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Category: Book History

A Printing Mistake and the Mysterious Origins of Rashbi’s Yahrzeit*

A Printing Mistake and the Mysterious Origins of Rashbi’s Yahrzeit*

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A Printing Mistake and the Mysterious Origins of Rashbi’s Yahrzeit* by Eliezer Brodt In this post I would like to deal with tracing the early sources for the great celebrations that take place worldwide on Lag Ba-Omer, specifically at the Kever of Rashbi (R. Shimon b. Yochai) in Meron.[1] A few years back on the Seforim Blog I dealt with some of these issues (link). More recently in Ami Magazine (# 22) I returned to some of the topics. This…

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The Date of the Exodus: A Guide to the Orthodox Perplexed

The Date of the Exodus: A Guide to the Orthodox Perplexed

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The Date of the Exodus: A Guide to the Orthodox Perplexed [1] by Mitchell First A pdf of this post can be downloaded here, or viewed here. The Exodus is arguably the fundamental event of our religion. The Sabbath is premised upon it, as are many of the other commandments and holidays. Yet if one would ask a typical observant Jew “in what century did this Exodus occur?,” most would respond with a puzzled look. The purpose of this article…

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Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi, a contemporary Maecenas of the world of seforim.

Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi, a contemporary Maecenas of the world of seforim.

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A few years ago I began fundraising to print seforim of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi. I am happy to announce that finally two volumes were just printed volume one is being sold in stores now and volume two will be released to be sold in stores before Shavos. In earlier posts I have put up some chapters of these new works. In one post I described Rabbi Shmuel Askenazi as follows: One of the hidden giants of the seforim world both…

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Using a Colophon to Find a Shidduch: on Ella the Zetser.

Using a Colophon to Find a Shidduch: on Ella the Zetser.

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Using a Colophon to Find a Shidduch by Eli Genauer There has been much talk lately about the so called Shidduch crisis. Various initiatives have been proposed to address this problem, all of which are well meaning and well thought out. Many might be surprised to learn that an interesting approach was suggested by a 12 year old girl in the town of Frankfurt on Oder way back in 1699. This approach was based on a Pasuk in Yirmiyahu which…

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תורת הצורה והחומר וההעדר: ספרים המדברים בהשמטות הרמב”ם ובכללים להסבירם

תורת הצורה והחומר וההעדר: ספרים המדברים בהשמטות הרמב”ם ובכללים להסבירם

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מאת עזרא בראנד ידוע הוא לכל יודע ספר המשנה תורה שאחת מהמידות שהמשנה תורה נדרש בה היא ההשמטה ממנו. כמעט כל מפרשי הרמב”ם הניחו כיסוד שהרמב”ם כוון לכלול בספרו כל התורה שבעל פה (כמו שהזכיר הרמב”ם בהקדמתו למשנה תורה), ואם יש דין חסר ממנו יש דברים בגו[1]. אמנם גם לאחר שהוכרה ההשמטה בהרבה מקרים קשה לדעת מה ללמוד מזה; אם להחמיר או להקל, לטמא או לטהר, לפסול או להכשיר (ולעתים קרובות נחלקו בזה המפרשים), אבל הכל מודים שניתן ללמוד מכל…

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New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 2

New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 2

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New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 2 Marc B. Shapiro Continued from here. I must now deal with R. Joseph Ibn Caspi, who is often described as holding a view similar to what we have seen already, but more radical in that he saw it as a general principle of interpretation. I refer to the notion that the Torah incorporates all sorts of untruths because these were what people believed at the time. It is said that…

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