64 Mark Washofsky 34. Sifrei Devarim, ch. 306 to Deut. 32:2

35. Ouziel cites here the words of R. Asher b. Yechiel(Hilkhot Harosh, Sanhedrin 4:6), who affirms the right of the halakhist who knows the law to decide on the basis of that knowledge, “even though some other sage has ruled differently.”

36. Hadash asur min hatorah is a pun on M. Orlah 3:9. For a concise review of the literature on Sofer’s life and work, see Jacob Katz , Halakhah Vekabalah(Jerusalem : Magnes, 1984), 353ff. A translation of Katz 's article by David Ellenson is available in Frances Malino and David Sorkin , eds., East and West(Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell , 1990), 233-266. My own essay,“Halakhah in Translation: The Hatam Sofer on Prayer in the Vernacular,” will appear in the forthcoming festschrift for Rabbi A Stanley Dreyfus

37. Thus,“halakhic analysis and clarification”(habechinah veha‘iyun hahilkhati vehaberur ha inyani, Techorsh in HTM 1[1949], 8);“fundamental clarification*(berur yesodi; Techorsh loc. cit. at 9),“the analysis of the laws pertaining to statehood”(berur hilkhot medinah; Yisraeli in HTM 1[1949] 11); and“the work of clarification”(avodat haberur, Yisraeli, loc. cit. at 12)

38. See Techorsh, HTM 1(1949), 9:“It is worthwhile to note that we invited the leading halakhic authorities(gedolei harabanaim), those of great rabbinical prestige and knowledge of Torah , to submit articles to this volume. Our hope was that this forum might be enhanced by the opinions of these outstanding sages and by their in-depth halakhic analyses(berureihem hama amikim). For some reason, however. their articles have not yet arrived.”

39. HTM 1(1949), 11-13.

40. While Yisraeli does not specify the nature of this“improper use,” it is reasonable that he refers to the reality that the findings and conclusions of the Zionist rabbis would ultimately have to be adopted-and therefore debated, amended, and modified-or rejected by the Knesset . Would the rabbis be comfortable at the prospect of a secular legislature having the final word upon these issues of Jewish law, thereby replacing rabbinical authority with that of the Israeli voter? See the article by Yitzchak Englard in Bazak(note 13), 110-134.

41. HTM 2(1950), 5-7.

42. See Ket. 3b. The word gezerah also carries the sense of“persecution,” particularly that imposed by a Gentile government upon the Jews .

43. In some ways, the project of Hatorah Vehamedinah is carried on today by the journal Techumin, an annual collection of articles and TeSponsa on matters of“Torah , society, and state” published by Zomet, an institute based in Elon Shevut. The introduction very first volume of the journal(1980) makes the connection to HTA/ explicit(pp. 9-11). Yet the editors of Techumin mention no hope on their part that their studies might influence the pesikah of the gedolei