Volume 16 of The Jewish Law Annual adds to the growing list of articles on Jewish Law that have been published in volumes 1-15 of this series, providing English-speaking readers with scholarly material meeting the highest academic standards. The volume contains seven articles diverse in their scope and focus, encompassing legal, historic, textual, comparitive and conceptual analysis, as well as a chronicle of cases of interest, and a survey of recent literature. Three of the articles, one of which explores references to Genesis in (western) canon law, make up a special section on the book of Genesis. The other topics covered are: suicide as an act of atonement in Jewish law; early interpretations of the Bible and Talmud as reflecting medieval legal realia; Ashkenazic codifiers in Spain; and authority, custom and innovation in the seventeenth-century Italian halakhic encyclopedia, Pahad Yitzhak.

Berachyahu Lifshitz is a professor of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Law.

Part One1. Judah Galinsky , Ashkenazim in Sefarad: The Rosh and the Tur on the Codification of Jewish Law 2. Ron S. Kleinman , Early Interpretations of the Bible and Talmud as a Reflection of Medieval Legal Realia 3. Yechezkel Lichtenshtein , Suicide as an Act of Atonement in Jewish Law 4. David Malkiel , The Burden of the Past in the Eighteenth Century: Authority, Custom and Innovation in the Pahad Yitzhak Part Two CONFERENCE PAPERS 5. Hanina Ben-Menahem , Some Introductory Remarks on Genesis Rabbah and the Law 6. Charles Donahue , Jr., Genesis in Western Canon Law 7. Timothy D. Lytton , Due Process and Legal Authority in the Garden of Eden: Jurisprudence in Aggadic Midras h Part Three8. Martin Edelman , A Tale of Two Cultures: Conspicuous Religious Symbols in the Public Schools of France and the United States 9. Daniel B. Sinclair , Jewish Law in the State of Israel a A rabbinical court decision regarding a dispute over the fate of pre-embryos b Kofin al midat sdom: abuse of rights in Jewish law c A definitive rabbinical court decision on the status of civil marriage Part Four Survey of Recent Literature Style Sheet