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Where to get out-of-print seforim

Where to get out-of-print seforim

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Question: Where can one get out-of-print seforim? Answer: Some can be purchased via auction. There are a few auction houses that specialize in seforim. Kestenbaum, Baronovitch, Asufa, and Jerusalem Judaica are some. Then there are dealers and stores. I would always first check Biegeleisen (718) 436-1165 to see if it is truly out-of-print. Then there is Seforim World, which is right next door to Biegeleisen who has out-of-print seforim. Then there is also Pinters Hebrew Book Store, 4408 14th Avenue…

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Rabbinic Pictures

Rabbinic Pictures

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Menachem Butler notes that the custom of having portraits done of Rabbinic figures dates back to the 16th century and has now been applied to YU. He also raises the issue of the permissibility of such portraits in like of the injunction against making graven images. There is a fairly substantial literature on the topic of Rabbinic pictures. In my previous post, I note that Mark included a picture of himself in his book. This was fairly common to include…

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Biography of Gedolim

Biography of Gedolim

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Long before Making of a Godol there was another book that contained terrific stories of Gedolim. These stories are especially refreshing in that they give a “human” look at gedolim. This book was originally published in Yiddish and subsequently portions were translated into Hebrew. The book written by Ya’akov Mark, (1857-1929) is titled Gedolim fun Unzer Tziet (or the great ones of our time). This book was first published in New York in 1927 and included a picture of the…

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Differences btwn the “Improved” Making of a Godol and the Original

Differences btwn the “Improved” Making of a Godol and the Original

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Differences between the “Improved” Making of a Godol and the Original by Dan Rabinowitz As previously mentioned at the Seforim blog, Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky’s Making of a Godol has been reprinted in an “improved” edition. In the new edition there are a few significant changes, which appear to have been done to appease those that originally banned the original. It is fairly easy to find these changes with the help of the index in the “improved” edition. Here are some…

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Second Rabbinic Bible/Chapter Divisions

Second Rabbinic Bible/Chapter Divisions

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University of California at Berkeley has purchased a copy of what is known as the Second Rabbinic Bible (seen on PaleoJudaica here). This Bible was published by Daniel Bomberg and edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonyahu. Without denigrating the importance of owning the original, I think the article describing the value added to Berkeley is a bit misplaced or at the very least overblown. First, this book is now available online via the Hebrew Univesity’s program of digitilizing parts…

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New Auction Catalog Online

New Auction Catalog Online

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The Baranovitch auction catalog for their Nov. 9th auction is now available online. It has some nice seforim, including one of my favorite, R. Y. Shapotshink’s Shas haGodol s’begolim, the largest Shas ever published. Shapotshink, who was a real character, utilized R. Pinner’s shas and then added notes on the side of the page, creating the largest in size shas ever published. As many of his books, he only published a single volume. In this case, only Berachot was published….

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