Responsa

Note: This is based on an entry from the 1906 public domain Jewish Encyclopedia. This needs some work!

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Responsa is the Latin plural of responsum, meaning, literally, "answers". The responsa literature, known in Hebrew as Sheelot U-teshuvot ("questions and answers"), is the body of written decisions and rulings given by rabbis to questions addressed to them.

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Responsa constitute a special class of rabbinic literature. Rabbinic commentaries are devoted to the exegesis of the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the codes of Jewish law. The codes themselves contain the rules for ordinary incidents of life. The responsa literature covers all these topics and more:

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Many of the questions were theoretical in character, since they requested information concerning all departments of knowledge. The responsa accordingly contain rulings on halakha (practical Jewish law and custom), ethics, business ethics, the philosophy of religion, astronomy, mathematics, history, geography, as well as interpretations of passages in the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Midrash.

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Latin: Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. The ...

Hebrew: The word Hebrew can variously mean:...

Rabbi: :See Semicha for article about "ordination" of rabbis....