Two New Seforim for sale1

By: Eliezer Brodt

It is with great pleasure that I announce two seforim I have just printed:

כוסו של אליהו הנביא, נפתולי מנהג בהתרקמותו, ר’ יהודה אבידע זצ”ל, נדפס לראשונה בירושלים תשי”ח, ועתה יצא לאור במהדורת צילום עם הוספות שונות ומפתח ותיקונים שנמצאו בגנזי המחבר ע”י אליעזר יהודה בראדט, כריכה רכה, 84 עמודים.

קונדיטון, מזיגה ראשונה, ר’ יחיאל גולדהבר, לשאלת חרם על ספרד משפטיך תהום רבה אסון: הטיטאניק מנקודת מבטו של העולם היהודי, כריכה קשה, 204 עמודים.

Twelve years ago I began researching the sources behind the minhag of pouring Kos Shel Eliyahu at the Pesach seder. Some of my research was published last year in an article in Ami Magazine, and a more expanded version is due out soon. Immediately after I began looking into this subject, I came across a beautifully written work, based on a wealth of sources, by R. Yehudah Avidah (Zlotnik), entitled Koso Shel Eliyahu dealing with the development of this minhag. Over the years I have read this treasure many times, each time with renewed enjoyment. A few weeks ago, while I was hunting down a rare source that R. Avidah quotes in The Bar-Ilan University Library, I saw R. Avidah’s personal copy of Koso Shel Eliyahu, along with from notes the author, listed in the Library’s Catalog. I immediately requested the volume from the rare books stacks, and upon perusal was both surprised and then delighted to find a small packet of typed and handwritten pages of addenda and corrigenda penned by the author and folded neatly into the back of the sefer, along with a newspaper clipping of an article that he had written regarding the sefer. After reading through the newspaper article I saw that R’ Avidah had intended to reprint his work with these additions but had unfortunately passed away before he had the opportunity to do so. It was then and there that I decided to reprint this valuable and rare work together with all of the author’s additions.

As the new-found material in currently in Bar-Ilan’s possession, I presently requested, and graciously received permission from the administration to publish the notes. My next step was to track down one of R. Avidah’s family members to obtain permission to reprint the actual work. After searching tediously, I located a grandson of his, who graciously allowed me to reprint the original work. Additionally, I included some pages from another of R’ Avidah’s works, related to this subject.

It seemed Divine Providence was actively at work. Upon hearing of my intent to reprint R’ Avidah’s sefer, a very close friend directed me to a copy of Koso Shel Eliyahu belonging to the renowned folklorist, Ephraim Davidson, and I was able to print his marginal notes in this current edition. Further, R’ Shmuel Ashkenazi had written two letters to his good friend R’ Avidah regarding this sefer. I received permission from him to print this as well. [These letters are part of a three volume set of Igrot Shmuel which is ready to go to print but wait funding]. I personally composed a partial bio-bibliography of R’ Avidah as an introduction, detailing the author’s life was and listing some of his many books and other publications. Finally, to complete the current edition, I included some notes and an index to the work. I highly recommend this work to anyone interested in understanding the development of the Minhag.

Another work which I just printed is called Kunditon. My good friend Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber has a custom to send out from time to time an e-mail which includes an article of some interesting topic; sometimes the article is divided into a few parts. A few years ago he began issuing a series of articles dealing with the subject of the Ban on dwelling in or visiting Spain. In this series he researched an astonishing amassment of sources, some of which are still in manuscript form, others unheard of or extremely rare. His goal was to prove whether or not such a ban ever even existed, and if so, what were the exact circumstances behind the ban, and its extent and parameters.

Eventually he collated the material, and published it in small paperback edition, which sold out almost immediately. Over time, he found more material on the subject and decided to reprint the work with all these additions, as well an appendix discussing the repatriation and rebuilding of Jewish Communities in Spain.

Another subject he set out to research was the tragedy of the Titanic from a Jewish perspective. Much has been written on the Titanic but veritably nothing has been done in this field, namely the episode for itself as seen from a Jewish angle. After months of research in archives of various sorts, he decided to present out some of his material in the aforementioned e-mails. It was then decided to print this collection in this volume as well, augmented with much additional material.

Among the subjects he deals with are Agunah questions, stories of Jews who were supposed to be on the ship and were not, and Jews that were on the ship and their tragic fate. He has a section on the dirges composed to deal with this tragedy. Finally, one large section deals with the halachic question of who is supposed to be saved first, men or women. I highly recommend this work for anyone interested in reading all about the Jewish aspects of the tragic story of the Titanic.

Copies of the Koso Shel Eliyahu are $14 each. The price includes air mail (England, USA, Canada).

Copies of the Kunditon are $25 each. The price includes air mail (England, USA, Canada). If you buy both its $35, including air mail (England, USA, Canada).

Payment is via Pay pal.

For more information or a table of contents of either work e-mail me at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

Copies of both works are also available at Biegeleisen in NY and at Girsa in Jerusalem.