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Category: Minhagim

Kitniyot and Mechirat Chametz: Paradoxical Approaches to the Chametz Prohibition

Kitniyot and Mechirat Chametz: Paradoxical Approaches to the Chametz Prohibition

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“Contemporary Rabbis don’t bother to interrogate the sources of law and custom; instead, their purpose is to traffic in chumrot and create new prohibitions. They are unable to appreciate their hypocrisy … on the one hand, they roar like a lion against those who are open to change and the reformists, that one cannot alter an iota from what the kadmonim imposed, while on the other hand, casually discard the kadmonim whenever the achronim create new chumrot and they fight…

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Armin Wilkowitch about Shabbes Shekolim in his youth in Russia

Armin Wilkowitch about Shabbes Shekolim in his youth in Russia

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Armin Wilkowitch about Shabbes Shekolim in his youth in Russia by Gabriel Wasserman and Phillip Minden Shabbes Shekolim (Shabbat Sheqalim) is the first of the four special Sabbaths in or near the month of Adar, when special passages are read from the Torah. In addition to the special readings from the Torah, Ashkenazic Jewry has distinguished these four Sabbaths with the inclusion of special piyyutim in the Sabbath service; these piyyutim – most, and perhaps all – are by Eleazar…

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Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified

Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified

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Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified[1] By Eli Duker There had been one practice throughout the Jewish world concerning the Haftara of Vayishlach until the print revolution. The book of Ovadia is the Haftara listed in every Haftara list, including the one in the Rambam’s Seder HaTefillos in the Mishneh Torah, MS Ginsburg Moscow of the Machzor Vitry,[2] Etz Chaim (written in London on the eve of the Edict of Expulsion),[3] Abudarham,[4] and the list of Rabbi…

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Shiur Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber in Brooklyn, 11/1/21 & 11/3/21

Shiur Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber in Brooklyn, 11/1/21 & 11/3/21

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Shiur Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber R’ Yechiel Goldhaber will be visiting the United States for a few weeks. The readership of the Seforim Blog is invited to a lecture by the noted author, Rav Yechiel Goldhaber whose respected research and scholarship is well-known to Seforim Blog readers. He will be giving a shiur tomorrow night, Monday, 11/1, at 7:30 PM. The address is at: Rabbi Rabinowitz 1454 54th Street This shiur will be in Yiddish Wednesday night, 11/3, he will…

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The Haftarah of Parashat Shemot

The Haftarah of Parashat Shemot

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The Haftarah of Parashat Shemot[1] By Eli Duker The Babylonian haftarah for Parashat Shemot was from Ezekiel 16: “Hoda’ et yerushalayim.” The haftarah appears in at least six fragments from the Cairo Geniza,[2] is the haftarah used in the “Emet” piyyut of R’ Shemuel Hashelishi[3] and in the “Zulat” piyyut of R’ Yehuda Beirabbi Binyamin,[4] and is listed in the Seder Hatefillot in Rambam’s Yad Hahazakah as well as in the Siddur of R Shlomo Beirabbi Natan.[5] This haftarah, an…

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On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts

On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts

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On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts By Ezer Diena About the author: Ezer Diena teaches Science and Judaics at Bnei Akiva Schools of Toronto. After studying at Yeshivas Toras Moshe for two years, Ezer received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and B.Ed. from York University.  He then joined Beit Midrash Zichron Dov of Toronto, where he studied for two years while serving as Rabbinic Assistant at BAYT and…

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