Abor­tion, stem-cell research, con­ver­sion stan­dards, female rab­bis, DNA test­ing, ani­mal cru­el­ty, civ­il mar­riages in Israel. While today’s most hot-but­ton halakhic issues elic­it strong opin­ions on all sides, few under­stand the halakhic ori­gins of their views, their his­tor­i­cal devel­op­ment or social impli­ca­tions. With­out ful­ly grasp­ing the issues at hand, respect­ful dia­logue between con­flict­ing opin­ions becomes impos­si­ble. In A Guide to the Com­plex, Brody presents over 130 of the most provoca­tive, con­tro­ver­sial top­ics in Jew­ish law today. The book s con­cise, artic­u­late essays, based on the author’s pop­u­lar Ask the Rab­bi col­umn in The Jerusalem Post, cite sources and schol­ars from across the ide­o­log­i­cal spec­trum in an effort to increase respect for the diver­si­ty of voic­es of the halakhic dia­logue. This com­pendi­um of high­ly rel­e­vant essays gives an accu­rate pic­ture of the legal, his­tor­i­cal, and soci­o­log­i­cal fac­tors that are fun­da­men­tal to under­stand­ing halakhic debates.