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Category: Book History

Sefer HaNer on Mesechet Bava Kamma

Sefer HaNer on Mesechet Bava Kamma

Sefer HaNer on Mesechet Bava Kamma: A Review by:Rabbi Yosaif Mordechai Dubovick Not every important work written by a Rishon is blessed with popularity.[1] While many texts were available throughout the generations and utilized to their utmost; others were relegated to obscurity, being published as recently as this century, or even this year. Nearly a month doesn’t pass without a “new” Rishon being made available to the public, and often enough in a critical edition. While each work must be…

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Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its History

Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its History

Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its HistoryBy: Dan Rabinowitz & Eliezer Brodt     In a new series we wanted to highlight how much important material is now available online.  This, first post, illustrates the proliferation of online materials with regard to the controversy surrounding the work Besamim Rosh (“BR”).  [We must note at the outset that recently a program has been designed by Moshe Koppel which enables one, via various mathematical algorithims, to identify documents authored by the same…

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“A Woman Is Not an Elephant”

“A Woman Is Not an Elephant”

“A Woman Is Not an Elephant” – Some Jewish, Islamic and Classical Perspectives On the Conflict Between Authority and Truth by Yitzhak of Bein Din Ledin Unusually Long (Human) Gestations: Islam The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports (hat tip: Rabbi Natan Slifkin): Egyptian Medical Doctor Criticizes the Phenomenon of Accepting Unscientific Islamic Beliefs, like the Notion that a Woman's Pregnancy Can Last Up to Four Years In an article on the liberal website Elaph, Dr. Khaled Montasser, a…

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Moshe Idel — Kabbalistic Manuscripts in the Vatican Library

Moshe Idel — Kabbalistic Manuscripts in the Vatican Library

Professor Moshe Idel is Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought, Department of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Senior Researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute. This post at the Seforim blog by Prof. Moshe Idel, about Kabbalah manuscripts kept in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Library), is an expansion of remarks delivered at the February 2009 symposium hosted at the National Library of Israel, in Jerusalem, to honor the publication of the catalog by Benjamin Richler, ed., Hebrew Manuscripts in the…

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R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

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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Woe Is Unto Whom?

Woe Is Unto Whom?

Woe Is Unto Whom?  Christian Censorship of a Sugya in Berachos 3a  (or What Was Bothering the Censor II) By: David Zilberberg  I.        A Censored Text in Berachos 3a The Vilna Edition of Berachos 3a states as follows: אמר רב יצחק בר שמואל משמי’ דרב ג’ משמרות הוי הלילה ועל כל משמר ומשמר יושב הקב”ה ושואג כארי ואומר אוי לבנים שבעונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין אומות העולם The identical statement is cited by R. Yose in…

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