spend the 2018-2019 school year at Hebrew University in Israel, studying religious arbitration in diverse western democracies. His project focuses on regulating religious communities in ways that encourage modernization and discourage radicalization. He will address one of the most serious challenges confronting every Western democracy: preventing the rise of radical religion.

First book in Goldfeder-edited series released

Cambridge University Press will publish in December 2017 the first title in its Law and Judaism series, which is edited by Mark Goldfeder. The Jewish Family: Between Family Law and Contract Law by Yehezkel Margalit of Netanya Academic College examines the tenets of Jewish family law in light of new attitudes concerning the role of women, assisted reproduction technologies, and prenuptial agreements.

Broyde lectures in Poland, Austria

Michael J. Broyde lectured in Austria and Poland this summer, experiences that highlighted the differences between the two countries regarding divorce, diversity, and, the subject of his most recent book, arbitration. In Vienna, he spoke about Sharia tribunals and New York’s regulation of religious marriage. In Bialystok, Broyde gave a lecture entitled, “Why liberal societies ought to encourage, but regulate, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic religious courts in the area of family law.”

More headlines

Broyde authors new book on religious arbitration

Broyde writes about religious arbitration in the Washington Post

Goldfeder honored by Hillels of Georgia

Broyde authors Jewish law book for converts

Publications

Sharia Tribunals, Rabbinical Courts, and Christian Panels: Religious Arbitration in America and the West (Oxford, 2017), Michael J. Broyde

A Concise Code of Jewish Law for Converts (Urim Publications, 2017), Michael J.Broyde

The Codification of Jewish Law and an Introduction to the Jurisprudence of the Mishna Berura (Academic Studies P, 2014), Michael J. Broyde and Ira Bedzow, eds.

Muslim dan Keadilan Global (IMR Press, 2013), Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im

Contending with Catastrophe: Jewish Perspectives on September 11th (Beth Din of America P and K’hal Publishing, 2011), Michael J. Broyde

Innovation in Jewish Law: A Case Study of Chiddush in Havineinu (Urim Publications, 2010), Michael J. Broyde

The Pursuit of Justice and Jewish Law: Halakhic Perspectives on the Legal Profession. 2nd ed. (Yashar Books, 2007), Michael J. Broyde

Religious Liberty in the State of Israel, Emory International Law Review, Vol. 21(2007): 239-276, Natan Lerner

Marriage, Sex, and Family in Judaism (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), Michael J. Broyde

Marriage, Divorce, and the Abandoned Wife in Jewish Law: A Conceptual Understanding of the Agunah Problems in America (Ktav Publishing House, 2001), Michael J. Broyde

Assisted Reproduction and Jewish Law (Dept. of Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati, 1999), Michael J. Broyde

The Pursuit of Justice and Jewish Law: Halakhic Perspectives on the Legal Profession (Yeshiva University, 1996), Michael J. Broyde