The Jewish Law Association

Founded in 1978, the Jewish Law Association seeks to promote study and research in Jewish Law. It provides a major interdisciplinary meeting point for scholars and practitioners in both Law and Jewish Studies. Its membership represents diverse religious, philosophical and intellectual perspectives, and is drawn from many nations, from Israel to Argentina, from Canada and the United States to Australia, from Western Europe to South Africa.

The Association has now held 16 biennial conferences; the 17th is scheduled for Yale in August 2012. Some of these papers, revised and enhanced as a result of both conference discussion and peer review, are selected to appear in the Association's publication series, Jewish Law Association Studies, which also extends to special thematic issues and is now scheduled to expand into monographs.

Twenty one volumes of Jewish Law Association Studies have been published thus far, including thematic volumes on Jewish Identity, Jewish Family Law in Israel, Jewish Commercial Law, Jewish Bioethics and Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State. Full details of their contents are provided on our publications page. In addition, the Association has sponsored the publication of a textbook, An Introduction to the History and Sources of Jewish Law (OUP).

The Association launched in 2007 a new quarterly E-Newsletter, edited by Professor Steven Resnicoff. The first issue (in pdf format) may be viewed, printed or downloaded here. It includes:

• a substantial article on Jewish Legal Scholarship and the Internet (with links)

• a list of selected recent articles on Jewish law from American Law Journals

• a lecture outline on Jewish Law and Estate Planning; and

• details of a generous discount offer on back volumes of Jewish Law Association Studies for paid-up members (see also the membership page).

Subsequent issues of the E-Newsletter are delivered by e-mail to paid-up members, are not available on the web site.

In addition to information about membership of the Association, its officers and its constitution, this site provides conference information; details of publications available to members at concessionary rates (including Jewish Law Association Studies) and an on-line, searchable library of abstracts of articles concerning Jewish Law. Other resources include Jewish Law courses taught in various institutions and links to other relevant sites.

Officers 2010-2012:

Honorary President: Chief Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen
Chairman of the Executive Committee: Bernard Jackson
Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee: Larry Rabinovich
Treasurer: Larry Rabinovich
Chairman of the Israel Committee: Ron Kleinman
Chairman of the Diaspora Committee: George Wilkes
Chairman of the Publications Committee: Bernard Jackson (pro tem)

Executive Committee:
M. Broyde, S. Cohn, E. Dorff, J. Fleishman, B. Jackson, R. Katzoff, R. Kleinman, L. Moscovitz, S. Passamaneck, L. Rabinovich, N. Rakover, S. Resnicoff, Y. Rivlin, E. Westreich, G. Wilkes, M. Wygoda

Finance Committee:
L. Rabinovich (chair), A. Hollander,  B. Jackson, R. Levy

Publications Committee:
B. Jackson (chair), J. Burnside, J. Fleishman, R. Katzoff, H. Margalit, L. Moscovitz

Israel Committee:
R. Kleinman (Chair), Y. Sinai (Vice-Chair), A. Hollander (Secretary), T. Beeri, I. Fuchs, B. Katzoff, R. Lamdan, I. Rechnitz, Y. Rivlin, Y. Roness, A. Segal, A. Westreich

Diaspora Committee:
G. Wilkes (chair), J. Burnside, M. Landau, R. Levy, S. Odze, D. Piattelli, J. Solomon, A. Solon.

US/Canada Committee:
P. Ackerman-Lieberman (Co-Chair), C. Saiman (Co-Chair), S. Cohn, C. Fonrobert, S. Fraade, S. Friedell, N. Joseph, T. Kuttner, G. Labovitz, S. Levine, L. Rabinovich, S. Resnicoff, D. Sinclair.