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Category: Book History

ביקורת ספרים: מסורת התורה שבעל פה, הרב פרופ’ שלמה זלמן הבלין

ביקורת ספרים: מסורת התורה שבעל פה, הרב פרופ’ שלמה זלמן הבלין

ביקורת ספרים: מסורת התורה שבעל פה, הרב פרופ’ שלמה זלמן הבלין מאת: רב צעיר הספר “מסורת התורה שבעל פה – יסודותיה, עקרונותיה והגדרותיה” שהוציא לאור לפני כשנה הרב פרופ’ שלמה זלמן הבלין, בהוצאת מכללת אורות-ישראל, עוסק בהיבטים שונים של אחד הנושאים שמעסיקים ביותר את חיי היהודי המאמין, התורה שבעל פה. הספר מכיל חמישה עשר פרקים, חמשה מתוכם רואים אור לראשונה בספר זה, והעשרה הנותרים ראו אור בכתבי עת שונים במהלך השנים. בתור לקט כזה, הספר אינו אחיד. ישנם פרקים הכתובים בצורה…

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Deciphering the Talmud: The First English Edition of the Talmud Revisited. Michael Levi Rodkinson: His Translation of the Talmud, and the Ensuing Controversy

Deciphering the Talmud: The First English Edition of the Talmud Revisited. Michael Levi Rodkinson: His Translation of the Talmud, and the Ensuing Controversy

In honor of the publication of Marvin J. Heller’s new book, Further Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book (Leiden, 2013), the Seforim Blog is happy to present this abridgment of chapter 13.                                                                                                                     Deciphering the Talmud: The First English Edition of the Talmud Revisited.       Michael Levi Rodkinson: His Translation of the Talmud, and the Ensuing Controversy      Marvin J. Heller The Talmud, the quintessential Jewish book, is a challenging work.  A source of Bible interpretation, halakhah,…

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Israel ben Shabtai [Hapstein]. ‘Avodat Yisrael – Book review by Bezalel Naor

Israel ben Shabtai [Hapstein]. ‘Avodat Yisrael – Book review by Bezalel Naor

Israel ben Shabtai [Hapstein]. ‘Avodat Yisrael (B’nei Berak: Pe’er mi-Kedoshim, 5773 / 2013). 66, 738 pages.  Reviewed by Bezalel Naor  Rabbi Israel ben Shabtai Hapstein, the Maggid of Kozienice (or more commonly, the “Kozhnitser Maggid”) (d. 1814) was a major figure in the third generation of East-European Hasidism founded by Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, and specifically, a towering luminary within Polish Hasidism. Like his contemporary Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liozhno (and later Liadi), Rabbi Israel studied under Rabbi Dov…

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Identifying Achashverosh and Esther in Secular Sources

Identifying Achashverosh and Esther in Secular Sources

Identifying Achashverosh and Esther in Secular Sources  By Mitchell First  This article is a summary of a longer article which will appear in his forthcoming book Esther Unmasked: Solving Eleven Mysteries of the Jewish Holidays and Liturgy (Kodesh Press), pp. 129-167.      In this article, we will explain how scholars were finally able to identify Achashverosh in secular sources. We will also show that Esther can be identified in secular sources as well. Finally, we will utilize these sources to shed…

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Quiz Runoff

Quiz Runoff

Quiz Runoff by Marc B. Shapiro Written on 4 Shevat, 5773, the yahrzeit of R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg 1. In the last post, as the quiz question, I asked for the name of the first Hebrew book published by a living author. The answer is Nofet Tzufim by R. Judah Messer Leon. As the Wikipedia entry for Messer Leon states, this work “was printed by Abraham Conat of Mantua in 1475-6, the only work by a living author printed in Hebrew in…

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Midrashic Exegesis and Biblical Interpretation in the Meshekh Hokhmah

Midrashic Exegesis and Biblical Interpretation in the Meshekh Hokhmah

Midrashic Exegesis and Biblical Interpretation in the Meshekh Hokhmah by Yitshak Cohen In honor of Yitshak Cohen’s just-published book, “Or Sameah” Halakhah u-Mishpat: Mishnato shel Ha-Rav Meir Simhah ha-Kohen al Mishneh Torah le-ha-Rambam, the Seforim Blog is happy to present this post in English, which is taken from a longer article to appear in the Jewish Law Annual. Introduction R. Meir Simhah Hacohen (henceforth: RMS) was born in 1843 in the village of Butrimonys, in the Vilnius district. Gaining renown…

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