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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