The Gematriya Haggadah By Eli Genauer I try to buy a new Haggadah every year to make sure I have something new to say. It is especially important at my stage in life when grandchildren will remind you if you use last year’s Dvar Torah. This year’s Haggadah was definitely in the category of “מה נשתנה ההגדה הזאת מכל ההגדות”. It’s name is ״כוס ישועות״ and it was printed on the Isle of Djerba, Tunisia in 1947. It’s author was…
Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel’s new book has just appeared, as announced here. It is titled Amudim be-Toldot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri: Be-Sha’arei ha-Defus. The Seforim Blog is happy to present this selection from pages 84-90. Those interested in purchasing a copy of the book should contact Eliezer Brodt at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com י. חכמים מעודדים כתיבה ופרסום דברי תורה של צעירים מן הראוי לדעת כי היו חכמים שעודדו כתיבה תורנית של תלמידי חכמים צעירים, וראו בכך מנוף להכשרתם לעתיד. ר’ יונה נבון רבו של החיד”א…
Quiz Runoff by Marc B. Shapiro Written on 4 Shevat, 5773, the yahrzeit of R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg 1. In the last post, as the quiz question, I asked for the name of the first Hebrew book published by a living author. The answer is Nofet Tzufim by R. Judah Messer Leon. As the Wikipedia entry for Messer Leon states, this work “was printed by Abraham Conat of Mantua in 1475-6, the only work by a living author printed in Hebrew in…
What’s Wrong With Wealth and Honor? by Eli Genauer Below, we will present some timely notes regarding an English/Hebrew Machzor for Rosh Hashana which was printed in England in 1807. We will touch upon a variety of issues, and thus first present general backgrounds regarding Hebrew…
Using a Colophon to Find a Shidduch by Eli Genauer There has been much talk lately about the so called Shidduch crisis. Various initiatives have been proposed to address this problem, all of which are well meaning and well thought out. Many might be surprised to learn that an interesting approach was suggested by a 12 year old girl in the town of Frankfurt on Oder way back in 1699. This approach was based on a Pasuk in Yirmiyahu which…
ELIYAHU BACHUR (1469 – 1549) IN ISNY by: Dan Yardeni Dan Yardeni, an engineer by profession (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 1963), is entrepreneur specializing in cutting edge materials and materials production processes. As sideline, he researches problems in the history of Hebrew books printing and printers. He also contributes articles to the Culture and Literature sections of Haaretz and other Israeli newspapers. This is his first post at the Seforim blog. A little street in Tel Aviv commemorates…
