Responsa Literature
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). The codes themselves contain the rules for ordinary incidents of life. The responsa literature covers all these topics and more.
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.
Responsa (plural of Latin responsum, ‘answer’) comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars in historic religious law.