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Category: Biography

Review: Kehilot Hungary

Review: Kehilot Hungary

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Rabbi Baruch Oberlander is the rabbi in Budapest, Hungary, since 1989, and is the editor of Tel Talpiot. He has published many articles in the journal Ohr Yisroel and is the world's leading expert on the forged Yerushalmi Kodashim. כיצד כותבים את ההיסטוריה של יהדות הונגריה בישראל?הרב ברוך אבערלאנדעראב"ד בבודאפשט, הונגריה קהילות הונגריה – הקהילות החרדיות בהונגריה – תש"ד, מאת פרופ' שלמה שפיצר, מכון ירושלים, תשס"ט, 466 עמודים. החשיבות של כתיבה היסטורית נכונהכתיבה מדוייקת של דברי ימי הימים של עם ישראל חשובה…

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R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

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R. Flensberg , Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs Recently, a book, Aggadata de-Ve Rav, Machon Limud Aggadah, Ashdod, 2010, pp. 50, 176, 56, collecting various works attempting to explain the difficult and, on their face, rather odd stories (aggadot) that appear in Baba Batra (73a-74) many of which involve odd animals do odd things.  In addition to these passages, there is another odd passage in Bechorot (7b) which also involves an animal, a donkey also engaging in odd behavior. This passage…

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Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale of Two Stories

Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale of Two Stories

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Spunky Rebbetzins, Disgruntled Rebbetzins and A Learned Zionist Midwife: A Tale Of Two Stories by: Yitzhak of בין דין לדין Menachem Berisha, in The Last Rabbis of Brest, relates (hat tip: Wolf2191): Rabbi J.L. Diskin’s second wife Sarah was famed as the Brisker Rebbetzen. She was learned and knowledgeable in all the laws. She was very strict in the matter of orthodoxy and mixed into all the community affairs. She had very strong mind; she came from a very prestigious…

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The Writings of R. Hayyim Gulevsky, Part 2

The Writings of R. Hayyim Gulevsky, Part 2

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The Writings of R. Hayyim Gulevsky, part 2 By Marc B. Shapiro Many of the stories Gulevsky tells cannot be verified, and we have to take his word that he is faithfully recording that which he heard. Thus, he tells us about R. Abraham Eliezer Alperstein, who was an early rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat R Yitzhak Elhanan and the author of the first commentary on the Talmud published in the United States. It appeared in Chicago in 1887. Gulevsky tells the…

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Wine, Women & Song Some Remarks on Poetry & Grammar – Part I

Wine, Women & Song Some Remarks on Poetry & Grammar – Part I

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Wine, Women and Song: Some Remarks On Poetry and Grammar – Part I by Yitzhak of בין דין לדין [This is the first of three parts; I am greatly indebted to Andy and Wolf2191 for their valuable comments, many of which I have incorporated into this paper, and for obtaining for me various works to which I did not have access.] Rhyme and Grammar This is the opening stanza of one of Rav Yehudah Halevi’s (henceforth: Rihal) best known poems:יום…

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R. David Nieto’s Matteh Dan, Life on Other Planets and Jewish Reactions to Copernicus

R. David Nieto’s Matteh Dan, Life on Other Planets and Jewish Reactions to Copernicus

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R. David Nieto’s Matteh Dan, Life on Other Planets and Jewish Reactions to Copernicus by Eliezer Brodt   R. David Neito and the Mateh Dan R. David Nieto was born in 1654 in Venice and died in England in 1728. Aside for being a tremendous talmid hakham, Nieto also had degrees in science, philosophy, and was a medical doctor. He was a Rav, Dayan and Darshan in Leghorn for a while. He then was hired to be Rav of the…

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