Halakhic Guidance
Kol Sasson is fortunate to receive halakhic and spiritual guidance from our Rabbinic adviser, Rabbi Dr. Marty Lockshin. Rabbi Lockshin received his ordination from Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. He is an emeritus professor in the Humanities and the Department of Languages, Literature and Linguistics at York University in Toronto.
His primary area of scholarly expertise and writing is the history of Jewish biblical interpretation, particularly the interplay between tradition and innovation. Most of his research has been centered on those medieval biblical commentators who valued tradition intellectually, who lived traditional lives and who still innovated unabashedly in their understanding of the Bible.
Outside of the academy, Rabbi Lockshin is also interested in tradition and innovation. He writes widely in the popular Jewish press about the phenomenon of Jewish “modern Orthodoxy” in North America and Israel. Rabbi Lockshin was one of the founders of the Toronto Partnership Minyan and served as its head rabbi for many years. He currently resides in Israel.
Halakhic Foundation
The halakhic foundation for a partnership minyan draws on a variety of sources from the Talmud to modern-day poskim. You can get started learning about how and why a partnership minyan functions with these resources:
- The Jewish Feminist Orthodox Alliance discusses partnership minyanim and lists many throughout the world
- Women in the Modern Orthodox Shul is written by our Halakhic advisor, Rabbi Martin Lockshin
- Mendel Shapiro, Qeri’at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis
- Daniel Sperber, Congregational Dignity and Human Dignity: Women and Public Torah Reading
- The Kabbalat Shabbat Memorandum – a Response to Partnership Minyan naysayers by R’ Daniel Sperber