New Periodical: RJJ Journal no. LVIII

The Succot 5770/Fall 2009 issue of The Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society has been published:

• Correcting the Ba'al Koreh: Punctilious Performance vs. Public Embarrassment by R. Moshe Rosenberg - A fantastic discussion of the multiple views over whether you have to correct a mistaken Torah reader, concluding that we must follow the view of the Rema and correct grammatical mistakes that change the meaning. Exceptions include when the reader does not normally differentiate in that grammatical sense. Plenty of examples of mistakes that can be made. And then practical advice on how to avoid these problems. My only comments are that he doesn't quote Tosafos (Avodah Zarah 22b) among the lenient authorities even though it seems to me that Tosafos is lenient; R. Tzvi Hirsch Grodzenski (Mikra'ei Kodesh ch.7 n. 35) seems to lean towards being lenient on this but leaves it "tzarikh iyun"; and, finally, R. Rosenberg seems to get way too much joy from this whole subject, there's enthusiasm bouncing out of every page of this article.

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• Shomer-Shabbat Residency by R. Dr. Raymond Sultan and Dr. Sammy Sultan - Oh boy. Basically an article arguing that medical students must forgo specialties that do not allow for Shomer Shabbos residencies. Quickly dismisses what I've been told by doctors (and I find hard to believe) that any residency can be made Shomer Shabbos if you know what you are doing.
• Morgue Construction and Tum'at Kohanim by R. Yaakov Jaffe and R. David Shabtai - Discussing the theory and details of their advisory role in constructing a morgue for a nursing home that allow kohanim to enter the nursing home's building. Very interesting, even if somewhat specific to their case.
• "Concierge" Medicine and Halacha by Noam Salamon - Discusses if and why doctors are allowed to be paid, with a little topicality in its application to "concierge" medicine. He could have benefited from seeing R. Yosef Kafach's commentary to Mishneh Torah (Hilkhos Talmud Torah 3:10) - discussed in these posts: I & II.
• The Investment Advisor: Liabilities and Halachic Identity by R. Dr. A. Yehuda Warburg - Analyzing whether Ezra Merkin has to pay back his investors from the perspectives of the laws of damages (nezikin), bailors (shomerim) and agents (shelichim).