Book announcement: Special sale

By Eliezer Brodt

In this post I would like to briefly describe three new works printed by Schocken Institute, two of which were printed in the past year and the third is hot off the press – out just three days ago. For a short time, copies of these three works can be purchased through me for a special price. Contact me at Eliezerbrodt@gmail.com.

חמודות מצרים, יד ושם לרבותינו שתשובותיהם לא נקבצו בספר, א, תשובות חכמי מצרים האחרונים מגניזת קהיר, שמואל גליק, 474 עמודים

This work is a collection of material never published before from the Cairo Genizah has been collected by Professor Shmuel Glick. Most of the material is responsa of Egyptian rabbonim, the earliest document in this collection is from 1590 and the latest is from 1668. This is the first volume of a new series which Glick is working on, continuing his previous work; serieses of various collections of Responsa literature from the Cairo Genizah. Each Teshuvah in this collection is annotated with references to related Torah and academic literature. In addition, each document has a very useful introduction giving the reader the Teshuvah’s background. There is also a very useful introduction (94 pp.) to the whole work and a very thorough index. This is a very important addition to anyone interested in Responsa literature.

Here is the Table of Contents of the book:

The second title is:

גרשם שלום, תולדות התנועה השבתאית, הרצאות באוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים 1940-1939. הקדימו מבוא ערכו והביאו לדפוס יונתן מאיר שיניצ’י יאמאמוטו, 407 עמודים

History of the Sabbatian Movement Lectures given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1939-1940 by Gershom Scholem. Edited and introduced by Jonatan Meir & Shinichi Yamamoto.

History of the Sabbatian Movement was the first attempt by one of the giants of scholarship on Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem (1897-1982), to present a comprehensive picture of Sabbatianism as a single narrative. The book is based on the series of lectures given at the Hebrew University during 1939-1940, which are of special importance in that they laid the foundation for all of Scholem’s research in the years to come, including his extensive monograph Sabbatai Sevi: the mystical Messiah, 1626-1676, first published in 1957. What follows is a sketch of the massive History of the Sabbatian Movement, over which Gershom Scholem toiled his whole life but never completed. The lectures are presented here for the first time based on the original manuscripts, alongside the text of an additional series of lectures that Scholem gave as part of the “Month of Study” organized by Berl Katznelson in 1941. These long-hidden texts reveal new facets of the Sabbatian movement and its history, as well as of Gershom Scholem as a historian, and serve as prologue to any further study of this most stormy and complicated episode in Jewish history. The new edition includes a comprehensive introduction by the editors on all of Gershom Scholem’s studies on Sabbatianism.

Table of Contents

“The Open Book” / Jonatan Meir and Shinichi Yamamoto

Introduction

Chapter One: The Faces of the Generation

Chapter Two: The Messianic Movement from its Beginnings to its Height

Chapter Three: The Twists and Turns of the Sabbatian Movement

Chapter Four: The Historical Development of Sabbatianism

Appendix A: Messianism from the Spanish Expulsion to the Eve of Emancipation (Month of Study, 1941)

Appendix B: The Sabbatian Movement: Its Roots, Its Development, and its Aftermath (Introduction, 1942-45

Appendix C: Bibliography of Works by Gershom Scholem on Sabbatianism

Index

Notes on the Cover Image (from the collection of Paweł Maciejko)

The Third title just released three days ago is titled:

מחווה למנחם: אסופת מחקרים לכבוד מנחם שמלצר

Meḥevah le-Menaḥem Studies in Honor of Menahem Schmelzer. This volume is Edited by Shmuel Glick, Evelyn M. Cohen, Angelo M. Piattelli and others.

Just looking through the table of contents one can see that what the editors write in the preface is very accurate: “The present bilingual volume is organized with Menahem’s wide range of interests in mind: liturgy, Hebrew poetry and literature, booklore, Talmud, rabbinics, and Jewish history. It is a heartfelt demonstration of the respect and affection of the scholarly community for Menahem Schmelzer, scholar, mentor, and friend.”

This volume (over 700 pp.) is certainly a must read (and own) especially for book people and piyut people.

Here is the Table of contents of the book: