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Category: Editions, Reprints & Publishing

Torah & Rationalism – Writings of the Gaon Rabbenu Aaron Chaim HaLevi Zimmerman zt”l

Torah & Rationalism – Writings of the Gaon Rabbenu Aaron Chaim HaLevi Zimmerman zt”l

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Deviating from conventional book reviews I shall not enter into a discussion of the author – R. Chaim Zimmerman’s genius, schooling, breathtaking erudition, oeuvre, philosophies or his broader Weltanschauung. I leave that for the biographers, that is, if any will take up the challenge. Nor does this survey qualify as a comprehensive book review as I will explain later on. First, a word on the book itself. When a posthumously published book appears any critical minded reader wonders where the…

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Book Announcement: Volume Five of Amudim beToldot haSefer haIvri

Book Announcement: Volume Five of Amudim beToldot haSefer haIvri

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I am very happy to announce the recent publication (and Sale) of an important work, which will be of great interest to readers of the Seforim Blog, the fifth volume of, Amudim be-Toldot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri by Professor Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel, of Bar-Ilan University’s Talmud department. As I have written in the past, Professor Spiegel is one of the most prolific writers in the Jewish academic scene, authoring of over 160 articles and 18 books (16 of those are publications for…

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The Fundraising Campaign to Print the Letters of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi (1922-2020)

The Fundraising Campaign to Print the Letters of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi (1922-2020)

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Over Shabbos one of the hidden giants of the seforim world, both within ultra-orthodox and academic circles, was niftar; a man known as Rabbi Shmuel Askenazi. He was 98 and lived in Batei Ungarin in Meah Shearim. (seen here with Rav Yechiel Goldhaber) R. Ashkenazi authored many books and hundreds of articles in dozens of journals – both academic and charedi. Besides for authoring so much, he assisted many people in both circles helping in many areas of the Jewish…

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Highlights of the Mossad HaRav Kook Sale of 2020, New Rabbi Tovia Preschel volume

Highlights of the Mossad HaRav Kook Sale of 2020, New Rabbi Tovia Preschel volume

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For over thirty years, beginning on Isru Chag of Pesach, Mossad HaRav Kook publishing house has made a big sale on all of their publications, dropping prices considerably (some books are marked as low as 65% off). Each year they print around twenty new titles and introduce them at this time. They also reprint some of their older, out of print titles. Some years important works are printed; others not as much. See here, here and here for review’s, of…

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New Notes Added in the Koren Talmud Bavli

New Notes Added in the Koren Talmud Bavli

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I would like to thank Chaim Katz for his close reading of the Koren Talmud Bavli, focusing on the new notes that were added in Tractate Berakhot, which he shared in a recent post on the Seforim Blog. His post offers an opportunity to share some of the background to the changes in the new English edition as compared to the original Steinsaltz Talmud Hebrew edition. Perhaps the most important thing to clarify is the thinking that went into the…

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Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

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One of the most famous forgeries in Jewish literature is the Shu”t Besamim Rosh. This work was brought to print by Saul Berlin in 1793. Shortly after it was detected as a forgery. Over the years the Seforim Blog has featured many essays about this work (here, here, here, here, here, here). For a valuable post about the subject see here. For some very recent work on the BR see the three-part series by Rabbi Chaim Tessler, (PDF’s available upon…

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Highlights of the Mossad HaRav Kook Sale of 2019, New Rabbi Tovia Preschel volumes & Beis Havaad Convention

Highlights of the Mossad HaRav Kook Sale of 2019, New Rabbi Tovia Preschel volumes & Beis Havaad Convention

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For over thirty years, beginning on Isru Chag of Pesach, Mossad HaRav Kook publishing house has made a big sale on all of their publications, dropping prices considerably (some books are marked as low as 65% off). Each year they print around twenty new titles and introduce them at this time. This year they printed close to thirty new volumes. They also reprint some of their older, out of print titles. Some years important works are printed; others not as…

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New Sefer Announcement: The Collected Writings of R’ Moshe Reines

New Sefer Announcement: The Collected Writings of R’ Moshe Reines

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It is with great pleasure that I announce a sefer that I just printed, The Collected Writings of R’ Moshe Reines. ר’ משה ריינס מבחר כתבים, אוסף חיבוריו מאמרים ואגרותיו, לג+ 640 +4 עמודים The sefer will be available for purchase in the US shortly. (We will post that info soon). A PDF of some sample pages are available upon request, for more information contact me at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com. What follows is the English introduction to the book. This is an…

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The Collected Writings of Moshe Reines Kickstarter

The Collected Writings of Moshe Reines Kickstarter

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Moshe Reines was a polymath: Talmudist, Hebraist, historian, investigative reporter, social commentator – a prolific and influential thinker, writer, and author. The son of Rabbi Yitzchok Yaakov Reines, Moshe Reines died tragically in 1891 at the astonishingly young age of twenty-one. The obituary which appeared in Hamagid had this to say about the young Reb Moshe z”l: “He excelled amazingly in his absolute mastery of Shas…” The volume (compiled and edited by Eliezer Brodt) awaiting printing is approximately seven-hundred pages….

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Some New books

Some New books

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This week is the Seventeenth World Congress of Jewish Studies at the Mount Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Here is a link to all the lectures that are taking place. In honor of this Congress many academic publishers have released various titles in the past few weeks. There is also a small book fair at the congress where the books are being sold at reduced prices. Here is a list of some of the newer titles. For…

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A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

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Not much appears to be known about R. Bezalel Alexandrov (circa 1850-1930). Born in Grodno, he would ultimately come under the influence of the teachings of R. Yisrael Salanter (1809-1883), largely through the efforts of R. Yitzchak Blazer, i.e., R. Itzel Peterburger (1837-1907). R. Bezalel considered R. Itzel to be his primary teacher, especially during the period they both resided in Kovno. R. Bezalel was a close associate of R. Yosef Yozel Horowitz (1847-1919) of Nevarodok, perhaps the last of…

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New book by Gabriel Wasserman on Karaite Judaism

New book by Gabriel Wasserman on Karaite Judaism

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Royal Attire: On Karaite and Rabbanite Beliefs by Hakham Mordecai ben Nisan The Karaites are a Jewish group who have been important for centuries of Jewish history, wrote many writings, and are a still extant minority today. Yet most people never get to hear much about them, especially not in their own words. When people in a typical rabbinic beth midrash encounter them, it is often in statements such as that of the Mishna Berura (27:33), that wearing tefillin down…

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Rav Avraham Chai Reggio Brings A Sefer To Life

Rav Avraham Chai Reggio Brings A Sefer To Life

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Note: I would like to thank Rabbi Gad Bouskila of Congregation Netivot Israel in Brooklyn for helping me decipher Rav Avraham Reggio’s handwriting Rav Avraham Chai (Vita) ben Azriel Reggio (1755-1842) was the Rav of Gorizia, in northern Italy for over forty years. During that time period, he answered Sha’aylot both locally and from abroad, wrote a Sefer Torah, performed 300 circumcisions, and gave many Drashot that changed people’s lives. We are told that the Derashot he gave before Neilah…

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