The Vanishing Note: Devorah, Women Dayanim, and a Missing הערה‎ in Hilchos Dayyanus

The Vanishing Note: Devorah, Women Dayanim, and a Missing הערה‎ in Hilchos Dayyanus

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The Vanishing Note: Devorah, Women Dayanim, and a Missing הערה‎ in Hilchos Dayyanus by: Naftali Goldberg Whilst learning siman ז of Choshen Mishpat with my chavrusa, we found ourselves reading two different books. We were each using the Machon Yerushalayim edition of the Tur, we were on the same page, and we were looking at the same footnote — note ל״ב of the הגהות והערות. But my chavrusa’s note said almost nothing, and mine went on for some length. A…

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Interview with the Authors of “The Science Behind the Mishnah”

Interview with the Authors of “The Science Behind the Mishnah”

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Interview with the Authors of “The Science Behind the Mishnah” By: Eliezer Brodt Introduction Chazal teach that at ten years old, one is ready to learn Mishnah—the entry point into Torah She B’al Peh. Yet this might create a misleading impression that Mishnah is somehow elementary—mere “child’s play.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Rebbi Yehudah HaNasi composed the Mishnah for the great Tana’im and Amora’im themselves, not just for children. Those who venture even slightly beneath the surface…

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על הלכות בעל קרי בסידור בית יעקב

על הלכות בעל קרי בסידור בית יעקב

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על הלכות בעל קרי בסידור בית יעקב by: Gabriel Wasserman English abstract: Siddur Bet Ya‘akov (Warsaw, 1881) is based on R. Jacob Emden’s siddur Ammudé Shamayim Ve-sha‘are Shamayim (Altona, 1745–1748), but in fact it contains a large amount of new material from the printer, R. Moshe Shub, who effectively created an entirely new work. Among the added material is a section Seder Ba‘al Keri, which presents the approach that the ancient “Edict of Ezra”, that one whose body has emitted…

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R. Hayyim Soloveitchik’s Attitude Towards Girsaot: A Response to Dr. Marc Shapiro

R. Hayyim Soloveitchik’s Attitude Towards Girsaot: A Response to Dr. Marc Shapiro

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R. Hayyim Soloveitchik’s Attitude Towards Girsaot A Response to Dr. Marc Shapiro Elisha Friedman R. Hayyim Soloveitchik earned his towering stature in Jewish intellectual history for his revolutionary methodology of Talmudic analysis, but scholars have also noted another aspect of his insights, which is a disinterest, bordering on disregard, for textual veracity. In general, traditional Talmudists were not overly concerned with bibliographic issues and girsaot (textual variants), but even within this tradition R. Hayyim stands out as extreme. One of…

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Wrestling with the Ketsot – Review of ‘New Heavens: The Ketsot ha-Hoshen and the Rise of Lamdanut’, by Noam Samet

Wrestling with the Ketsot – Review of ‘New Heavens: The Ketsot ha-Hoshen and the Rise of Lamdanut’, by Noam Samet

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Wrestling with the Ketsot – Review of ‘New Heavens: The Ketsot ha-Hoshen and the Rise of Lamdanut’, by Noam Samet By Moshe Shochat “…We also studied the Ketsot ha-Hoshen… The book was expensive, and my brother obtained a copy for consultation and decided to transcribe it in his fine handwriting. Only after prolonged arguments with me did my brother agree that we should first study it, and after each sugya and topic decide what was worth copying. We maintained this…

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Breaching the Walls of History with Postscript

Breaching the Walls of History with Postscript

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Breaching the Walls of History By Dan Rabinowitz This essay first appeared in the Jewish Review of Books (Spring 2026) and is republished here. Its postscript appeared in the magazine’s Substack newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Last December, on the eighth day of Hanukkah, the American haredi newspaper of record Yated Ne’eman published a long, impassioned article titled “Ufortzu Chomos Migdolai Vetimu Kol Hashmanim,” by Rabbi Michoel Sorotzkin. The Hebrew title is from the fifth stanza of the…

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Book Week 2026 & Year in Review: Hebrew Publishing is Alive and Well

Book Week 2026 & Year in Review: Hebrew Publishing is Alive and Well

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Book Week 2026 & Year in Review: Hebrew Publishing is Alive and Well By: Eliezer Brodt The following is a recap of the year in Hebrew Jewish publishing for 2026, highlighting unique and noteworthy titles while also marking the annual Book Week sales. As the list makes clear, despite the ongoing conflict and security challenges in Israel, Hebrew Jewish publishing has continued with remarkable vitality and productivity. This is a testament to the enduring commitment of authors, scholars, and publishers…

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Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books

Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books

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Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books by Marvin J. Heller[1]   And having driven out the man, He stationed at the east of the Garden of Eden the Cherubim and the flame of the ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:24). You shall make two Cherubim of gold—hammered out shall you make them—from both ends of the cover. You shall make one cherub from the end at one side…

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Quiz Answers; Response to Criticism; Rav Schwab Writes to the Rogochover

Quiz Answers; Response to Criticism; Rav Schwab Writes to the Rogochover

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Quiz Answers; Response to Criticism; Rav Schwab Writes to the Rogochover Marc B. Shapiro 1. Let me begin with the riddles from my last post here. A. Where do we find that Shammai not only disagrees with Beit Shammai, but also agrees with Beit Hillel? B. In the days of the tannaim a certain item was unquestionably muktzeh. However, in the post-talmudic period, some hold that this item is no longer muktzeh. What item am I referring to? Provide the…

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Translating the Aruch HaShulchan with AI: Method and Lessons

Translating the Aruch HaShulchan with AI: Method and Lessons

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Translating the Aruch HaShulchan with AI: Method and Lessons[1] Joshua Broyde (PhD) Joshua Broyde is an AI/ML Healthcare & Life Sciences specialist at Google Cloud, where he works from strategy to implementation with enterprise medtech, healthcare, and biopharma companies to design, build, and deploy secure, production-grade AI and Generative AI systems. He has a PhD in the field of Computational Biology. Abstract I present a complete AI-written English translation of the Aruch HaShulchan — Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein’s comprehensive nineteenth-century…

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Vayikra Perek 23 Rashi on Pasuk 35 or 27 A “Misplaced” Comment of Rashi

Vayikra Perek 23 Rashi on Pasuk 35 or 27 A “Misplaced” Comment of Rashi

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Vayikra Perek 23 Rashi on Pasuk 35 or 27 A “Misplaced” Comment of Rashi Eli Genauer The 23rd Perek of Sefer Vayikra speaks about the festivals, and ends with the discussion of Yom Kippur (Pesukim 27-32) and Succot (Pesukim 33-43). In Pasuk 27 Yom Kippur is called a “מִקְרָא־קֹ֑דֶשׁ” (a holy convocation/assembly) ויקרא כ”ג:כ”ז (כז) אַ֡ךְ בֶּעָשׂ֣וֹר לַחֹ֩דֶשׁ֩ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֨י הַזֶּ֜ה י֧וֹם הַכִּפֻּרִ֣ים ה֗וּא מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם אֶת־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֥ם אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהֹוָֽה׃ In Pasuk 35 Succot is also called a ִ…

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תיובתות דחפץ חיים תיובתות – עלומות בשולי ההדפסה הראשונה של המשנה ברורה חלק א

תיובתות דחפץ חיים תיובתות – עלומות בשולי ההדפסה הראשונה של המשנה ברורה חלק א

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תיובתות דחפץ חיים תיובתות – עלומות בשולי ההדפסה הראשונה של המשנה ברורה חלק א מנשה קפלן, רחובות Copies of the 1884 of the Mishnah Berurah first printing aren’t identical. Working from several surviving exemplars, Menashe Caplan documents the variants: Rav Chaim Elazar Wacks’s haskama appears in some copies but not others; the last line of the introduction comes in three versions (blank, a halakhic gloss, or thanks to three specific donors); a printing warning appears sporadically; three different subscriber lists…

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‘And How Can One Behold a Sefer Torah in Distress?’ On the Relationship between Rabbi Chaim Heller and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

‘And How Can One Behold a Sefer Torah in Distress?’ On the Relationship between Rabbi Chaim Heller and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

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‘And How Can One Behold a Sefer Torah in Distress?’ On the Relationship between Rabbi Chaim Heller and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik by Aviad Hacohen and Menachem Butler   This article, published on the occasion of the anniversaries of the passing of Rabbi Chaim Heller (14 Nisan 5720) and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (18 Nisan 5753), may their memories be a blessing, reexamines their relationship through a newly published body of correspondence, situating their bond within the intellectual and material…

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Birds’ Heads, Romaine Lettuce, and the Art of Reading a Haggadah

Birds’ Heads, Romaine Lettuce, and the Art of Reading a Haggadah

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Birds’ Heads, Romaine Lettuce, and the Art of Reading a Haggadah A persistent question arises with every illustrated Haggadah, whether a fourteenth-century Sephardic manuscript or a mid-twentieth-century Maxwell House edition: what function do these images serve? Are they merely decorative, do they provide commentary, or do they serve as documentary evidence of ritual practice? Furthermore, when these images draw from the visual culture of the surrounding non-Jewish world, as is often the case, does such borrowing diminish their Jewish character,…

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Etymologies of the Hebrew Calendar

Etymologies of the Hebrew Calendar

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Etymologies of the Hebrew Calendar By Dan D.Y. Shapira Dan (or, Dan D.Y.) Shapira is an Orientalist and grows more than fifty trees on the edge of the Judaean Desert. He’s a Full Professor at Bar-Ilan University. The month of Nisan begins the Hebrew year. Its name comes, ultimately, from Sumerian nisag (nig, “thing,” + sag (“head/first”), “first fruits” at about the spring equinox, via Akkadian and / or Aramaic. It should be observed that the names of the months…

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