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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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Seforim Sale

Seforim Sale

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While hunting for seforim and books I recently came across the following excellent titles for sale, from an old library and some other places. Most of these titles are very hard to find. Some of the prices are better than others, but all in all I think they are fair. Almost all the books are in great shape. The sale prices are only for the next three days. After that they might not be available.There is only one copy of…

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Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavous and Megilas Rus (new and old)

Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavous and Megilas Rus (new and old)

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In this post I intend to start a list towards a more complete bibliography to the various seforim (new and old) and articles related to Shavous. I hope to update it much more in the future as my computer (with all my information just died). When learning the Halachos of Shavous, one is struck how the Tur does not mention anything special for Shavous except for instructions related to davening and Keriyas Hatorah. The only custom he mentions that is…

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Kalir, False Accusations, and More

Kalir, False Accusations, and More

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1. I now want to return to Kalir and the criticism of me. To recap, I had earlier mentioned how Artscroll originally correctly identified Kalir as post-tannaitic, but later changed what it wrote in order to be in line with Tosafot’s opinion that he was a tanna. Some think that it is wrong to criticize Artscroll by using academic methodology instead of judging them by traditional sources, since they don’t recognize the academic approach. My first response is that this…

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Some Remarks On Aristotle, Dante Alighieri, Immanuel of Rome, R. Moshe Botarel and Bertrand Russell

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Some Remarks On Aristotle, Dante Alighieri, Immanuel of Rome, R. Moshe Botarel and Bertrand Russell

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For nearly a millennium, the name “Aristotle” has resonated within Jewish culture (as within European culture generally) in a way difficult for we moderns to fully grasp. Not merely a philosopher (or even the Philosopher, as he is often designated), he represented (accurately and justly, or otherwise) a weltanschauung, or even a cluster of them: rationalism, scientism, materialism, skepticism, atheism. In this essay, we discuss a miscellaneous variety of perspectives toward Aristotle found in our tradition. R. Moshe Botarel R….

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