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Category: Halacha

Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe?

Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe?

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Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe? By: Moshe Schorr[1] Though this article deals with a factual question, it often seems to devolve into an ideological one. I therefore wish to state: I have no horse in this fight. I have not taken halakhic positions from Igrot Moshe volumes 7-9. I went into this with a genuinely open mind, and in the course of researching this question, I have taken the affirmative and negative sides of this question at different points. Ever…

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Two Jewish Temples in Egypt

Two Jewish Temples in Egypt

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Two Jewish Temples in Egypt Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of the newly-released work God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry (Mosaica Press, 2018). His book follows the narrative of Tanakh and focuses on the stories concerning Avodah Zarah using both traditional and academic sources. It also includes an encyclopedia of all the different types of idolatry mentioned in the Bible. Rabbi Klein studied for over a decade at the premier institutes of the Hareidi world,…

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 1

On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 1

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 1 Avi Grossman   Abstract   Typical Jewish calendars list two particular z’manim for “the first time that one may begin to recite kiddush l’vana (or birkat hal’vana).” The first is referred to as minhag yerushalayim or minhag haperushim, or simply “the three-day minhag,” and the second time, to wait for seven days to pass from the start of the lunar month to recite the blessing, is attributed to the Shulhan…

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Lighting Shabbat Candles in Jerusalem 40 Minutes Before Sunset

Lighting Shabbat Candles in Jerusalem 40 Minutes Before Sunset

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Lighting Shabbat Candles in Jerusalem 40 Minutes Before Sunset By William Gewirtz Introduction There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, of a visit to Jerusalem by R. Yoel Teitelbaum in which he is driven to the Kotel on Friday afternoon well after the customary time to light Shabbat candles in Jerusalem, 40 minutes before sunset. As his car was being stoned, he suggested that instead of adding 40 minutes to the Friday night pre-Shabbat period, it would be more appropriate that…

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Foie Gras “Fake News”: A Fictitious Rashi and a Strangely Translated Ethical Will

Foie Gras “Fake News”: A Fictitious Rashi and a Strangely Translated Ethical Will

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Foie Gras “Fake News”: A Fictitious Rashi and a Strangely Translated Ethical Will by Ari Z. Zivotofsky Controversial topics can sometimes lead to contrived sources, i.e. fake news. That is certainly true with the effort by vegetarians to find traditional sources to support their position. In the past I have shown how a booklet claiming Judaism supports vegetarianism was full of misquotes (here here ) and how a “quote” of the Rema was fabricated ( here ). Here I will expose two fake quotes that…

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Simchas Torah & a Lost Minhag of the Gra

Simchas Torah & a Lost Minhag of the Gra

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Simchas Torah & a Lost Minhag of the Gra By Eliezer Brodt Chol HaMoed Succos is the Yarzheit of the Vilna Gaon (for an earlier post on the Gra see here and here). In this post I hope to show a source for a “forgotten” Minhag of the Gra. In 1921 the great bibliographer (and much more) Yitzchak Rivkind described a strange custom he saw during the time he learned in Volozhin (after it was reopened and headed by R’ Rephael Shapiro), in an…

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