In this response to some recent columns in our “Unpacking the Iggerot” series Benjamin Folkinshteyn questions the use of certain statistical data in determining halakhic realities as presented in R. Moshe Feinstein’s Iggerot Moshe.

The opposition to a Manhattan Eruv stands as one of R. Moshe Feinstein’s most prominent halakhic rulings, both for his idiosyncratic analysis as well as its wide ramifications for the many immigrant Orthodox Jews concentrated on the island, regardless of whether they belonged to the Hassidic, Yeshiva or Modern Orthodox world. Moshe Kurtz takes us through the highlights as well as the history of how R. Feinstein’s thinking on the issue developed over time.

Was R. Moshe Feinstein a posek with a predisposition to dispensing lenient halakhic rulings? Moshe Kurtz argues that by looking at a sampling of his landmark Shabbat responsa we may be left with a very different impression of how R. Feinstein approached the world of contemporary halakha.

In this week’s Unpacking the Iggerot, Moshe Kurtz explores R. Moshe Feinstein’s opinions on male-female interactions by surveying his responsa on shidduchim, platonic relationships, co-education and more. It all begins with an eyebrow-raising question: Can someone steal a shidduch?