In the series MAHSHAVOT edited by Dov Schwartz

In this book, the halakhic thought of Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Vogelmann (1898 ;1984), who served as rabbi of Katowice until the outbreak of World War II and later as rabbi of the community in Kiryat Motzkin, is explored.

Beit Mordechai's responsa, his halakhic opus, presents an innovative and bold ruling model. The halakhic considerations, methodology and language of the book all express redemption and independence.

For most of the arbitrators of the generation, halakhic clarification is a tool for answering the problems of reality and for a proper halakhic-Jewish confrontation with the challenges of the moment. Vogelmann, on the other hand, preferred a different path. His halakhic discussions at the general level were intended to establish a new halakhic method whose purpose is to impart values ​​and outline a spiritual path and future halakhic vision, concerning the influence of the Torah on material life in the Land of Israel, as well as on the roots of the ancient customs and traditions preserved in documents from that time.

In the halakhic investigation and study of the sources of halakhic law, Vogelmann saw an opportunity to locate the roots of the all-Israeli leaderships of the forgotten era of sovereignty, with an aspiration to revive them within the framework of the regenerating House of David, the State of Israel. He preferred not to deal with the technology, medicine and other transformations that the modern world has summoned, but to focus his study on the dramatic impact of the revival of Israel in their country on the role of halakhah.

Dr. Isaac Hershkowitz is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University.