Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi: a Hidden Genius
Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi: a Hidden Genius By Eliezer Brodt This Monday night is the first yahrzeit marking the passing of a unique Talmid Chacham, R’ Shmuel Ashkenazi of Yerushalayim, at…
Beyond the Masthead of the Beys Yaakov Journal, 1923-1980 – Part 2: ‘Abomination’ or Scandal? Mistranslation, Journalism, and the Halivni Controversy
…the New School of ‘Talmud Critics’!” Beys Yaakov, vol. 10, no. 4 [#116] (1969): 4-5 (Hebrew), available here, with translation in Appendix 1 below. ↑ See Shmuel Ashkenazi, Iggeret Shmuel,…
Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified
…Amsterdam.[21] The first printed chumash with Ashkenazi Haftaros was the Soncino, printed in Brescia in 1492. It had the Haftara beginning at 12:13, following most other Ashkenazi sources. The 1517…
Jewish Communal Workers, Preacher’s Kid Syndrome, and Sefer Shmuel
…2:12-22 and Shmuel I, 8:1-5. ↑ See for example the ideas mentioned in Rashi to Shmuel I, 2:22 and Radak to Shmuel I, 8:2. ↑ Ralbag (רלב”ג) is the acronym…
Rav Shmuel ben Hofni Gaon
Rav Shmuel ben Hofni Gaon by Rabbi Yosaif Mordechai Dubovick The 25th of Av of this year marks 1000 years since the passing of Rav Shmuel ben Hofni, Gaon Sura…
Book Announcement-Sale: Iggrot Shmuel, by Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi
Book Announcement-Sale: Iggrot Shmuel, by Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi By Eliezer Brodt אוצר כתבי ר‘ שמואל אשכנזי, אגרות שמואל, אלף חסר תליסר מכתבי תורה וחכמה, א, תש“ב–תשל“ה; ב, תשל“ו– תשנ“ה; ג,…
Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books
…their Lord. And to fear Your name-that is useful and good for them. That man is foolish who acts contrary to Your word.[24] 1544, Shmuel Bukh – The Shmuel Bukh…
A Mild Case of Plagiarism: R. Abraham Kalmankes’ Ma’ayan Ha-Hokhmah
…of plagiarism leveled against R. Abraham Kalmankes by R. Joseph Samuel b. R. Zvi, and seconded by both R. Shmuel Ashkenazi and Gershom Scholem, was not accompanied by any discussion…
The Fundraising Campaign to Print the Letters of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi (1922-2020)
The Fundraising Campaign to Print the Letters of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi (1922-2020) By Eliezer Brodt Over Shabbos one of the hidden giants of the seforim world, both within ultra-orthodox and…
The History behind the Ashkenazi/Sephardi divide concerning lighting Chanukah candles
…Ashkenazim follow the opinion of the Rambam. Some have taken this as proof of cross-cultural interaction between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. Beit Yosef does indeed say that Sephardic custom is based…
Yehuda Azoulay’s Maran: The Life and Scholarship of Hacham Ovadia Yosef
…minority in the court of three, he could not always convince the two Ashkenazic judges of the importance of his approach.[6] In Jerusalem, he usually served beside the Yemenite Rabbi…
The Birkhat ha-Mazon as an Early Modern Supplementary Prayerbook
…The Ashkenazi prayerbook usually came in either the Ashkenazi rite, which meant Germany, and the Polish rite,[3] which covered the area from Bohemia eastward to Poland and Lithuania. These prayerbooks…
Asufah of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi
…of another volume of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi’s work- Asufah. As I have written in the past, we are trying to print the collected material Rabbi Ashkenazi has written over a…
Hitzei Giborim, Tzitzit, and R. Meir Mazuz
…of the Ashkenazic haredi leaders have spoken publicly about this unfortunate development (and if they have, it has not been covered in the Ashkenazic haredi press). The Ashkenazic haredi leadership…
R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Kitniyot, R. Judah Mintz, and More
…across the following. By way of reply, Rav Shmuel Freund, “judge and posek in the city of Prague” ((דין ומו”צ בק”ק פראג published the pamphlet Keren Shmuel, in which he…