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Category: Women & Halakhah

The Vanishing Note: Devorah, Women Dayanim, and a Missing הערה‎ in Hilchos Dayyanus

The Vanishing Note: Devorah, Women Dayanim, and a Missing הערה‎ in Hilchos Dayyanus

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Whilst learning siman ז of Choshen Mishpat with my chavrusa, we found ourselves reading two different books. We were each using the Machon Yerushalayim edition of the Tur, we were on the same page, and we were looking at the same footnote — note ל״ב of the הגהות והערות. But my chavrusa’s note said almost nothing, and mine went on for some length. A comparison of title pages explained the discrepancy: I was working from the edition of תשנ”ג (1992/93),…

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Review of Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, Jewish Women in Time and Torah

Review of Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, Jewish Women in Time and Torah

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Ross Singer received rabbinic ordination from Professor Rabbi David Weiss Halivni, Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, and Rabbi David Bigman. He has an MA in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows. He has published articles in The Edah Journal, The JOFA Journal, Amudim, Lehrhaus, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. He is the translator of Gideon Katz’s In Silence and Out Loud: Yeshayahu Leibowitz in Israeli Context. Ross…

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Between Authority and Inquiry: Beyond the Masthead of the Beys Yaakov Journal, 1923-1980 – Part 1

Between Authority and Inquiry: Beyond the Masthead of the Beys Yaakov Journal, 1923-1980 – Part 1

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In December 1961, the Israeli edition of Beys Yaakov, the educational journal of the Agudath Israel–affiliated school system, published an article that sits uneasily with standard accounts of Agudath Israel’s twentieth-century intellectual posture. Issue 6 of its second year reprinted in full a study on the archaeological and halakhic problems surrounding the base of the Temple menorah. The identity of the author is therefore institutionally consequential. Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel…

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R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and Yeshiva Students being Drafted to the Army, views of women, and more

R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and Yeshiva Students being Drafted to the Army, views of women, and more

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1. In an earlier post I wrote about R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and the famous essay about how yeshiva students need to serve in the army, an essay which is widely attributed to him. See here. In the post I cited important information uncovered by David Eisen that complicates the issue (as we see the Zevin family itself is of two minds on the matter), and we were left with no absolute proof that R. Zevin wrote the essay. I…

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The Hafetz Hayyim’s Statement on Teaching Torah to Girls in Likutei Halakhot: Literary and Historical Context

The Hafetz Hayyim’s Statement on Teaching Torah to Girls in Likutei Halakhot: Literary and Historical Context

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and Charles (Bezalel) Manekin Rachel Manekin is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland. Charles (Bezalel) Manekin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. The authors live in Jerusalem, Israel. Dedicated to the memory of our mothers, Matel Becher ע”ה and Dorothy Manekin ע”ה R. Israel Meir ha-Kohen Kagan’s statement in his Likutei Halakhot that it is “now” a “great mitzvah” to teach Torah to girls, has attracted a great amount of attention in recent…

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The Ze’enah –Re’enah and its Author

The Ze’enah –Re’enah and its Author

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Ze’enah –Re’enah and its Author Morris M. Faierstein, Ph.D. It has traditionally assumed that Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac of Yanova was the author of the Ze’enah U-Re’enah. Every edition of the Ze’enah U-Re’enah lists him as the author on the title page. Recently, this assumption has been questioned and the suggestion made that there may have been another author of this seminal work in addition to Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac. This article will consider two aspects of the Ze’enah U-Re’enah…

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New Book Announcement – נשמת הבית

New Book Announcement – נשמת הבית

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נשמת הבית, שאלות שנשאלו ליועצות ההלכה של מדרשת נשמת בנושאי היריון, לידה, הנקה ואמצעי מניעה בליווי הדרכה מעשית והסברים ונספחים רפואיים, 367 עמודים Nishmat Habayit is a collection of 63 she’elot uteshuvot on Pregnancy, Birth, Nursing, and Contraceptives. Each question has a short answer, as a yoetzet halacha would addresses the woman with the question, followed by a more extensive halachic discussion. The questions were selected from among tens of thousands in Nishmat’s Taharat Hamishpacha database. The responses were authored…

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“שוק באשה ערוה”, לאיזה אבר התכוונו חז”ל?

“שוק באשה ערוה”, לאיזה אבר התכוונו חז”ל?

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זה לקוח מהספר “אוצר רש”י” (בערך “שוק”), העומד לצאת בע”ה בקרוב והוא מילון אנציקלופדי המכיל כעשרת אלפים ערכים, הכוללים את הגדרותיו הלשוניות של רש”י במקרא ובתלמוד. הנושא הנידון הוא בירור מיקום אבר השוק באדם (שוק היא לשון נקבה, אך לא נקפיד בכך בהרצאת הדברים), כיצד נוצר הספק בדבר מיקומו וכן כיצד “מטפלים” במשנה ברורה “סורר” הפוסק שזה החלק העליון של הרגל בניגוד לדעת רוב שאר הפוסקים. במילון אבן שושן מגדיר שוק “חלק הרגל הנמצא בין הברך ובין כף הרגל” וזו…

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Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora

Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora

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(with some additional comments by Marc B. Shapiro) It is well known that when describing the purification of niddah and zava the Torah does not explicitly mention that immersion is required. The present article will briefly examine the proofs given for such an immersion and show a novel understanding of a story brought in the Talmud (Shabbat 13a-b). There are 5 most commonly brought proofs for mikva immersion. Three are brought in Tosafot (Hagiga 11a s.v. lo nitzrecha, Yevamot 47b…

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Mehalekhet Bi-Darka – A Review Essay

Mehalekhet Bi-Darka – A Review Essay

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מלכה פיוטרקובסקי, מהלכה בדרכה: אתגרי החיים במבט הלכתי-ערכי, הוצאת ידיעות אחרונות, תל-אביב תשע”ד, 567 עמ’ Yael Levine The author holds a Ph.D. from the Talmud department at Bar Ilan University. She is the author of numerous articles related to women in Judaism. She recently published “Tefillot Li-Tevilla”. The following article is a critical review of the recently published book in Hebrew “Mehalekhet Bi-Darka”, a compilation of articles by Malka Peuterkovsky. The present review focuses on the chapter concerning women and…

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R. Isaac Arama, R. Kook, Mordecai Kaplan, and more

R. Isaac Arama, R. Kook, Mordecai Kaplan, and more

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1. In the last post I discussed R. Isaac Arama. In his Conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, p. 53, Norman Roth states that Arama was not a “great scholar.” If he means to say that Arama wasn’t a great talmudist (as has been stated about Ibn Ezra and Abarbanel), then perhaps he has a point (although I am sure this would be debated). But I don’t see how the title “great scholar” can be denied…

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She’ot Hityahadut – Review Essay

She’ot Hityahadut – Review Essay

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פאני נוידא, שעות התייחדות – ספר תפילה ומוסר לנשות ישראל ולבנותיה לתפילה בציבור וביחידוּת ולכל הזדמנות בחיי אישה, מבוא: עליזה לביא, תרגום מגרמנית: קטיה מנור, הוצאת ידיעות אחרונות תשע”ד, 259 עמודים. Fanny Neuda, She’ot Hityahadut (שעות התייחדות), Hebrew edition, introduction by Aliza Lavie; translation of prayers by Katja Manor, Tel-Aviv: Yediot Aharonot, 2014, 259 pages By: Yael Levine The author holds a Ph.D. from the Talmud department at Bar Ilan University. She is the author of numerous articles related to…

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What is Bothering the Aruch Hashulchan? Women Wearing Tefillin

What is Bothering the Aruch Hashulchan? Women Wearing Tefillin

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mbroyde@emory.edu Please note that this piece isn’t meant to be construed one way or another as the view of the Seforim Blog. Introduction In our previous article, we focused on the view of the Mishnah Berurah concerning women wearing tefillin. In this article, we focus on the Aruch Hashulchan, whose approach is also complex, reflecting the complexity of the area. The Aruch Hashulchan (OC 38:6) states: נשים ועבדים פטורים מתפילין מפני שהיא מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא דשבת ויו”ט פטור מתפילין…

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