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Category: Book History

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited*

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited*

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited* by Shnayer Leiman A. The Photograph.             Recently, I had occasion to publish the above photograph – a treasure that offers a glimpse of what the old Jewish cemetery of Vilna looked like in the inter-war period.[1] Indeed, it captures the oldest portion of the rabbinic section of the old Jewish cemetery. The purpose of this essay is to identify the persons buried here and – where possible…

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Textual Emendations in Minhag Anglia

Textual Emendations in Minhag Anglia

Textual Emendations in Minhag Anglia Harry Freedman Harry Freedman’s The Talmud: A Biography is published by Bloomsbury Publications. His next book, The Murderous History of Bible Translations will be published by Bloomsbury in 2016 In his book Changing the Immutable Mac Shapiro notes that, for reasons of propriety, the Birnbaum siddur transliterates the words מי רגליים in פטום הקטרת [1], instead of translating them. Philip Birnbaum was not the only translator to be troubled by these words. In 1890 Rev….

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Screen for the Spirit, Garment for the Soul

Screen for the Spirit, Garment for the Soul

Screen for the Spirit, Garment for the Soul by Josh Rosenfeld Josh Rosenfeld is the Assistant Rabbi at Lincoln Square Synagogue and on the Judaic Studies Faculty at SAR High School. This is his third contribution to the Seforim blog. His first essay, on “The Nazir in New York,” is available here, and his second essay, “The Princess and I: Academic Kabbalists/Kabbalist Academics,“ is available here. ב״ה אור לנר ג׳, חנוכה ה׳תשע״ו             Recent years have witnessed a remarkable trend…

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An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas

An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas

 An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas By Eli Genauer A recent book auction by Kestenbaum featured the following listing: AUCTION 65: JUNE 25TH, 2015LOT: 111 (TALMUD, BABYLONIAN). Masechta Sotah. With commentaries by Rashi, Tosaphoth, Maimonides and Rabbeinu Asher. FIRST BOMBERG EDITION .. ……Vinograd, Venice 27; Habermann, Bomberg 22. Daniel Bomberg, Venice: 1520.                   This Tractate contains the only appearance of a printed text illustration throughout the entire Talmud issued by Bomberg (see f. 43r). The reference to (…

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Finders Keepers? The Itinerant History of Strashun Library of Vilna, Pt I

Finders Keepers? The Itinerant History of Strashun Library of Vilna, Pt I

Finders Keepers? The Itinerant History of Strashun Library of Vilna by Dan Rabinowitz             Since the 1990s, the issue of reparation of items looted by the Nazis has become a high-profile issue, with numerous successful attempts at reuniting owners with their stolen possessions. The recent movie, Monuments Men, fictionalized the Allies’ post-war efforts that led to the locating some of these looted treasures. While some of the best-known examples of these recovered treasures are related to art, gold, or Swiss…

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נוסח סליחות אשכנזי מודפס ארבע עשרה בלתי ידוע

נוסח סליחות אשכנזי מודפס ארבע עשרה בלתי ידוע

נוסח סליחות אשכנזי מודפס ארבע עשרה בלתי ידוע – דוד חיים רוט לפי פרופ’ דניאל גולדשמידט ז”ל,[1] יש שלש עשרה נוסחאות מודפסים של סליחות אשכנזים: אשכנז הכללי (פפד’מ), עלזאס, פיורדא-נירנברג, וורמייזא, פלאס, שוואבין-שוויץ, קוילן, אשכנזים שבאיטליה (כל הנ’ל הם שייכים לנוסח אשכנז המערבי), ליטא, פולין, בהמן, פוזנא, ובית כנסת הישן בפראג (ששייכים למנהג המזרחי).[2],[3] בדרך כלל, אצל אשכנזים, נהוג לומר סליחות שונות בכל יום, ובכל הנוסחאות הנ”ל, יש סדר שונה לכל יום של ימי אלול וימי התשובה, וכן לשחרית, מוסף,…

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