What is a responsum?
A responsum — in Hebrew, a teshuvah — is a written halachic ruling issued by a posek in reply to a real question. The genre of she'eilos u'teshuvos captures Jewish law in motion: not abstract theory, but the tradition responding to the actual dilemmas people brought to their rabbanim across the centuries.
A Responsum a Day takes this literature as its subject. Rather than a general speaker, it is a daily series organized around the responsa — each installment centered on a question and the reasoning that led to its answer, so the listener sees halacha worked out case by case.
Centuries of teshuvos
The responsa literature stretches across the whole span of Jewish history. It runs from the Geonim of Babylonia, through the great Rishonim such as the Rashba and the Rambam, and into the classic Acharonim whose collections shaped modern practice.
Among the most famous are the Noda BiYehuda of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, the teshuvos of the Chasam Sofer, and, in our own era, the Igros Moshe of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. To move through the responsa is to trace how great poskim brought the fixed principles of halacha to bear on ever-changing circumstances.
One a day
The "a day" framing shapes the whole project. Halacha is vast, and a daily portion makes it approachable: one self-contained responsum at a time, learned in the space a busy person can actually give, then continued the next day with the next case.
This case-by-case rhythm is a natural way to learn halacha, because real rulings show the law where it meets life. Over time, a steady diet of teshuvos builds not only knowledge of particular answers but a feel for how halachic reasoning works.
Finding kosher Torah video for your family
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If your family enjoys A Responsum a Day and the study of she'eilos u'teshuvos, search FilteredTube for the speakers and topics that matter most to you. With a daf yomi shelf, a weekly parsha shelf, topic shelves, audio-only listening for the car, and a kids mode with a PIN, kosher Jewish video is easy to reach — and the approved catalog keeps growing every day.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- A Responsum a Day is a daily series built around the responsa (she'eilos u'teshuvos) literature.
- A responsum is a written halachic ruling from a posek in answer to a real question.
- The literature spans the Geonim, Rishonim like the Rashba, and Acharonim like the Chasam Sofer.
- Landmark collections include the Noda BiYehuda and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's Igros Moshe.
- Search FilteredTube for kosher, approved Torah video — the catalog grows every day.