“The underlying basis of our work is that pictures are an organic part of the commentary, and it possible that Rashi even allowed himself to limit his explanatory words when a picture was available to the reader. This is in the sense of “a picture is worth a thousand words”. The picture is an integral part of the written book, no less important than the words.” Dr Ezra Chwat Department of Manuscripts, National Library of Israel Giluy Milta B’Almah Blog…
Rabbi Michael Broyde is a law professor at Emory University School of Law and the Projects Director in its Center for the Study of Law and Religion. His most recent Torah sefer is entitled “A Concise Code of Jewish Law For Converts”. This letter was written to someone after a shiur on why there is no bracha on seeing a solar eclipse. 1. You are correct that I said that I thought there was no bracha on an eclipse. I…
The purpose of this note is to establish conclusively that Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer, the Dayan of Brisk, never permitted opening a refrigerator on Shabbat when the light inside will go on. I was deeply disappointed to read Rabbi Michael Broyde’s response to my “Note Regarding Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer’s Position on Opening a Refrigerator on Shabbat.” In short, R. Broyde has incorrectly asserted that Rav Simcha Zelig permitted opening a refrigerator on Shabbat when the light inside will go…
we mentioned here that the Seventeenth World Congress of Jewish Studies took place at the Mount Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over the next few months we will be posting written transcriptions of some of the various presentations (we hope to receive additional ones). The first in this series is from Dr. Uzy Fuchs dealing with the Babylonian Geonim’s attitude to the Talmudic text, the subject of his recently released excellent book. To purchase this work contact…
About a year ago, Seforim Blog readers were informed by Prof. Marc Shapiro of the publication of Sara Reguer’s book My Father’s Journey, and they were further advised that this book would be of great value to anyone interested in the history of the yeshiva movement and Eastern European orthodoxy (see here). The following review illustrates the contribution the book indeed makes to these fields of study. This basis of this memoir is essentially a diary which affords readers a…
This week is the Seventeenth World Congress of Jewish Studies at the Mount Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Here is a link to all the lectures that are taking place. In honor of this Congress many academic publishers have released various titles in the past few weeks. There is also a small book fair at the congress where the books are being sold at reduced prices. Here is a list of some of the newer titles. For…
יג מנחם אב תשס”ט I and thousands of others suffered a great loss. Our great Rosh Yeshivah, R’ Aron Zelig Halevi Epstein of Yeshiva Shar Hatorah, was niftar. During the years 2004-2006, through the efforts of My dear friend Meir Kahn, I had the special Zechus to have many interesting conversations with the Rosh Yeshivah Ztz”l. The following is a selection of pieces from those conversations. This article originally appeared in the Hebrew Newspaper Mishpacha, in the Kulmos section for…
This past Wednesday the thirty sixth volume of the Torah journal Yeshurun was released. As I am on the editorial board of this journal, I normally do not write a review of new volumes for fear of being biased, or the appearance thereof. In keeping with my stance, I will not write a review below, but rather just highlight some of the topics in the volume. Normally, Yeshurun is a bi-annual, with a new volume published before Rosh Hashanah and…
On January 8, 1943 an article appeared in The New York Times which the fate of 93 young women who took their own lives rather than serve as prostitutes for the German enemy. The article makes reference to a letter written some time earlier in which the plight of these young women was described in “real time.” 11 August 1942 My dear friend Mr. Schenkalewsky in New York, I do not know whether this letter will reach you. Do you…
Introduction. Zvi Hirsch Masliansky, known as “The National Preacher” (1856-l943), was a member of the Hibbat Zion movement in Russia from the time of its inception in l882, and served as its itinerant preacher in the early 1890s. After his expulsion from Russia in 1895, he went to the United States, where he became a leading figure in the integration of the mass immigration of Eastern European Jews to American life. He wrote memoirs of those two periods of his…
When I was in my early yeshiva years studying tractate Shabbos, I came across a Rashba which I found to be most intriguing. During its discussion of the first mishna, the gemara in Shabbos 4a makes the statement, “וכי אומרים לו לאדם חטא כדי שיזכה חבירך,” which means, “do we really say to a person, ‘sin in order that your friend should merit?’” A notion which suggests that a person should not sin in order that others can fulfill a…
Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written the past ten years, every year in Israel, around Shavous time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week (for previous years lists see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Many of the companies offer sales for the whole month. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the country in stores, malls and special places…
is holding an auction on June 13, 2017, and we wanted to highlight a few items of interest (for our previous post regarding the auction house and previous auctions see here. There are, of course, some old and rare books from the 16th and early 17th centuries (lots 1-7), and over forty manuscripts and a number of letters from rabbinical luminaries, R. Yosef Dov Solovetchik (Beis ha’Levi) (lot 198), R. Yitzhak Ze’ev Solovetchik (Brisker Rav) (lot 199), R. Hayim Ozer…
Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written the past ten years, every year in Israel, around Shavous time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week (for previous years lists see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Many of the companies offer sales for the whole month. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the country in stores, malls and special places…
Daniel J. Lasker is Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought. He has published widely in the fields of medieval Jewish philosophy, the Jewish-Christian debate, and Karaism. This is Professor Lasker’s third essay at the Seforim blog. On the occasion of the publication of: ספר הכוזרי. הוא ספר הטענה והראָיה לדת המושפלת לרבי יהודה הלוי תרגם מערבית-יהודית לעברית בת זמננו מיכאל שוַרץ הוצאת הספרים של אוניברסיטת…