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Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon

Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon

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1. Prologue This essay attempts to identify the authentic grave of the Vilna Gaon (d. 1797).1 As will become apparent, it surely is not the grave that Jewish pilgrims are shown today when they visit Vilna. We shall attempt to identify his authentic grave by applying the biblical rule: על פי שני עדים יקום דבר “a matter is established by the testimony of two witnesses.” We shall cite two different kinds of witnesses. One witness will represent primarily תורה שבכתב,…

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On some new seforim, Copernicus, saying Ledovid , Moses Mendelssohn and other random comments

On some new seforim, Copernicus, saying Ledovid , Moses Mendelssohn and other random comments

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Here is a list of recent seforim and books I have seen around in the past few months. This is not an attempt to list everything or even close to it; rather it’s just a list of seforim and books on many random topics, which I have seen while shopping for seforim. I enumerated a few titles which I have a Table of Contents for. Please feel free to e-mail me for them. 1. רשב”ץ על מסכת ברכות, אהבת שלום,…

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What’s Wrong With Wealth and Honor?

What’s Wrong With Wealth and Honor?

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Below, we will present some timely notes regarding an English/Hebrew Machzor for Rosh Hashana which was printed in England in 1807. We will touch upon a variety of issues, and thus first present general backgrounds regarding Hebrew printing in London, the prayer for the state, and Kol Nidrei. Hebrew Typography in London The earliest use of Hebrew typography in England is sometime in the middle to the late 1520s. Of course, at that time, Jews were banned from England and…

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Introduction to The Song of Songs (An Excerpt) by Amos Hakham

Introduction to The Song of Songs (An Excerpt) by Amos Hakham

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Amos Hakham passed away on August 2, 2012 at the age of 91. The following is an unofficial translation of an excerpt from the Introduction to his commentary on the Song of Songs, published in 1973 by Mossad Harav Kook, in the Da’at Mikra series of Bible commentaries. The selection below is an outstanding example of Hakham’s distinct approach, in both his Introduction and commentary, characterized by uncompromising scholarship coupled with faithfulness to tradition. Here and in his other writings,…

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The Book of Disputes between East and West

The Book of Disputes between East and West

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Based primarily on the Margulies Edition with additions from the Appendices of the Miller and Lewin Editions Menahem Av, 5772 Jerusalem After the translation of the text itself, various additional items are added, some of them never before published. Also included is a translated summary of major sections of Margaliot’s introduction, along with comments and updates. Round brackets reflect text found in only certain Hebrew manuscripts as indicated by Margulies in his Hebrew edition. Square brackets contain English insertions of…

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Concerning the Zohar and Other Matters

Concerning the Zohar and Other Matters

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1. In the last issue of Milin Havivin I published an article dealing with the Zohar and the supposed obligation to accept that it was written by R. Shimon ben Yohai. You can see it here. In the article I mentioned authorities who pointed to passages that in their minds were certainly post-Rashbi interpolations. At the end of the article I also published a letter from R. Isaac Herzog in which he briefly deals with the issue of non-literal interpretation…

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Emek ha-Netziv : The Manuscript

Emek ha-Netziv : The Manuscript

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Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl is dean of the Margolin Hebrew Academy/Feinstone Yeshiva of the South in Memphis. The following selection comes from his new book, The Pillar of Volozhin: Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin and the World of Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Torah Scholarship. The manuscript of ‘Emek ha-Netziv remains in the possession of the Shapira family and there are no additional extant copies. The family are prominent members of a staunchly traditionalist Ḥaredi community in the Geulah neighborhood of Jerusalem….

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Special Summer sale of books

Special Summer sale of books

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This list consists of a few parts. Part two is a special clearance sale from the Mekizei Nirdamim Publishing house. This list includes some very good titles which will not be available much longer. There are a few copies of each title. Part three and four is composed of seforim and books which I came across while hunting for seforim at different places. Most of these titles are very hard to find. Some of the prices are better than others,…

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A Preliminary Review of The New Koren Talmud Bavli: A Goldilocks edition

A Preliminary Review of The New Koren Talmud Bavli: A Goldilocks edition

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Jeremy Brown lives outside of Washington DC. He is the author of New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought, to be published later this year by Oxford University Press. We are only weeks away from finishing the seven-year cycle of Daf Yomi. Right on cue, publishers are ready to meet the demand of those ready to study Daf Yomi the first time as the cycle begins anew, or perhaps students who wish to learn Talmud…

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The Proselyte Doth Protest Too Much

The Proselyte Doth Protest Too Much

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I recently acquired an early edition of Abarvanel’s Peirush Al Neviim Rishonim. It was printed in Leipzig in 1686. It was only the second edition of this commentary, following the first edition printed in Pesaro in 1511 by Gershom Soncino. The publisher of this edition was Mauritium Georgium Weidmannum. The editors were Friedrich Albrecht Christiani, an apostate, and August Pfeiffer, a German Lutheran theologian. It was printed primarily for a Christian reading audience for reasons we shall discuss. F. A….

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Some recent seforim

Some recent seforim

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This is a list of some of the recent seforim I have seen around during my seforim shopping. This is not an attempt to include everything or even close to that. I just like to list a wide variety of works. I note that for some of these works that I can provide a table of contents if you request it, email me at Eliezerbrodt@gmail.com. א. מסכת קידושין חלק א, מכון תלמוד הישראלי ב. שו”ת הרשב”א, חלק ג, תשובות השייכים…

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The Future of Israeli Haredi Society: Can The Written Word Offer Some Insight? (And Assorted Other Comments)

The Future of Israeli Haredi Society: Can The Written Word Offer Some Insight? (And Assorted Other Comments)

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1. Months ago I was asked to write about the situation in Beit Shemesh that everyone was then focused on (and which will probably heat up again in the future). At the present, I don’t have anything to add to the discussion, and if I did it would be with reference to Jewish books, as this is, after all, a site devoted to seforim. While I have in the past given my views on various issues, it was in the…

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Taliban Women and More

Taliban Women and More

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1. In this post I am going to respond to a number of emails and requests to deal with certain topics. I can’t get to everything I was asked about, and will only touch on some topics, but here is a start. Let’s begin with the common practice in the Israeli haredi world of ignoring what the Sages tell us in Kiddushin 29a and not teaching young men a trade so that instead they can devote themselves to Torah study….

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Book Week 2012

Book Week 2012

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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 (see 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 rented out just for the sale. There are places where…

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Book sale

Book sale

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Book week has begun in Israel. Later this week I hopefully will post a list of almost all the academic books that were printed during the past year. For now I would like to post a list of some more sefiorm on sale while supplies last. There are three parts. In part one there is only one copy of each so it’s a first come first serve basis. There are still some titles available from books mentioned on the previous…

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