#fictional halacha

[hyperpotamianarch]

[ID: שאלה צג: נסתפקתי אדם הנוצר על ידי ספר יצירה כאותה שאמרו בסנהדרין רבא ברא גברא וכן העידו על זקני הגאון מורנו ורבנו הרב רבי אליהו אב בית דין דקהילת קודש חעלם. מי מצטרף לעשרה לדברים הצריכין עשרה כגון קדיש וקדושה מי אמרינן כיון דכתיב ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל לא מיצטריף או דילמא כיון דקיימא לן בסנהדרין המגדל יתום בתוך ביתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו מדכתיב חמשת בני מיכל כולי וכי מיכל ילדה והלא מירב ילדה אלא מירב ילדה ומיכל גדלה כולי הכא נמי כיון שמעשה ידיהם של צדיקים הוא הוה ליה בכלל בני ישראל שמעשה ידיהם של צדיקים הן הן תולדותם : ונראה לי דכיון דאשכחן לרבי זירא דאמר מן חברייא את תוב לעפרך הרי שהרגו ואי סלקא דעתך שיש בו תועלת לצרפו לעשרה לכל דבר שבקדושה לא היה רבי זירא מעבירו מן העולם דאף שאין בו איסור שפיכת דמים דהכי דייק קרא (אף שיש בו דרשות אחרות) שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך דוקא אדם הנוצר תוך אדם דהיינו עובר הנוצר במעי אמו הוא דחייב עליה משום שפיכת דמים יצא ההוא גברא דברא רבא שלא נעשה במעי אשה. מכל מקום כיון שיש בו תועלת לא היה להעבירו מן העולם אלא ודאי שאינו מצטרף לעשרה לכל דבר שבקדושה כך נראה לי צבי אשכנזי ס"ט /end ID]

Sorry for the image description in Hebrew, I wanted a decent transcription of it since it's on small Rashi script. Opened most of the acronyms save for the last one - it's usually opened to ספרדי טהור, meaning "pure Sepharadi", but I'm not certain it's always the meaning so I was hesitant. This particular rabbi was also on a sort of weird situation regarding being Sepharadi.

Anyway, to the body of this text: the image above is from a scanning of the book Shu"t Hacham Tzvi, a Halachic responsa book by rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi. This is the 93rd answer in the book, and its topic is, I kid you not, whether or not a Golem can join a Minyan. Though if you can read Hebrew you know that already.

There are a number of reasons this answer is interesting. Firstly, of you look at the phrasing, it wasn't a question rabbi Ashkenazi was sent, but rather one he pondered himself. In addition, he claims that his grandfather - rabbi Eliyahu of Chelm - has created a Golem. Since rabbi Ashkenazi wrote this in the 18th century, he quite possibly predates the first written record of the Golem of Prague. Admittedly, he doesn't use the word "Golem", but there's a clear throughline with "men created by rabbis using practical Kabbalah". Point being, if you look at it, this is a Golem claim that comes the closer to its supposed source than the Prague one does. But I might be digressing a little.

The conclusion rabbi Ashkenazi comes to is no, by the way. Since the first story about such a man on record - one from the Gemara in the tractate of Sanhedrin - ends with this man dying by the hand of a rabbi of the Amoraic period, we assume there's no use for such a thing for a Mitzvah. Otherwise, why kill it? Also, killing it is permissible, because it wasn't created inside a human. Yes, he does say that, and it has some implications for modern technologies!

Anyway, I believe I mentioned this a couple of times or at least wanted to, so why not post ot here now? So here it is, that one halachic responsa that seems useless outside of fantasy.

[hyperpotamianarch]

I have recently read the Jewish Guide to the Galaxy.

No, this isn't a typo or some misled joke about HGttG. At least, not by me: the author was clearly referring to that book with the title. It's a book that was published in Hebrew about 2-3 years ago about serious Halachic answers to ridiculous sci-fi/fantasy questions. If that premise sounds vaguely similar to something you've heard once - it might be because this book was inspired by "What If?" by Randall Monroe.

As a Jewish fan of Fantasy who especially likes Jewish Fantasy, I liked the premise of the book, which raises the question why I only read it now. And honestly, I don't have much to the side of a proper answer. I just... didn't come around to buying it until lately. Part of it is because it was only available for sale in the website of a publication company I've never heard of, and another part might be because I was slightly dissappointed by the samples I've seen. Either way, I have read it now, and was somewhat disappointed.

The book did touch somewhat interesting topics. It didn't feel like it delved deep enough into them, though. One of the great things about the book that inspired it was how deeply it delved into the physics of the situations given. And it's possible to do that with the Jewish Halacha, too! There are many thick books of responsa discussing Halachic questions, and the answers can be very long sometimes. But this book doesn't give much outside of listing some opinions without diving too deeply into the exact nuances and reasons different rabbis had to have their opinions, and it felt... somewhat shallow.

It is possible that this was done in the name of accessibility. The average reader, after all, isn't necessarily interested in the exact details of a random halachic question. A Yeshivah Bucher might be able to follow a complex halachic discussion, but not every person interested in reading this book is going to be attending a Yeshivah. It's also possible that I, being relatively inexperienced in studying Jewish religious Responsa literature, am simply wrong in my assesment of what such a book should look like. Or that I am taking this too seriously.

Either way, the fact remains that I don't think this completely fills the gap that exists in Jewish Fantasy - a gap I don't believe I have the talent to fill, either.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and have a good day!