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More About Rashbam on Genesis Chapter 1 and Further Comments about ArtScroll

More About Rashbam on Genesis Chapter 1 and Further Comments about ArtScroll

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I had thought that I was done with ArtScroll’s censorship of Rashbam to Genesis chapter 1, but a number of people wanted some explanation about the manuscript of Rashbam’s commentary. This will also give me the opportunity to add some more comments about this distressing episode. In my prior post on the topic, available here, I referred to Rabbenu Tam’s strong words against those who “corrected” the talmudic text based on their understanding. ArtScroll is guilty of violating Rabbenu Tam’s…

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Book week 2015

Book week 2015

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Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written in previous 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 and here). One should take advantage of this sale as a law was passed recently against sales on newly published books, for the first 18 months after the book was published, except for…

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“Be-Esek Atevata”: A Contextual Interpretation of an Elusive Phrase in Akdamut Millin

“Be-Esek Atevata”: A Contextual Interpretation of an Elusive Phrase in Akdamut Millin

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A centerpiece of the Ashkenazic liturgy for Shavuot, Akdamut Millin is an artistically sophisticated, epically dramatic, and emotionally charged piyyut. After nearly a millennium, the liturgical-narrative masterpiece of R. Meir ben Yitzhak Sheliah Tzibbur continues to intrigue and to inspire. Towards the middle of the poem, the poet abruptly changes scenes. Speaking in his own voice, he announces that he will now praise God “before empires”: שְׁבַח ריבון עַלְמָא, אֲמִירָא דַכְוָתָא: שְׁפַר עֲלֵיהּ לְחַווּיֵהּ, בְּאַפֵּי מַלְכְּוָתָא: What follows, without warning,…

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Megilat Rut: The night of Boaz and Rut Revisited

Megilat Rut: The night of Boaz and Rut Revisited

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In a well known story of Megilat Rut, Naomi tells Ruth to bathe herself, put on her [best] clothes and go down at night to where Boaz is sleeping. Boaz then will “tell her” what to do. The simple implication of this story is that Ruth would be sent to make a marriage proposal to Boaz who could simply consummate the marriage immediately. It has been already noted that the story of Boaz and Ruth contains many elements of “yibum”…

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An (almost) Unknown Halakhic Work by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and an attempt to answer the question: who punctuated the first edition of the Shulhan Arukh?

An (almost) Unknown Halakhic Work by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and an attempt to answer the question: who punctuated the first edition of the Shulhan Arukh?

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database computer programmer in Montreal Quebec. He graduated from McGill University and studied in Lubavitch Yeshivoth in Israel and New York. In 1980, the late Rabbi Yehoshua Mondshine published a manuscript, which was a list of chapters and paragraphs (halakhot and se’fim), selected by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (RSZ), from the Shulhan Arukh (SA) of Rabbi Yosef Karo. (RYK) Figure 1: Part of the list of halakhot prepared by Rabbi Shneur Zalman and the preliminary and concluding notes written…

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The Princess and I: Academic Kabbalists/Kabbalist Academics

The Princess and I: Academic Kabbalists/Kabbalist Academics

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Assistant Rabbi at Lincoln Square Synagogue and on the Judaic Studies Faculty at SAR High School. This is his second contribution to the Seforim blog. His first essay, on “The Nazir in New York,” is available (here). The last few decades have witnessed the veritable explosion of “new perspectives” and horizons in the academic study of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. From the pioneering work of the late Professor Gershom Scholem, and the establishment of the study of Jewish Mysticism as…

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The Netziv, Reading Newspapers on Shabbos & Censorship (Part Two)

The Netziv, Reading Newspapers on Shabbos & Censorship (Part Two)

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This post is devoted to discuss some of the various comments I have received from many different people regarding part one (here). I will also add in some of the material which I had forgotten to quote for part one [some of which I was reminded of by readers] along with additional material that I have recently uncovered. I apologize for the delay in posting this. From the outset, I would like to thank all those people who sent in…

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Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora

Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora

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(with some additional comments by Marc B. Shapiro) It is well known that when describing the purification of niddah and zava the Torah does not explicitly mention that immersion is required. The present article will briefly examine the proofs given for such an immersion and show a novel understanding of a story brought in the Talmud (Shabbat 13a-b). There are 5 most commonly brought proofs for mikva immersion. Three are brought in Tosafot (Hagiga 11a s.v. lo nitzrecha, Yevamot 47b…

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Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History

Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History

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I am happy to announce that my new book is now with the printer and should be at the distributor by May 4. Amazon and book stores will have the book not long after that. Changing the Immutable has taken quite a long time and I hope readers find that it was worth the wait. One of the main reasons it has taken so long is that some of my time in recent years has been devoted to my posts…

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Mossad HaRav Kook 2015 sale

Mossad HaRav Kook 2015 sale

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thirty years, starting on Isru Chag of Pesach, Mossad HaRav Kook publishing house makes a big sale on all of their publications, dropping prices considerably (some books are marked 65 percent off). In recent years their practice has been to publish several new titles in the few weeks prior to the sale; during the rest of the year not too many titles are printed. They also reprint some of their older titles that have gone out of print. Some years…

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The Gematriya Haggadah

The Gematriya Haggadah

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I try to buy a new Haggadah every year to make sure I have something new to say. It is especially important at my stage in life when grandchildren will remind you if you use last year’s Dvar Torah. This year’s Haggadah was definitely in the category of “מה נשתנה ההגדה הזאת מכל ההגדות”. It’s name is ״כוס ישועות״ and it was printed on the Isle of Djerba, Tunisia in 1947. It’s author was Rabbi David Cohen (also known as…

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On the Maxwell House Haggadah

On the Maxwell House Haggadah

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For contemporary American Jews, it is not an exaggeration to claim the Maxwell House Haggadah, as one of the most commonly used and widely known haggadahs. Even President Obama was aware of this history when he quipped regarding another recent haggadah “does this mean we can no longer use the Maxwell House Haggadah anymore?” The first Maxwell House sponsored haggadah was published in 1932. The Haggadah wasn’t published btwetween 1941 and 1948, but otherwise has been consistently published yearly, if…

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Plagiarism, Citation, and Redemption

Plagiarism, Citation, and Redemption

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the author of New Heavens and a New Earth; the Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought. He writes on science, medicine and the Talmud at Talmudology.com Plagiarism, it seems, has never been so widespread. Remember How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, the 2006 debut novel from Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan? The author had plagiarized several passages from others (including Salman Rushdie) and the publisher Little Brown recalled and destroyed all its unsold copies. It’s not just…

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