IS OLD AGE A DISEASE?

not only of the substantive legal question, but also of his notion of the relationship of the posek, as the spokesperson of Halakhah , to his correspondent(the sho’el), the legal tradition, and to the wider halakhic community. These responsa, in other words, afford us an opportunity to ask some fundamental questions concerning the Halakhah and the way in which rabbis determine it. Does Rabbi Feinstein’s decision correspond to what we would consider the correct answer to the question before him? Are other, arguably “correct” answers available? And in his choice of literary style, the manner by which he presents his decision, what does Feinstein reveal about his conception of pesikah, the process of halakhic decision making, and of the role of the halakhic authority in communicating pesikah to those who seek its guidance?

This essay will consider these questions. Since it is an essay and not an actual responsum, I do not pretend to offer firm answers to them; at times, all I will be able to provide is further questioning. Yet I think this is important, because confessing our uncertainty is the indispensable first step in the process of halakhic reasoning, a process that, I shall argue, is best understood not as a deductive activity leading to precise conclusions but as a conversation among plausible alternatives. And it is this understanding, I think, that informs our own approach as liberal Jews committed to Halakhah as a central language of Jewish religious expression.

THE RESPONSA The first of R. Feinstein’s rulings® addresses the following hypothetical situation. Two patients are brought to a hospital’s

emergency room. The first patient, according to the physicians’ diagnosis, requires immediate and intensive treatment, but even

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