sic work on deviance, Kai Erikson emphasizes that deviant behavior is not merely different; it is different behavior that is not tolerated.® The function of intolerance is to rigidify group boundaries to exclude those that most resemble the group but who, it is feared, may compromise its identity. This fear surfaces, Erikson argues, when group identity has become unclear. Such crises occur periodically in Orthodox Judaism around issues of acculturation. By labeling this behavior deviant, Schachter hopes to arrest the synthesis of feminism with Orthodox practice that threatens to transform gender roles and gender relations and hence alter the distribution of power and authority.
Authority, in any case is, hotly contested among Orthodox decisors. The voluntary nature of modern Judaism creates a free marketplace of halakhic decisions in which, as David Singer accuses, interested parties may shop. Moreover, since warring factions compete for a share of the market, decisors undercut one another’s decisions and credibility more often than they support them. One modern consequence has been a reluctance on the part of Orthodox rabbis either to assume responsibility for halakhic decision making or to publicize the decisions they do make. In these shark-infested waters two modern styles of responsa publication are common. One is the statement signed by a number of decisors pooling their prestige and spheres of influence for greater impact and circulated as a broadside or poster, or published in newspapers. The other is the scholarly article published in the format of a professional periodical devoted to issues of practical halakhah. Such periodicals cultivate a certain ambiguity about whether their contents are to be regarded as theoretical discussions or binding legal decisions. This hybridization with the scholarly article accounts for some ambiguity about whether Schachter’s piece is indeed a responsum. Some who discuss it do not use the term, yet it has been invoked as a responsum in later practical arguments.*!
Analysis of the Responsum: The Title
Schachter titles his piece with a literary allusion from Song of Songs 1:8:“Ze'i Lakh B'iquei Ha-Zon"(Go follow the tracks of the