The history of responsa in Judaism (Hebrew: שאלות ותשובות, Sephardic: She'elot Utshuvot, Ashkenazic: Sheilos Utshuvos; usually shortened to שו"ת Shu"t) spans a period of 1,700 years. Rabbinic responsa constitute a special class of Rabbinic literature, differing in form but not necessarily in content from Rabbinic commentaries devoted to the exegesis of the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and Halakha (Jewish law).Oesterley, W. O. E. & Box, G. H. (1920) A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism, Burt Franklin: New York. The codes themselves contain the rules for ordinary incidents of life. The responsa literature covers all these topics and more.Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Responsal literature as a whole has as yet found no literary historian; single periods have been discussed while others have been entirely neglected, the works on these separate epochs including: Joel Müller, Briefe und Responsen aus der Vorgaonäischen Jüdischen Literatur, Berlin, 1886; idem, Einleitung in die Responsen der Babylonischen Geonen. ib. 1891; Zecharias Frankel, Entwurf einer Geschichte der Literatur der Nachtalmudischen Responsen, Breslau, 1865. The responsa by European and American rabbis to problems arising in America are summarized by J. D. Eisenstein, The Development of Jewish Casuistic Literature in America, Baltimore, 1905.
The mode, style, and subject matter have changed as a function of the Jewish people's travels and the development of other halakhic literature, particularly the codes. Formulation of responsa, or she'elot ve-t'shuvot (questions and replies), generally involves an individual or group asking Jewish educators, legal decisors, rabbis, or heads of yeshivas about a predicament or topic for which the Halakha is unclear or non-existent and the responding party responding via informal or formal correspondence. Responsa remain important components of the Jewish legal system, being developed based on questions posed today. The development of responsa literature is divided into six periods: Tannaitic, Geonic, first Rabbinic, second Rabbinic, third Rabbinic, and fourth Rabbinic.
Talmudic era
The responsa of the first five centuries are not contained in special works; they are scattered through the writings of both Talmuds (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud). Works devoted especially to responsa first appear in the post-Talmudic period. Many responsa have been lost, but those extant number hundreds of thousands, in almost a thousand known collections.
Pre-Mishnaic era No responsa are known to exist from before the Mishnah (200 CE); it is doubtful whether any were written before this period. A tradition held that no halakha (law) should be written down (see Oral Torah). Even when reluctance to write down rulings became obsolete, letters of a legal nature might be written only in cases where laws might likewise be reduced to writing. While the rule prevailed that no laws should be written, no communications of legal content were made by means of letters. Questions were usually communicated orally, or proposed to the academy by a teacher, who transmitted the answer and decision by word of mouth. The rarity of letters on legal problems in the Tannaitic era (the period the Mishnah covers) may be seen from a passage in the Tosefta,Ter. ii. 13 which states that Rabbi Gamliel secretly dispatched a messenger with an answer to a question; for if he desired to keep his decision secret, he would probably have sent a letter had such replies been customary at that time.
Mishnaic era
In the Tannaitic period (100 BCE to 200 CE) statements, publications, contributions concerning the calendar, and notifications were the only documents regularly committed to writing. On the other hand, it can not positively be asserted that no ruling at all had been given in writing before the completion of the Mishnah: certain exceptions were doubtless made.
In the Talmud Immediately after the completion of the Mishnah, when the prohibition or reluctance against writing halakhot had in great part disappeared, the responsa literature began to appear, traces being preserved in the Talmud. Often questions were settled by a single letter, as was later the case with the Geonim, who exchanged a series of responsa. The replies were signed by pupils and colleagues, so that, strictly speaking, the responsa were issued by a board.
With the beginning of the third century of the common era, responsa begin to frequently appear in letters from Babylonia to Israel. By the end of the third century the correspondence between Israel and Babylonia had become more active, and the responsa from the one to the other had become far more numerous. These rulings from rabbis in Israel seem to have been regarded as authoritative and demanding obedience; and the threat was made to Rabbi Judah ben Ezekiel, head of the Academy of Pumbedita, that a letter would be brought from "the West" (i.e., Israel) to annul his decision.Talmud, tractate Bava Batra 41b ) The same experience befell and Mar UkbaTalmud, Sanhedrin 29a and another, unnamed, judge.Talmud, Shebu. 48b
Geonim
During the Geonic period (650–1250 CE), the Babylonian schools were the chief centers of Jewish learning; the Geonim, the heads of these schools, were recognized as the highest authorities in Jewish law. Despite difficulties that hampered the irregular communications of the period, Jews who lived even in most distant countries sent their inquiries concerning religion and law to these officials in Babylonia. It was common for Jews outside of Babylon to ask to be sent a section of the Talmud along with “its explanation” or to ask the scholars in Babylon to settle Jewish arguments for which they could not find any precedent. The length of a responsum from this period can span from less than a sentence to a large book. Many of the responsa are still being studied today in the Cairo Genizah. In the yeshiva during this time period, students and scholars would discuss these halakhic questions during kallah and then the head of the yeshiva would announce his decision and the leaders in the yeshiva would sign it. Another type of responsa were those that were more time-sensitive, so the gaon usually responded to them right away and with many different sections in order to answer multiple questions that were posed. Later Geonim also referred to the responsa and commentaries of earlier Geonim when writing responsa.
Later in the geonic period (from the mid-tenth to mid-eleventh centuries), their supremacy suffered, as the study of the Talmud received care in other lands. The inhabitants of these regions gradually began to submit their questions to the heads of the schools of their own countries. Eventually they virtually ceased sending questions to Babylonian Geonim, so that during this period responsa of eminent rabbis of other lands appeared side by side with geonic rulings.
Rishonim
The period of the rishonim, or the First Rabbinic Epoch, primarily consists of the writings from 11th and 12th century Spanish and French schools. With the decline of the gaonate in the first half of the eleventh century, it ceased to be seen as the central spiritual authority for Jews worldwide. From then on, questions were sent to the rabbinical authorities of one's own or a neighboring country. Thus, inquiries sent during this period to Babylonia were rare and exceptional.
Characteristics The questions were not all practical. Many were theoretical, concerning the correct interpretation of a halakic or haggadic passage in the Talmud. In their discussion of theoretical problems, the responsa of Spanish scholars are noteworthy for the untrammeled scientific spirit that permeates them, far more than those of the French school. Even in responsa that are practical in nature, a distinction may be drawn between the two schools. Although these responsa can still be found in significant response anthologies today, they are not as significant as the responsa written during the Geonic period. The responsa of the epoch came from various countries, and from schools having different tendencies, thus showing the position and the type of spiritual life in general and of Talmudic learning in particular, since all these factors prevailed in the different countries at the time. Especially noteworthy is the divergence between the French and the Spanish school in the twelfth century, the second half of this period. For the most part the rulings of this period receive their basis or their confirmation from a passage in the Talmud, and in this motivation the difference between the French and the Spanish exegesis of the Talmud is clearly shown. The Spanish school was the more logical, and strove for brevity and lucidity in the deduction of its rulings from the Talmud, while the French school was more dialectic, and frequently gave full play to casuistry at the expense of clearness.
Eleventh century The chief representative of the French school in the eleventh century was Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), and many of his responsa have been preserved in the "Pardes" and in the Mahzor Vitry. His decisions are written in Hebrew, without formulas either of introduction or of conclusion, although an interesting phrase that is peculiar to him, and was apparently invented by him occurs once: "I, the undersigned, was asked whether ... thus have I heard from my teachers, and thus is my own opinion likewise inclined,..." the ruling being followed by the signature "Solomon b. Isaac", without any concluding formula (Mahzor Vitry, pp. 434–435). The leader of the Spanish school in the same century was Isaac Alfasi, who left many responsa, an entire collection being printed at Livorno in 1780, under the title "She'elot u-Teshubot ha-RIF" (Rabbi Isaac Alfasi). These decisions were written in Arabic, and were translated into Hebrew at an early date, being extant only in this version.
Twelfth century The chief representatives of the French school of the twelfth century were Jacob Tam, Abraham ben David of Posquières, and Eliezer ben Nathan of Mayence. The responsa of Rabbi Tam are contained in his "Sefer ha-Yashar" as well as in the works of other authorities, such as Meir of Rothenburg and Mordechai ben Hillel, "the Mordecai". The responsa of Eliezer ben Nathan, contained in his "Even ha-Ezer", are partly exegetic in character and partly devoted to practical decisions. The responsa of Abraham ben David are included in the collection titled "Tummat Yesharim" or "Temim De'im" (Venice, 1622). Particularly noteworthy is his injunction that Jewish law obligates Jews to follow the laws of the land, i.e., to follow the laws of the secular government in which a Jewish community found itself living. This ruling is based on the Talmudic saying: "The law of the land is valid" (ib. responsum No. 50). The chief representatives of the Spanish school in the twelfth century were Joseph ibn Migash and Maimonides. The responsa of ibn Migash include both practical decisions and explanations of difficult passages in the Mishnah and the Talmud, the first group being written in Arabic and later translated into Hebrew, while the greater portion of the second category was composed by the author himself in the Talmudic Hebrew idiom.
Thirteenth century The Second Rabbinic Epoch consists of responsa from Spanish and Frenco-German schools in the 13th and 14th centuries. Nahmanides and R. Solomen ben Adret were two of the big scholars during this period. These responsa were written about a wide range of topics including Talmudic passages, ethics, religious philosophy, and more. In this period the difference between the Spanish and the Franco-German forms of responsa vanished. On the one hand, the scientific spirit of the Spanish school partially entered the academies of southern France, and, on the other hand, the dialecticism of the French rabbis steadily increased in influence in Spain.