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Posek

Type of Jewish legal scholar

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
5 min read
Source updated September 14, 2026

In Jewish law, a posek (Hebrew: פּוֹסֵק, romanized: pôsēq; pl. poskim פּוֹסְקִים, pôsəqîm) is a legal scholar who determines the application of Halakha, the Jewish religious law derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are inconclusive, or in those situations where no clear halakhic precedent exists.

The decision of a posek is known as a psak halakha ("ruling of law"; pl. piskei halakha) or simply a "psak". Piskei halakha are generally recorded in the responsa literature.

01Orthodox Judaism

Poskim must be particularly learned in a large area of law. They must have shown ability to apply complex legal rulings to a variety of novel situations and must possess a very clear command of the Talmud, the Shulchan Aruch (code of Jewish law) and legal responsa with practical applications. This is a huge amount of material to mastery and takes years of dedicated study to achieve. This is generally more than the training of a rabbi or rav of a community.

Poskim play an integral role in Orthodox Judaism.

  • Generally, in each generation there may be a handful of poskim who are considered a Posek HaDor ("posek of the present generation"). Their views have enormous impact across the world of Jewry. An example of an Ashkenazi Posek HaDor would be Rabbi Moshe Feinstein while a Sephardic example would be Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
  • Many rely on the rabbi in their community (in Hasidic communities, sometimes the rebbe) for legal rulings. But the rav may defer to a posek or the leading posek in the country or world for a complex issue.

Poskim will generally not overrule a specific law unless based on an earlier authority: a posek will generally extend a law to new situations but will not change the halakhah.

Toledot HaPoskim, History of the Jewish Codes, by Chaim Tchernowitz
Toledot HaPoskim, History of the Jewish Codes, by Chaim Tchernowitz

02Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism approaches the idea of posek, and Halakha in general, somewhat differently: poskim here apply a relatively lower weighting to precedent, and will thus frequently reinterpret (or even change) a previous ruling through a formal argument. Although there are some Conservative poskim (e.g., Louis Ginzberg, David Golinkin, Joel Roth, and Elliot Dorff), the rulings of any one individual rabbi are considered less authoritative than a consensus ruling. Thus, the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly maintains a Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, whose decisions are accepted as authoritative within the American Conservative movement. At the same time, Conservative rabbis have the right of mara d'atra to interpret Jewish law for their own communities regardless of the responsa of the Law Committee.

03Progressive Judaism

Neither Reform nor Reconstructionist Judaism regards Halakha as binding.

Although Reform stresses the individual autonomy of its membership, it never completely abandoned the field of responsa literature, if only to counter its rivals' demands. Even Classical Reformers such as Rabbi David Einhorn composed some. Rabbi Solomon Freehof, and his successor Rabbi Walter Jacob, attempted to create a concept of "Progressive Halacha", authoring numerous responsa based on a methodology laying great emphasis on current sensibilities and ethical ideals. Full text collections of Reform responsa are available on the website of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

The Reconstructionist position is that if Jews had formed cohesive communities again, their rulings would be binding, but presently Judaism is in a "post-Halakhic state". Therefore, their basic policy is to allow tradition "a vote, not a veto" in communal and personal affairs.

04List of poskim and major works

In chronological order, by the year of birth, and if needed, secondarily, by year of death and surname.

Poskim of past years

1600-1900

Orthodox

Conservative and Reform

Living poskim

Watch videos about PosekExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Posek”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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