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Category: Minhagim

Daniel J. Lasker – “December 6 Is Coming: Get Out the Umbrellas”

Daniel J. Lasker – “December 6 Is Coming: Get Out the Umbrellas”

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Daniel J. Lasker is Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, and is chair of the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought. His landmark work Jewish Philosophical Polemics against Christianity in the Middle Ages, originally published in 1977, was recently republished with a new introduction in 2007. This is Professor Lasker’s first post at the Seforim blog. We Jews in Israel have been praying for rain since the seventh of Marheshvan (the night of…

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Who Wrote the Mekore Minhagim?(Part II)

Who Wrote the Mekore Minhagim?(Part II)

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This is a continuation of this prior post, in order to fully understand the following it may pay to reread the older post here. Previously, I had attempted to reconstruct when Finkelstein had published his seforim and thus deduce that Finkelstein copied the Mekore Minahgim. Now, through internal evidence I can further bolster that theory and, perhaps, explain exactly what happened. Additionally, I hope to demonstrate that although Finkelstein copied, he was unaware the work Mekore Minhagim had ever been…

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Shaving on Chol HaMo’ad the Never-ending Controversy

Shaving on Chol HaMo’ad the Never-ending Controversy

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While we are generally aware that denominations other than Orthodox changes and adapt to the times, in reality Orthodoxy has also made significant changes. Of course, these changes are all within the parameters of Halakah, but they are in part concession to the times. By way of example, the Mishha and in turn the Gemera record various practices when a person is an אבל (mourner). One such practice is עטיפת הראש winding or wrapping of the head. Tosefot, however, note…

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Review of R. Yedidyah Tiyah Weil’s Levushi Badim: With An Eye Towards Yom Kippur

Review of R. Yedidyah Tiyah Weil’s Levushi Badim: With An Eye Towards Yom Kippur

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One aspect of our rich literature that is rarely tapped into properly is the area of Sifrei Derush. We have a complete literature of seforim in this genre from Rishonim until modern times, including many styles, from all kinds of gedolim, from completely different schools countries, etc. There are Sifrei Derush strictly written according to peshat, while others deal with allegorical interpretations, Halakha, Kabbalah, Derush, Mussar and Chassidus. This area is extremely important in our quest for information in many…

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Of Tahanun and Yarhrzeit bukhs

Of Tahanun and Yarhrzeit bukhs

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A fascinating anecdote in a recently published biography of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel struck me as very worthy of sharing with the readers of the Seforim blog: [Heschel] confided to Samuel Dresner that in his daily devotions he did not recite the Tahanun prayer, a confession of sin and supplication that was usually omitted only on the Sabbath and festivals. Heschel explained that it was a Hasidic custom to omit these woeful entreaties on the Yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of…

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Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag

Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag

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* Introduction “Or Zarua la’tzadik – Light is sown for the righteous.” Each year, we begin our Yom Kippur prayers with these repeated, resounding words which Aruch Hashulchan tells us refer to “great matters that are beyond explanation.” If there is one evening of the entire Jewish year when we most seek the great, inexplicable light of God’s shechina, it is Yom Kippur eve. We enter the synagogue with great expectations, to feel close to the Divine, and to feel…

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The Custom of Refraining from Meat on Rosh HaShana

The Custom of Refraining from Meat on Rosh HaShana

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This post is an excerpt of a chapter from his upcoming book on the halachos and minhagim of Rosh HaShana. The post below deals with the statement, whose source is from R. Yosef Karo’s maggid, (known as Mishna), to refrain from eating meat on Rosh HaShana. This statement appears to be contrary to an (actual) Mishna in Chulin. R. Brodt hopes to have this book available for next year Rosh HaShana. אי-אכילת בשר בראש-השנה א. א. כשם שלכמה מן הראשונים…

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New Book on Weddings

New Book on Weddings

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Now, with the passing of Tisha B’Av and the three week period, we now enter the wedding season. Appropriately, there is a new book on the laws and customs of weddings. The book, Beyom Chasunaso, by R. Zev Cinamon, is in English with Hebrew footnotes. The book is highly readable and covers just about every practical aspect of a modern Jewish wedding. There is a discussion about untying knots, the recent emphasis on praying under the Chuppah, removing jewelry and…

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Daniel Sperber’s New Book – “The Path of Halakha”

Daniel Sperber’s New Book – “The Path of Halakha”

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As was noted in a prior post, Prof. Daniel Sperber has published another book – Darkah shel Halakha Kiryat Nashim b’Torah. As the title implies the main focus of the book is to discuss the permissablity of women being called to the Torah. Much has already been written on the topic, however, Prof. Sperber’s focus is distinct. He focuses on two aspects (aside from other halachic considerations) kavod ha’briyot and more generally, how halakha has adapted over time. In his…

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The Eighth and Final Volume of Daniel Sperber’s Minhagei Yisrael Has Appeared

The Eighth and Final Volume of Daniel Sperber’s Minhagei Yisrael Has Appeared

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Mossad HaRav Kook has just published the eighth and final volume of Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber’s Minhagei Yisrael. This final volume includes a complete and comprehensive index of all eight volumes volumes of Minhagei Yisrael. For this reason alone this volume is worthwhile, as anyone who has used the prior volumes knows, at times topics are spread over multiple volumes, sometimes in footnotes, which makes it difficult to locate particular topics. The first index is comprised of multiple indices; Mishna,…

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Review: Jay Berkovitz’s”Rites and Passages: The Making of Jewish Culture in Modern France” (Hebrew)

Review: Jay Berkovitz’s”Rites and Passages: The Making of Jewish Culture in Modern France” (Hebrew)

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Merkaz Zalman Shazar has published Jay Berkovitz’s book מסורת ומהפיכה-תרבות יהודית בצרפת בראשית העת החדשה discussing French Jewry and specifically the changes and challenges of modernity. This book is an expanded version of the English Rites and Passages: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Culture in France, 1650-1860 (UPenn Press) which is available at the previous link and here. Both versions are invaluable for viewing French Jewry and France gernally, a county typically neglected in milieu of Jewish history which tends…

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Yigdal: A Case Study in Modern Customology

Yigdal: A Case Study in Modern Customology

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Another blog recently raised the question about the origin of saying Yigdal at the end of services on Friday night. Specifically, they wanted to demonstrate that this custom is not a “modern” or “Young Israel” custom and instead was very old. Although in practice today, this view is perhaps the prevalent custom with most yeshivot and similar minyanim not reciting this and Young Israel and those similar do. In an attempt to refute this postion, the Hertz siddur was marshaled….

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Simchat ha-Nefesh: An Important But Often Ignored Work on German Jewish Customs

Simchat ha-Nefesh: An Important But Often Ignored Work on German Jewish Customs

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While doing research for a forthcoming article on the topic of saying דרשות at wedding celebrations, I kept noticing secondary sources citing to the work שמחת הנפש. Yet, after obtaining many editions of the שמחת הנפש I was still unable to locate the quotes regarding wedding speeches! After a while, I came across a citation to a specific edition of the שמחת הנפש and came to the realization that there was a second volume to this title, one that is…

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