the problem whether Jews might so disguise themselves as to escape recognition in countries where they were absolutely forbidden to reside. He was lenient in cases of widows who lacked a divorce document (agunah). The responsa of Israel Bruna, titled "She'elot u-Teshuvot", likewise contain many interesting allusions to contemporary conditions, as in the case of No. 71, which discusses the problem whether the Jews might attend races. In Italy the chief representatives of the fifteenth century were Joseph Colon and Judah Minz. Especially important in the responsal literature of this century were the Turkish rabbis, among whom the chief were Jacob Berab, Levi ben Chabib, Elijah Mizrachi, and Moses Alashkar. The responsa of Moses Alashkar (printed at Sabbionetta in 1554) discuss whether a converted Jew may be compelled by the provincial court to give his Jewish wife a bill of divorce according to Jewish procedure (No. 75, pp. 136b-137a), and the question of the covering of the head and the concealment of the hair in the case of a married woman (No. 35, pp. 94 et seq.) Sixteenth century The chief Polish representatives of the sixteenth century were Moses Isserles, Solomon Luria, and Meir Lublin; the responsa of these scholars throw a flood of light on the condition of the Jews of the period, who evidently took high rank in Poland and were not unfamiliar with military arts, since they offered their services to the duke or to the prince on the outbreak of a war (comp. responsum. No. 43 of Meir Lublin). The chief Turkish respondents of this period were Joseph Caro, Joseph ibn Leb, Samuel of Modena, and David abi Zimra ("Radbaz"). The responsa of Radbaz, in particular, are characterized by lucidity and strict logic. One noteworthy example discusses whether a Jew may abjure his religion and accept Islam when threatened with death, considering the question in detail, and determines the cases in which a Jew may thus save his life and the contingencies in which he should rather choose death. The only important Italian respondent of the sixteenth century was Menahem Azariah da Fano, whose responsa were edited at Dyhernfurth in 1788. Seventeenth century In the seventeenth century rabbis of various countries prepared responsa, but the Polish scholars were in the great majority. The chief German representative of responsal literature was Jair Hayyim Bacharach. Among the Italian respondents the most important was Samuel Aboab, whose decisions appeared