In conjunction with the Center for Modern Torah Leadership we are excited to welcome Rabbi Shlomo Pill for Shabbat May 13th-14th as a scholar in Residence.
After Mussaf, Rabbi Pill will give a talk on "Kedoshim Tihyu: Engaging Sanctity." In this talk, he will speak about Kedoshim Tihyu and V'asisa Hayashar V'hatov; the views of the Ramban and Rashi on that; the problem of indeterminacy in Torah law, and the need to fill in gaps in the norms that the Torah provides; and one approach to negotiating the subjective human element that such gap filling necessarily entails.
For the post-Mincha shiur, he will given a talk titled "Framing Halakhic Discourse: Some Reflections from General Jurisprudence." This will build on some of the ideas developed in the drasha and provide a bit of a conceptual road map for halakhic discourse by using major trends and concepts in Western legal philosophy. he will use ideas developed by HLA Hart, Ronald Dworkin, and others to give people a conceptual framework for thinking about what is at stake in halakhic conversations and disputations, especially in hard, controversial issues.
Stay tuned for a Motzaei Shabbat talk as well.
Shlomo Pill is a founding rabbi of the New Toco Shul in Atlanta Georgia, an attorney, and a doctoral candidate at Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion where his work focuses on Comparative Jewish, Islamic, and American Law and Legal Philosophy. He also teaches Rabbinic Literature at Atlanta Jewish Academy and Introduction to Islamic Law at Emory College, and lectures to academic and popular audiences in the United States and abroad on a wide range of topics. Shlomo's seeks to expand Jews' understandings of and stakes in halakhic jurisprudence and praxis by developing fresh philosophies of Torah and halakha that meaningfully account for contemporary Jews' lived experiences with Judaism and their contextual environments. Shlomo is also the founder of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Cooperation, which conceptualizes, activates, and coordinates joint Muslim-Jewish efforts on issues of mutual interest through research, education, and political and a legal advocacy. Born and raised in New York, Shlomo currently lives in Atlanta with his wife, Tzivie, and daughter, Arial
