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Category: Customs

Avunculate Marriage in the Bible

Avunculate Marriage in the Bible

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Avunculate Marriage in the Bible By Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) Klein Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of the Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew [available here]. His book is available online and in bookstores throughout the world. Rabbi Klein published articles in various journals including Jewish Bible Quarterly, Kovetz Hamaor, Kovetz Chitzei Gibborim, and Kovetz Kol HaTorah. He studied at premier Yeshivas including the Mir in Jerusalem and BMG in Lakewood. He was most recently a fellow at the Tikvah Institute for Yeshiva Men (Summer 2015)…

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R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity

R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity

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R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity By Tzvi H. Adams R. Yitchak Al-fasi (1013 – 1103) lived in North Africa and Spain during the Golden Age of Qaraism. It is quite natural that we find many instances of anti-Qaraite legislation in his writings. Below are four such cases: 1) R. Al-fasi had the shofar blown on Shabbos Rosh HaShanah in his beth din in Fez, Morocco. (See discussion here: here). This ruling and practice baffled many later authorities as it…

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What Did the Willows Ever Do to Deserve Such a Beating? An Original Explanation for a Perplexing Custom

What Did the Willows Ever Do to Deserve Such a Beating? An Original Explanation for a Perplexing Custom

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What Did the Willows Ever Do to Deserve Such a Beating? An Original Explanation for a Perplexing Custom By Steven Weiner  Steven had the privilege and good fortune of learning from Rav Aharon Lichtenstein ztz”l and Rav Yaakov Meidan Shlit”a at Yeshivat Har Etzion (1982-83) and prior to that from Rav Yisroel Mendel Kaplan ztz”l and other Rabbeim at the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia.  He is currently working on a series of essays on the theme of Shivat Tzion and…

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Mishloah Manot: An Insight of the Rav zt”l

Mishloah Manot: An Insight of the Rav zt”l

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Mishloah Manot: An Insight of the Rav zt”l By Nathaniel Helfgot Rabbi Helfgot is Chair of the Dept. of Torah SheBaal Peh at SAR High School and rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ. He has served as editor of Or-Hamizrach and associate editor of The Meorot Journal. He has written and edited a number of sefarim and volumes including  Divrei Berakha U-Moed: Iyunim Be-Nosei Berakhot U-Moadim (Yeshivat Har Etzion, 2002),  Community, Covenant and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Toras HoRav Foundation, 2005), The YCT Rabbinical School…

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Running on the Inclined Plane of the Altar in the Second Temple

Running on the Inclined Plane of the Altar in the Second Temple

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Running on the Inclined Plane of the Altar in the Second Temple by Chaim Katz בראשונה …  רצין ועולים בכבש, וכל הקודם את חברו לתוך ארבע אמות זכה  We read in the Mishna: [The priests used to compete for the honor of separating and removing ashes from the altar] by sprinting up the ramp. Whoever was the first to reach the top four cubits was entitled to remove the ashes.  Mishna Yoma 2:1 One of the first authorities to question…

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Maccabean Psalms? (and more)

Maccabean Psalms? (and more)

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Maccabean Psalms? (and more) By Marc B. Shapiro (This post was originally part of the previous one, but since I know people don’t like reading posts more than twenty pages long, I split it up into two parts.) 1. I know that every year around Christmas time some people read my article on Torah study on Christmas eve. At the end of the article I raise the possibility that the various Nittel practices were actually based on non-Jewish superstitions. My…

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