סידור רב עמרם גאון, מכון ירושלים, חלק ג סי’ נו-קג, תפילות חול. מרדכי, שבת, על פי כ”י, מכון ירושלים, רצג עמודים ר”י מלוניל על מגילה, יבמות, כתובת, מכון תלמוד הישראלי האמונות והדעות לרבנו סעדיה גאון, עם ביאור דרך אמונה לר’ דוד הנזיר, חלק א, שצב עמודים, כולל מבוא ופתיחה כללית לרס”ג. לוי חן לר’ לוי בן אברהם, מעשה מרכבה, מכ”י, ההדיר והוסיף מבוא והערות חיים קרייסל, האיגוד למדעי היהדות, 330 עמודים , [כרך שלישי מתוך החיבור] [ניתן לקבל תוכן העניינים]….
Christian M. Rutishauser’s The Human Condition in the Thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik has just been published by Ktav (having earlier appeared in German). Quite apart from Rutishauser’s scholarship, the book is noteworthy in that Rutishauser is a prominent Jesuit priest (see here; for those who don’t know, the University of Scranton is also Jesuit). The Seforim Blog is happy to present the introduction to the book where Rutishauser explains what led him to the Rav. A Catholic Glimpse…
1. The last post dealt with R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and I pick up with him here. Before moving forward, I have to thank R. Moshe Maimon who sent me a PDF of the essay attributed to R. Zevin which I discussed in the last post. It comes from the hebrewbooks.org hard drive that was released some time ago. You can see it here. I also thank R. Eliezer Brodt who pointed out that both R. Zvi Pesah Frank and…
Dear Seforim Blog readers, This past Monday an era ended. As many prominent rabbonim mentioned, during the levaya of Rav Ovadia Yosef, there was the era of Tannaim, the era of Amoraim, Geonim, Rishonim, Achronim and the era of Rav Ovadia Meor Yisroel. Each one of us merited living in his generation. He was the Moshe Rabbeinu of our generation (Sukkah 39a), not merely in personal greatness but characteristically as well. He acquired the Torah reaching great heights, nevertheless descended…
Michael K. Silber is the Cardinal Franz Koenig Senior Lecturer in Austrian Studies in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at Hebrew U. He has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the Central European University and during the 2013-2014 academic year, he is the Jacob Perlow Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at Yale. He also serves as the Chair of the Board of the Central Archives of the Jewish People, Jerusalem. His researches focus on the Jews of Central…
אישית . בליל יום הכיפורים תשס”ה, שבאותה שנה חל בשבת, שמעתי באזני מפי הגרי”ש אלישיב זצוק”ל, שענה לשואל אחד שאין לאמרם בשבת, אע”פ שהשואל הסתייע מלוח ארץ ישראל לרי”מ טוקצ’ינסקי שיש לאומרם. אחר כך סיפר השואל לנוכחים שמפרסמים פסקים בשם הרב שאינם נכונים כלל וכלל. לשאלת השואל היה המשך מעניין: ויהי ערב ויהי בוקר. בתפילת שחרית לא נכח הגרי”ש בבית הכנסת, ובהוצאת ספר תורה פתח החזן באמירת ‘שלש-עשרה מידות’. קם אחד המתפללים וגער בו בקול: ‘אתמול קבע הרב שליט”א שאין…
(mfirstatty@aol.com) The Jewish obligation of עולם תקון (=improving the world) is widely referred to and it is traditionally assumed that the Aleinu prayer is one of the texts upon which this obligation is based. This article will show that a very strong case can be made that the original version of Aleinu read עולם לתכן (=to establish the world under God’s sovereignty), and not עולם לתקן (=to perfect/improve the world under God’s sovereignty ). If so, the concept of עולם…
תוספות רמב”ן לפירושו לתורה, שנכתבו בארץ ישראל, יוסף עופר, יהונתן יעקבס, מכללה הרצוג, והאיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדות, 718 עמודים In this post I would like to explain what this work is about. One of the most important Rishonim was Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman, famously known as Ramban. Ramban was famous for numerous reasons and has been the subject of numerous works and articles. This year alone two important works were written about him, one from Dr. Shalem Yahalom called Bein…
1. There is a lot of talk these days about haredim serving in the army. Understandably, the famous essay of R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin has been cited. In this essay, R. Zevin rejects the notion that yeshiva students shouldn’t have to serve. The essay used to be found at http://www.hebrewbooks.org/32904 but it was removed, together with other “problematic” books. (You can see evidence of it having been on hebrewbooks by this archive.org snapshot of the page.) Here is the essay…
לאחר שקראתי את הפוסט המעניין מאוד של פרופ’ מרק שפירו, אמרתי כי עכשו הזמן להוסיף עוד משהו בבחינת מעניין לעניין באותו עניין. מה הוא דיבר על דרכם של כותבים בדורנו, אף אני אכתוב על פרט מסויים בדרכם של הכותבים בדורנו. הפרט שאני רוצה להצביע עליו הוא שיש מחברים המציינים את המקור לדבריהם, ואף מפנים את הלומד לעיין באותו מקור, אבל הם עצמם לא עיינו באותו מקור. אילו היו מטריחים עצמם לעשות כן, היו רואים שמקור זה לא היה ולא נברא….
Rav Shmuel ben Hofni HaKohen, was born into an aristocratic family among the hierarchy of the Pumbadithan Yeshiva in Baghdad. His grandfather, Rav Kohen Zedek ben Yosef was appointed Gaon of Pumbaditha by the Resh Galuta, David b. Zakkai in 926. Rav Sherira, in his renowned epistle to Rav Yaakov b. Nissim of Kairouan states: “there was a disagreement between the Yeshiva’s Rabbis and Rav Mevasser HaKohen ben Rav Kimoi Gaon was appointed Gaon, with David Nasi appointing Rav Kohen…
סדר עולם: מהדורה מדעית, פירוש ומבוא מאת חיים מיליקובסקי, מכון יצחק בן צבי, שני חלקים, 326+711 עמודים. I am very happy to announce the publication of an important work which numerous people (myself included) have been eagerly waiting for quite some time, Professor Chaim Milikowsky of the Bar Ilan Talmud department’s critical edition of the Seder Olam. Professor Milikowsky began working on the Seder Olam over thirty years ago and completed his PhD dissertation ‘Seder Olam : A Rabbinic Chronography’…
A better question would be is what is right? The latest work produced by Artscroll in the Milstein Series is Isaiah . Written by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, the general editor of Artsrtscroll himself, it is the inaugural volume of the interpretation of the Later Prophets. Firstly, one must praise Artscroll for a completely new typesetting of the Rashi, Radak, Metzuadas David and Metzudas Zion. But to what purpose? If was to give us a clear text, has not a clearly…
RABBI PINHAS HAKOHEN LINTOP (1852-1924) Pinhas Hakohen Lintop, Rabbi of the Habad community of Birzh, Lithuania, was an intimate friend and colleague of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook. Their friendship began when Rabbi Kook served as Rabbi of Zoimel, Lithuania and later Boisk, Latvia, and continued even after Rav Kook immigrated to Erets Israel. What Rabbis Kook and Lintop shared in common, was the belief that the knowledge of the “inwardness of Torah” (“penimiyut ha-torah”) contained the medicine for the…
1. A story recently appeared alleging plagiarism in the writings of R. Yonah Metzger. Such accusations are nothing new and the topic of plagiarism in rabbinic history is of great interest to me. Many of the scholars of Jewish bibliography have also written about the phenomenon, and a good deal on the topic has appeared on the Seforim Blog. Suffice it to say that every generation has had problems in this regard, and we see even see apparent instances of…