The Birth of Doubt

<p>In the history of halakhah the treatment of uncertainty became one of the most complex fields of intense study. In his latest book Moshe Halbertal  focuses on examining the point of origin of the study of uncertainty in early rabbinic literature including the Mishnah Tosefta and halakhic midrashim. Halbertal explores instructions concerning how to behave in situations of uncertainty ranging from matters of ritual purity to lineage and marriage to monetary law and to the laws of forbidden foods. This examination of the rules of uncertainty reveals that these rules were not aimed at avoiding but rather at dwelling in the midst of uncertainty.</p>