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Book Week Sale 2022

Book Week Sale 2022

By Eliezer Brodt

This Book list of one Hundred twenty-five titles, is a collection from many different companies. Most of these titles were printed in the past few years and are not found in regular stores.

  1. Almost all the books are either brand new or in good shape.
  2. Email your order to eliezerbrodt@gmail.com. I will than send you a bill based on what is available. Payment is with Pay Pal or Chase QuickPay, but other arrangements can be made.
  3. Shipping is not included in the price; that depends on the order and size of the book.
  4. All books will be air mailed out after I receive payment.
  5. There are other shipping possibilities available depending on the quantity of books ordered.
  6. Most of the titles are only available at these prices for the next week.
  7. Feel free to ask for details about any specific book on the list, or for books not found on the list, such as here.
  8. All questions should be sent to me at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com
  9. Part of the proceeds of this sale will be going to help support the efforts of the Seforim Blog.
  10. Enjoy!

סטים

  1. חמדת ימים ד’ חלקים, דפוס צילום מקור, חדש $80
  2. רמב”ן דפוס ראשון, דפוס צילום מקור $70 חדש
  3. פחד יצחק סט, אנציקלופדיה $150
  4. דקדוקי סופרים כולל מסכת גיטין, סט חדש $175
  5. אוצר הגאונים סט $165
  6. זכור לאברהם, (תשפ”ב), ג’ חלקים [ניתן לקבל תוכן] כולל המון כ”י ועוד, $48

מדרשיםגאוניםראשונים פיוטים

  1. המשנה לפי כתב יד קאופמן, קדשים וטהרות, ג, $48
  2. שולמית אליצור ומיכאל רנד (עורכים), רבי אלעזר בירבי קליר: פיוטים ליום כיפור, $40
  3. שולמית אליצור ומיכאל רנד (עורכים), רבי אלעזר בירבי קליר: פיוטים לראש השנה, מהדורה שנייה, $35
  4. מדרש אגדה בראשית, על פי כ”י, מהדיר: עזרא קהלני, $30
  5. ילקוט מדרשים, כרכים ה-ט, כל כרך [הרב דשא], $19 כל כרך
  6. סידרה חדשה ‘ליקוטי מדרשים’ א-ג, ג’ חלקים מהדורה מצומצמת, כריכה רכה [הרב דשא], $10
  7. ילקוט תלמוד תורה, חלק א, [בראשית, נח] נדפס לראשונה מכתב יד, מבעל התורת המנחה, תלמיד הרשב”א, מהדורה מצומצמת, כריכה רכה, $10
  8. ארנון עצמון, בניי, היו קורין פרשה זו: עריכה ומשמעות בפסיקתא דרב כהנא, $29
  9. רלב”ג, מלחמות השם, המאמר החמישי, החלק השני והחלק השלישי, והמאמר השישי, חלק שני, $25
  10. תשובות המהר”ם מרוטנברג וחבריו, שני כרכים, עמנואל שמחה (מהדיר)  מהדורה שנייה, $65
  11. ספר הנר עירובין, $19
  12. רבינו יהונתן מלוניל, מסכת בבא קמא, מהדיר: פרופ’ שמא פרידמן,$19
  13. אורחות חיים, ב, לרבנו אהרן הכהן מלוניל, מכתב יד , $21
  14. אורחות חיים, א, לרבנו אהרן הכהן מלוניל, מכתב יד $21
  15. אורחות חיים, פסח, הגדה של פסח, לרבנו אהרן הכהן מלוניל, מכתב יד , $19
  16. הלכות ראו \ הלכות פסוקות, מכון אהבת שלום, ויד הרב ניסים, מהדיר: יוחנן ברויאר, כח+290 עמודים, $22
  17. דרשות תלמיד הרא”ש על התורה, מכתב יד, בעריכת פר’ יעקב שפיגל, $21
  18. פירוש רבינו זכאי על הרי”ף, גיטין, $20
  19. רבי זכריה בן סרוק, פרוש מגילת אחשורוש, מהדורה שניה [מהדיר: יהונתן בנחיון], $20
  20. מדרש קהלת רבה, ב, ז-יב \ קהלת זוטא ז-ט, מהדיר: פר’ ראובן קיפרווסר, $27
  21. מורה נבוכים, ג, חלקים ע”י, יוחאי מקבילי, הלל גרשוני ויחיאל קארה, [מצוין], $90
  22. אוצר הגאונים חולין חלק א, $31
  23. אוצר הגאונים, עבודה זרה, $24
  24. מירה בלברג, פתח לספרות חז”ל, $22
  25. רם בן שלום, יהודי פרובנס: רנסנס בצל הכנסייה, $29
  26. גליונות הירושלמי של רבי שאול ליברמן – שלושה כרכים, בעריכת פר’ משה עסיס 2564 עמודים, $113

דקדוקמסורה ועוד

  1. מנחת שי על חמישה חומשי תורה  מהדורה שנייה, איגוד, $50
  2. הנוספות למנחת שי  מהדורה שנייה, איגוד, $34
  3. ספר אגרון לרס”ג, $20
  4. מכלול, רד”ק, מכון שלמה אומן, על פי כתבי יד, תתקלא עמודים, $26
  5. יהונתן וורמסר, דקדוק עברי באשכנז בראשית העת החדשה תורת הלשון של ר’ זלמן הענא, $23
  6. טעמי המקרא, הורית הקורא, מקור, $34
  7. פרופ’ אהרן דותן, עיונים בלשון המקרא ובמסורה, $23
  8. יואל אליצור, שמות מקומות קדומים בארץ ישראל השתמרותם וגלגוליהם, מהדורה שלישית מתוקנת’ $32
  9. מיכאל ריזייק, בית יעקב בבית עם לועז: תולדות העברית באיטליה, $34
  10. יוסף עופר, המסורה למקרא ודרכיה, $25

אחרונים

  1. אדר”ת, שו”ת מענה אליהו, $19
  2. ר’ מיכאל טירני, תלמיד הרחמ”ל, משנת צדיקים [הלכות מילה], משנת חסידים [ה’ פדיון הבן], מכתב יד, תקט עמודים, $22
  3. מעבר יבוק, אהבת שלום דפוס חדש עם מפתחות חדשות, $22
  4. תורת המנהגים, מנהגי קושטא, שד עמודים, $17
  5. שו”ת רבינו יוסף אבן ציאח, מכתב יד, [תקופת הבית יוסף], $26
  6. הרב ריינס, וזה דבר השמיטה, מכתב יד $18
  7. ר’ עובדיה זכאי, ספר בקרבך קדוש, ניתוח קיצור קיבה בהלכה, [Stomach stapling], 350 עמודים, $21
  8. ספר הזכרונות, לר’ שמואל אבוהב, $18
  9. דרך חיים לר’ מנחם די לונזאני, $20 [מצוין]
  10. שו”ת תורה לשמה, $20
  11. ר’ מנשה גראסבערג, דגל מנשה, כולל מכתבים מכתב יד [בעריכת ר’ משה היבנר], $10
  12. ר’ גרשון ולדנברג, בניינה של אשה, תבנית הגוף בדברי חכמים ובפירושי הראשונים, 169 עמודים [מצוין]
  13. איה מקום כבודו, איתור מקום המקדש בימינו מחקרים עיונים ופולמוסים, 566 עמודים [מעניין], $24
  14. חסדי אבות, פירוש מסכת אבות לרבי דוד פרווינצאלו, מכתב יד, בעריכת פר’ יעקב שפיגל, $21
  15. ר’ שמריה שמעריל ברנדריס, עיון תפילה, תלמיד של ר’ אפרים זלמן מרגליות, [מצוין], $19
  16. תלמוד מסכת הוריות כת”י פאריש רש”י ותוס’ ראש מכתב יד, $20
  17. מנחת סוטה, שיטה על מסכת סוטה, $21
  18. ר’ שלמה סיריליאו, תלמוד מסכת עדיות, $22
  19. ר’ יצחק סילבר, אין עוד מלבדו, בעניני הכשפים והשדים, ושאר כחות הנעלמים והסגוליים… וענין הע”ז… עד דורינו…. כישוף, עין הרע ועוד, 660 עמודים, $21

מחקר ועוד

  1. מאיר רפלד, המהרש”ל וספרו ים של שלמה, 288 עמודים, $20
  2. ר’ משה הלל, חזון טברימון, תעודות מזויפות מבית היוצר של האחים טולידאנו מטבריה [ניתן לקבל התוכן]
  3. ר’ משה הלל, מסכת תמורות, תולדות ר’ מרדכי גירונדי מפאדובה, לקורות הרבנות והקהילות באיטליה בתקופת האמנציפציה וההשכלה [ניתן לקבל התוכן]
  4. שד”ל, אוהב הגר, על תרגום, $32 [ניתן לקבל התוכן]
  5. זהר עמר, ספר הרפואות של אסף הרופא, $28
  6. אריה מורגנשטרן, משיח בן יוסף ובניין ירושלים מחוץ לחומות, מיסטיקה ריבלינית ומציאות היסטורית [שוב על קול התור], $35
  7. רוני רייך, יום ביומו: חיי היום־יום של היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל בשלהי ימי הבית השני לאור הממצא הארכיאולוג, $30
  8. בתוך מערבולת הימים: משה פראגר היסטוריון שואה חרדי / מלי איזנברג, $30
  9. עדו רכניץ, מדינת התורה הדמוקרטית, עיון במשנתם המדינית של הריא”ה הרצוג, הרא”י וולדינברג, והר”ש גורן
  10. מבוא לראבי”ה $34
  11. שרגא אברמסון, במרכזים ובתפוצות בתקופת הגאונים $32
  12. יעקב שפיגל, עמודים בתולדות הספר העברי, הדר המחבר, $25
  13. יעקב אלבוים, להבין דברים חכמים, $18
  14. כתבי עזריה מן האדומים, בעריכת ראובן בונפיל, $18
  15. דברי יוסף ר’ יוסף סמברי, $20
  16. מן הגנזים, א-טו, כל כרך $16
  17. ר’ יעקב הלל, גבורת האר”י, $16
  18. ר’ יעקב כולי, משנה כסף על רמב”ם מדע, $17
  19. זהר עמר, בעקבות תולעת השני הארץ ישראלית, 14$
  20. זהר עמר, חמשת מיני דגן, $19
  21. זהר עמר, הארגמן, $19
  22. בתורתו של ר’ גדליה $28
  23. פירוש שד”ל על התורה, 5 חלקים על פי כ”י, כולל הרבה הוספות$65
  24. פירוש שד”ל על נ”ך, 5 חלקים על פי כ”י, כולל הרבה הוספות$70
  25. שד”ל, הויכוח, ויכוח על חכמת הקבלה ועל קדמות ספר הזוהר, וקדמות הנקודות והטעמים, כרמל, 41+142 עמודים, $24
  26. ישראל תא-שמע, הנגלה שבנסתר, $20
  27. יובל הררי, חרבא דמשה, $27
  28. יעקב מאיר, דפוס ראשון: מהדורת התלמוד הירושלמי ונציה רפ״ג 1523 וראשית הדפוס העברי [מצוין], $25
  29. רועי גודלשמידט, דורשי רשומות: רטוריקה, עריכה, למדנות ומעמדות חברתיים בספרות הדרוש במזרח אירופה, $30
  30. מגלי טמירין, תנועת ההשכלה היהודית בגליציה: היסטוריה, ספרות הגות וזיכרון, $32
  31. מרדכי סבתו, תלמוד בבלי, מסכת סנהדרין פרק שני, $30
  32. מנחם לורברבוים, לפני היות החסידות, $28
  33. אהרן איתן, חרדיות ישראלית: אידיאולוגיה, ריאליה, זכויות אדם, $23
  34. ורב יעבוד צעיר; מיתוסים וסמלים בין יהדות ונצרות – שי לישראל יעקב יובל, $27
  35. ישי רוזן צבי, עדי אופיר, מגוי קדוש לגוי של שבת – האחר של היהודים: קווים לדמותו, $25
  36. מכילתא ג, $15
  37. מכילתא ב, $15
  38. מכילתא א, 15$ [כולל חיבור שלם של ר’ יוסף אביב”י על קול התור ] [מצוין]
  39. מעגל טוב, יומן מסע של החיד”א, חלק א, מהדיר: ר’ אסף רביב, כולל הקדמה, 37 עמודים, + 275 עמודים. כולל שלל תמונות, מפות, אנשים, מקומות, כתבי ידות, יותר מאלף הערות שוליים, חלק אחד בשם ‘פלס מעגל’, הכולל ידיעות חשובות על האישים אשר עמם נפגש החיד”א, המאורעות השונים אשר פגש בדרכו, כתבי היד אשר ראה ועוד ועוד. וחלק שני בשם ‘המליץ בינותם’, יבאר את סגנונו של המליצי של הרב, ומראה מקומות לכל מטבעות לשונו במרחבי התנ”ך וספרות חז”ל, $42
  40. ר’ יעקב ישראל סטל, סְגֻלָּה: גליון לתורה ולתעודה המופיע מעת לעת – אסופת גליונות 25-01, 414 עמודים,כריכה רכה, [מהדורה מודפסת של גליונות ‘סגולה’], $12
  41.  ר’ יעקב ישראל סטל , גנזי תפילין: אסופת גנזים מתורתם של ראשונים בענייני מצוַת תפילין, 74 עמודים, כריכה רכה, $8
  42.  ר’ יעקב ישראל סטל, (מהדיר), ארבע דרשות נישואין: לאחד מחכמי ביזנטיון הקדמונים, 98 עמודים, כריכה רכה, $8
  43. נתן שיפריס, שי”ר חדש: שלמה יהודה רפפורט: רבנות, השכלה, לאומיות, $27
  44. איל לוינסון, ויגדלו הנערים: מגדר ומיניות באשכנז בימי הביניים, $23
  45. נועם זדוף, גרשם שלום, $21
  46. ראובן גפני, פותח סידור: מסע בעולמם של סידורים ארץ ישראל בעת החדשה, 288 עמודים, $23
  47. יפה זלכה, פרקי מועד באגדת הירושלמי, $19
  48. עמנואל אטקס, הציונות המשיחיות של הגאון מווילנה: המצאתה של מסורת [מומלץ], $24
  49. נגה רובין, באבע מעשיות – אגדות חז”ל בתרגומים לספרי מוסר ביידיש במאות השש עשרה-שמונה עשרה, $23
  50. יעקב ברנאי, ספרדים, אשכזים, מערבים – לתולדות היישוב הישן במאות ה-18-19, $37
  51. מרדכי פכטר, חבורות וחיבורים – עיונים בספרות המוסר הקבלית של חכמי צפת במאה הט”ז, $33
  52. מרדכי פכטר, שורש האמונה הוא שורש המרי – עיונים בקבלה, חסידות ומשנת הרב קוק, $37
  53. משה חלמיש, סדר יומו של מקובל, $31
  54. כף הקטורת, פירוש קבלי לספר תהילים לרבינו יוסף טאיטאצאק, $56
  55. יהודה ליבס, לצבי ולגאון, משבתי צבי אל גאון מווילנא, 408 עמודים, $30
  56. משה חלמיש, הריטואל הקבלי – שילוב של הגות ומעשה, $24
  57. יעקב ברנאי: שבתאות – היבטים היסטוריוגרפיים, $37
  58. משה חלמיש, לקט פתגמים וילקוט מאמרים, $37
  59. רפאל שוחט, שיחות ר’ חיים מוולוזין עם תלמידי הישיבה, 274 עמודים, $37
  60. הלל צייטלין, געגועים ליופי, שלש מסות, בעריכת יונתן מאיר ולי ברטוב, $25
  61. הלל צייטלין, בחביון הנשמה, שלש מסות, בעריכת יונתן מאיר ושמואל גלובר-זמרה, $25
  62. בעקבות משיח, אוסף מקורות בענין שבתאות, מאת גרשום שלום, עם תיקונים והשלמות מיונתן מאיר, $29
  63. ר’ אהרן שמואל תמרת, תהו ובהו, $25
  64. הרב זייני, עץ ארז חלק ז, 400 עמודים , $19




Book week 2022

Book week 2022

By Eliezer Brodt

Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. Continuing with my now fifteenth year tradition B”h, every year in Israel, around Shavuos time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week.

Many of the companies offer sales for the whole month. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the country in stores, malls and special places rented out just for the sales. There are places where strictly “frum” seforim are sold and other places have most of the secular publishing houses. Many publishing houses release new titles specifically at this time.

In my lists, I sometimes include an older title, from a previous year, if I just noticed the book. As I have written in the past, I do not intend to include all the new books. Eventually some of these titles will be the subject of their own reviews. I try to include titles of broad interest. As this list shows although book publishing in book form has dropped greatly worldwide, Academic books on Jewish related topics and Seforim are still coming out in full force. Note: Just because a book is listed below does not mean its on sale.

The second section below are titles that were printed in the past year, on a wide range of topics. These items are not specifically on sale at this time or easy to find. In addition, this is not an attempt to include everything or even close to that.

The purpose of the list is to help Seforim Blog readership learn about some of the seforim and Books that have been published in the past year.

To receive a PDF of the sale catalogs of Mechon Yerushalayim, Zichron Ahron, Ahavat Shalom and other non-academic distributors, e-mail me at Eliezerbrodt-at-gmail.com.

In the lists below I have not included everything found in these catalogs as some items are not out yet and are coming out shortly. Others items I have not seen yet so I have not mentioned them as I try to only list items I have actually seen.

A second purpose of this list is, to make these works available for purchase for those interested. As in previous years I am offering a service, for a small fee to help one purchase these titles (or titles of previous years). For more information about this email me at Eliezerbrodt-at-gmail.com.

Part of the proceeds will be going to support the efforts of the the Seforim Blog.

מגנס

  1. יעקב מאיר, דפוס ראשון: מהדורת התלמוד הירושלמי ונציה רפ״ג 1523 וראשית הדפוס העברי [מצוין]
  2. מחקרי ירושלים בספרות עברית – פעמי שולמית: מחקרי שירה ופיוט לכבוד שולמית אליצור
  3. ארנון עצמון, בניי, היו קורין פרשה זו: עריכה ומשמעות בפסיקתא דרב כהנא
  4. קובץ על יד, כרך כז
  5. רועי גודלשמידט, דורשי רשומות: רטוריקה, עריכה, למדנות ומעמדות חברתיים בספרות הדרוש במזרח אירופה
  6. מגלי טמירין, תנועת ההשכלה היהודית בגליציה: היסטוריה, ספרות הגות וזיכרון
  7. יוסף עופר, המסורה למקרא ודרכיה
  8. בלהה שילה, השבה והחמצה: תום התקופה האירופית של ייווא
  9. ערן ויזל, כוונת התורה וכוונת הקורא בה: פרקי התמודדות
  10. שולמית אליצור ומיכאל רנד (עורכים), רבי אלעזר בירבי קליר: פיוטים ליום כיפור
  11. שולמית אליצור ומיכאל רנד (עורכים), רבי אלעזר בירבי קליר: פיוטים לראש השנה, מהדורה שנייה
  12. צבי מזא”ה, על הסיבובים של כדורי השמים: גלגוליה של המהפכה הקופרניקאית
  13. שמחה קוגוט, המקרא בין טעמים לפרשנות [דפוס שלישי]
  14. המוות והפילוסופיה של ההלכה
  15. מדרש אגדה בראשית, על פי כ”י, מהדיר: עזרא קהלני
  16. יהושע בלאו, מצב המחקר של קשרי הערבית וספרותה עם הספרות העברית בימי הביניים

 מהדורה שנייה, איגוד

  1. תשובות המהר”ם מרוטנברג וחבריו שני כרכים, עמנואל שמחה (מהדיר)
  2. מנחת שי על חמישה חומשי תורה
  3. הנוספות למנחת שי

 Littman

  1. Haym Soloveitchik, Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Modern Orthodoxy
  2. Daniel Lasker, Karaism: An Introduction

ביאליק

  1. רלב”ג, מלחמות השם, המאמר החמישי, החלק השני והחלק השלישי, והמאמר השישי, חלק שני
  2. יהונתן וורמסר, דקדוק עברי באשכנז בראשית העת החדשה תורת הלשון של ר’ זלמן הענא
  3. פרופ’ אהרן דותן, עיונים בלשון המקרא ובמסורה
  4. מרדכי סבתו, תלמוד בבלי, מסכת סנהדרין פרק שני
  5. מנחם לורברבוים, לפני היות החסידות
  6. אהרן איתן, חרדיות ישראלית: אידיאולוגיה, ריאליה, זכויות אדם

בר אילן

  1. אוריאל סימון, דיוקן של פרשן, אבן עזרא
  2. אבישר הר־שפי, הסיפור הפועל: עיונים חדשים בסיפור החסיד
  3. ברכי אליצור, דיוקן בשביל הדורות: דמויות מקראיות מהתנ״ך ועד לספרות חז״ל
  4. תמיד הונגרים: יהודי הונגריה בתמורות העת החדשה
  5. רבקה קדוש, סיפורי הרב יוסף חיים מבגדאד
  6. קובי בן ארי, רועי צאן ונוודים בארץ ישראל, היבטים כלכליים והתיישבותיים בתקופה הרומית־ביזנטית
  7. חנן חבר, חסידות, השכלה, ציונות
  8. יצחק ש’ פנקובר, מנחם בן-ישר, המקרא בפרשנות חז”ל – יונה
  9. מיכל אוחנה, עיונים בהגותו של ר׳ שאול סיררו: פרק בתולדות ההגות היהודית בפאס
  10. אברהם שמש, ריח שדה: בשמים מהצומח ומהחי בספרות הברכות – תרבות חומרית, היסטוריה והלכה
  11. סידרא לג
  12. רועי הורן, הבעל שם טוב וקבלת האר”י, כוונות ויחודים להמתקת הדינים שמסר מחולל החסידות לתלמידיו
  13. עלי ספר ל-לא: שם לשמואל – מחקרים בתולדות הספר העברי לזכרו של ר’ שמואל אשכנזי
  14. בד”ד, לו
  15. דעת, צ
  16. יצחק הרשקוביץ, פנים במחשבת ההלכה, פעמי תחייה הלכתית במשנתו של הרב ד”ר מרדכי פוגלמן
  17. דוד ליטמן ויוסף פנטון, אלף שנות גלות במע’רב: יהודים תחת שלטון האסלאם, מקורות ומסמכים (997-1912)

כרמל

  1. אליהו אשתור, תולדות היהודים במצרים ובסוריה, תחת שלטון הממלוכים, דפוס צילום, ג’ חלקים
  2. ורב יעבוד צעיר; מיתוסים וסמלים בין יהדות ונצרות – שי לישראל יעקב יובל
  3. גליונות הירושלמי של רבי שאול ליברמן – שלושה כרכים, בעריכת פר’ משה עסיס 2564 עמודים
  4. יוסף פונד, דגל לקטנים – עיתונות הילדים של אגודת ישראל
  5. גרשום שלום, שבתי צבי והתנועה השבתאית בימי חייו (שני כרכים)
  6. אפרים חמיאל, הויית החכמה וגידולה – פרקי מחקר ופרשנות
  7. חגי שטמלר, שמונה איגרות מהרב צבי יהודה קוק – על היסטוריוסופיה, פילוסופיה, תיאולוגיה וציונות
  8. ישי רוזן צבי, עדי אופיר, מגוי קדוש לגוי של שבת – האחר של היהודים: קווים לדמותו

אקדמיה ללשון העברית

  1. יואל אליצור, שמות מקומות קדומים בארץ ישראל השתמרותם וגלגוליהם, מהדורה שלישית מתוקנת
  2. המשנה לפי כתב יד קאופמן, קדשים וטהרות, ג
  3. מיכאל ריזייק, בית יעקב בבית עם לועז: תולדות העברית באיטליה

בן צבי

  1. גנזי קדם יז
  2. ספונות כז
  3. דב הכהן, אוצר הספרים בלאדינו, 1490-1960 ביבליוגרפיה מחקרים מוערת
  4. רונית שושני, טעמי המקרא במסורת הבבלית
  5. יהושע גרנט, אזכרה מזמור, מזמורי תהילים בפיוטי יוסף אביתור 
  6. נוה שלום, פירוש על תפסיר רב סעדיה גאון, רב עמרם קרח (מחבר), נחם אילן הקדמה, מבוא ועוד

מרכז זלמן שזר

  1. מנשה ענזי, הצנעאנים: יהודים בתימן המוסלמית, 1872-1950
  2. דורון לופז, יהודה השבויה: רומא והיהודים לאחר החורבן
  3. נתן שיפריס, שי”ר חדש: שלמה יהודה רפפורט: רבנות, השכלה, לאומיות
  4. איל לוינסון, ויגדלו הנערים: מגדר ומיניות באשכנז בימי הביניים
  5. נועם זדוף, גרשם שלום

הרצוגתבונות

  1. ראובן גפני, פותח סידור: מסע בעולמם של סידורים ארץ ישראל בעת החדשה, 288 עמודים
  2. ובחג השבועות – קובץ מאמרים על חג השבועות
  3. אביחי צור, השורש הנעלם – על ר’ צדוק הכהן מלובלין (3 כרכים)
  4. יפה זלכה, פרקי מועד באגדת הירושלמי
  5. נגה רובין, באבע מעשיות – אגדות חז”ל בתרגומים לספרי מוסר ביידיש במאות השש עשרה-שמונה עשרה
  6. משנת ארץ ישראל, ספראי, סוטה
  7. משנת ארץ ישראל, ספראי, גיטין
  8. משנת ארץ ישראל, ספראי, קידושין
  9. נטועים, כב

קורןמגיד

  1. יונתן גרוסמן, תורת הקרבנות
  2. Moshe Sokol, The Snake at the Mouth of the Cave
  3. Rabbi Eitam Henkin, Studies in Halakah and Rabbinic History
  4. Dr. Eddie Reichman, The Anatomy of Jewish Law
  5. Dov Zakheim, The Prince and the Emperors – The Life and Times of Rabbi Judah the Prince
  6. Nishmat Ha-Bayit, Edited by Rabbi Yehuda & Rabbanit Chana Henkin
  7. Daniel Chertoff, Palestine Posts: An Eye witness Account of the Birth of Israel

אידרא

  1. יעקב ברנאי, ספרדים, אשכזים, מערבים – לתולדות היישוב הישן במאות ה-18-19
  2. מרדכי פכטר, חבורות וחיבורים – עיונים בספרות המוסר הקבלית של חכמי צפת במאה הט”ז
  3. מרדכי פכטר, שורש האמונה הוא שורש המרי – עיונים בקבלה, חסידות ומשנת הרב קוק
  4. ציפי קויפמן, טבילה בשכינה עיונים חדשים בחקר החסידות
  5. יעקב קולר, המשיחיות היהודית בעידן האמנציפציה

בלימה

  1. בעקבות משיח, אוסף מקורות בענין שבתאות, מאת גרשום שלום, עם תיקונים והשלמות מיונתן מאיר
  2. ר’ אהרן שמואל תמרת, תהו ובהו
  3. Jonatan Meir & S. Yamamoto, Gershom Scholem and the Research of Sabbatianism

בית מדרש לרבנים JTS

  1. מדרש קהלת רבה, ב, ז-יב \ קהלת זוטא ז-ט, מהדיר: פר’ ראובן קיפרווסר

ידיעות ספרים

  1. בשובך לציון, הרב אהרון ליכטנשטיין והרב יהודה עמיטל, שיחות ליום העצמאות וליום ירושלים
  2. מגלת קהלת, אביגדור שנאן
  3. מורה נבוכים, ג’ חלקים ע”י, יוחאי מקבילי, הלל גרשוני ויחיאל קארה, [מצוין]
  4. ר’ ברנדס, המקף והאליפסה
  5. ר’ חיים סבתו, טוב עין, שיעורים
  6. יונתן גרוסמן, יוסף – סיפורם של חלומות

חבד

  1. ר’ יקותיאל פרקש, כללי הפוסקים וההוראה משו”ע אדמו”ר הזקן – מהדורה חדשה
  2. ר’ ניר הלוי גורביץ, חקרי הלכה ומנהג, ב’ חלקים
  3. ר’ ניר הלוי גורביץ, חקרי הלכה ומנהג חלק ג
  4. ר’ גורארי’, אהלי ליובאוויטש, חלק ב
  5. הנ”ל, חקרי מנהגים כרך ו
  6. חיים גראביצר, גלגולו של חסיד

רזייני

  1. אוצר הגאונים חולין חלק א’
  2. הרב זייני, עץ ארז חלק ז, 400 עמודים 
  3. הרב זייני, ישועת ה’, בענין אמירת הלל וברכת שהחיינו ביום העצמאות

אהבת שלום

  1. שו”ת זרע אמת, א-ג לרבי ישמעאל הכהן אב”ד מודנא
  2. ר’ מיכאל טירני, תלמיד הרחמ”ל, משנת צדיקים [הלכות מילה], משנת חסידים [ה’ פדיון הבן], מכתב יד, תקט עמודים
  3. שו”ת הוד יוסף להבן איש חי
  4. מן הגנזים טו
  5. מעבר יבק
  6. תורת המנהגים, מנהגי קושטא, שד עמודים
  7. שו”ת רבינו יוסף אבן ציאח, מכתב יד, [תקופת הבית יוסף] 

מכון ירושלים

  1. תשובות ר’ חיים ולואזין,
  2. שיח יצחק חגיגה

זכרון אהרן

  1. שו”ת דבר שמואל, כולל ספר הזכרונות, זכרון אהרן
  2. שו”ת שבות יעקב, ג’ חלקים, זכרון אהרן

מכון שלמה אומן

  1. מכלול, רד”ק, מכון שלמה אומן, על פי כתבי יד, תתקלא עמודים
  2. סמ”ג לאוין א-קכו, עם מבוא מקיף ומתוקן ומדור שינויי נוסחאות מתוקן, פורמט חדש, 1100 עמודים
  3. סמ”ג עשיין, א-פא, עם מבוא מקיף ומתוקן ומדור שינויי נוסחאות מתוקן, פורמט חדש, 1000 עמודים

שאר ספרים שיצאו שונות

ראשונים

  1. אורחות חיים, ב, לרבנו אהרן הכהן מלוניל, מכתב יד
  2. ר’ יהודה זייבלד, (עורך) ספר גנוזות הרמב”ם ובית מדרשו – שבת ועירובין
  3. חידושי הר”י מלוניל, מסכת בבא מציעא
  4. שרידים מפירוש הר”ש משאנץ למשניות אהלות, מכתב יד שמצא פר’ דב זלוטניק בתוך כריכת ספר, בעריכת דוד קירשנבוים, 37 עמודים
  5. דרשות תלמיד הרא”ש על התורה, מכתב יד, בעריכת פר’ יעקב שפיגל 
  6. פירוש רבינו זכאי על הרי”ף, גיטין
  7. רבי זכריה בן סרוק, פרוש מגילת אחשורוש, מהדורה שניה [מהדיר: יהונתן בנחיון]

אחרונים

  1. ר’ רפאל יצחק מאייו, שו”ת שפת הים
  2. שו”ת שאגת אריה, החדשות, מכון משנת ר’ אהרן 
  3. ר’ צבי הירש ליברמאן, חמדת צבי
  4. שו”ת בית יעקב [מצוין]
  5. ליקוטי ר’ יצחק מפוניבז’
  6. ר’ שמרי’ יצחק בלאך, דברי שמריהו יצחק, תולדות, אגרות, כתבי יד, [תרכ”ג-תרפ”ד]
  7. ר’ זאב אלטשולר, אבני קודש, (שיר השירים), אבן פינה (מגילת רות), בית נאמן בעניני אמונה (מכתב יד) [נדפס לראשונה שקלוב תקנ”ד]

הלכה

  1. יד אהרן, על טור ובית יוסף, מהדורה חדשה
  2. ספר פוע”ה כרך ד – גינקולוגיה, מחלות, חברה ומחקר
  3. עמק ברכה, לאביו של השל”ה, דפוס חדש, תתרח עמודים
  4. ר’ נריה גוטל, ממשפטי המלוכה, אחריות לאומית כשיקול פסיקה, 316 עמודים
  5. ר’ יואל שילה, בינה הגיגי, 650 עמודים
  6. המדריך לכהנים לשמירת קדושתם בארץ ישראל
  7. ר’ שלמה שיינמן, אוצר תפילין דר”ת
  8. ר’ אליקום דבורקס, נתיבי המנהגים, בעניני תעניות הציבור והיחיד
  9. ר’ מנחם בלומענפרוכט, חלב טריפה
  10. ר’ שמחה ולדנברג, בינת שמחה, אורח חיים, כולל הערות על המשנה ברורה, תיד עמודים
  11. ר’ משה אהרן פייאצה, אורה שמחה, דיני ומנהגי פורים
  12. הרב ריינס, וזה דבר השמיטה, מכתב יד
  13. תורת יהונתן, שביעית 
  14. ר’ יוסף ענגיל, אוצרות יוסף שביעית
  15. ר’ עקיבא ויספלד, חוקים ומשפטים, ב, ירושת שררה, [מעניין]
  16. ר’ יגאל אלון, משפטי הנפש, מחלות נפש לאור ההלכה, תקמד עמודים
  17. רבי שריה דבליצקי, תיקון חצות \ תנאים טובים \ דיני תפילת הדרך
  18. חזון עובדיה, שמיטה
  19. ר’ אורי סדן, אורות החושן, עבודה וקבלנות
  20. משנה ברורה, חלק א, אליבא דהלכתא, 1104 עמודים
  21. ר’ משה ידלר, מאור השבת, ה, בישול ופתיחות אריות ובקבוקים, תתקסט עמודים [מלא חומר חשוב]
  22. ר’ דוד יוסף, הלכה ברורה, חלק יח-יט
  23. ר’ אברהם כץ, הבדלת מראש, חלק ב, סעודה שלישית הבדלה ומוצאי שבת
  24. ר’ אברהם כץ, תחנונים ידבר רא”ש, תחנון, קריאת התורה, יארצייט
  25. ר’ עובדיה זכאי, ספר בקרבך קדוש, ניתוח קיצור קיבה בהלכה, [Stomach stapling], 350 עמודים
  26. ר’ חיים פרקש, נקדש את שמך, שמות קדש וחול ושמות המסופקים בתורה ובנביאים ובכתובים, תקמא עמודים 
  27. ר’ שריה דבליצקי זצ”ל, קיצור הלכות מועדים, שבועות, משוש כל הארץ, אחר כתלנו, תיקון ליל שבועות, רסה עמודים
  28. ר’ ירחמיאל פריד, אמת וצדק, על שו”ע הלכות גירות, תקכד עמודים
  29. ר’ ינון בר כוכבא, זית רענן, שיעור כזית, מש”ס פוסקים והמציאות
  30. ר’ איתם הנקין, הי”ד, לכם יהיה לאכלה, כולל הוספות ותיקונים מכתב יד
  31. ר’ משה קוטקס, מדריך לקבר כהלכה, דירוג וסגי הקבורה בליווי תמונות

קבצים

  1. זכור לאברהם ג’ חלקים [ניתן לקבל תוכן] כולל המון כ”י ועוד
  2. מכילתא ג
  3. קובץ חידושי תורה אהל רחל, ד, מתורתו של מרן הגאון רבי שלמה פישר זצוק”ל
  4. ישורון מג
  5. ישורון מד
  6. תחומין מא
  7. משביר, ז
  8. משביר, ח
  9. היכל הבעש”ט, מב
  10. קובץ בית יוסף אסופה מכתבי יד ממרן רבינו עובדיה יוסף… ומאמרים… ע”פ דרכו, גליון מז, תרנג עמודים
  11. עץ חיים, לז
  12. דיני ישראל, לו-לז
  13. שנתון משפט העברי, לא

תפילה

  1. סידור דובר שלום מרבי יצחק אליהו לנדא, המגיד מוילנא, אלף ולו עמודים, כולל פירוש שלו על הגדה של פסח ומסכת אבות
  2. ר’ שמריה שמעריל ברנדריס, עיון תפילה, תלמיד של ר’ אפרים זלמן מרגליות, [מצוין]
  3. שלמה ברק, סדר בסידור
  4. ר’ יאיר שאקי, סידור ארץ ישראל
  5. מקורי התפילה חלק ג
  6. סידור הגר”א, בנגלה ובנסתר, מכון הגר”א
  7. סידור הגר”א בנגלה ובנסתר, המתוקן והמהודר, נערכו ונסדרו ע”י הגאון ר’ נפתלי הרץ הלוי, ועוד

תולדות

  1. מבוא לתלמוד, ארטסקרול, כולל אגרת ר’ שרירא גאון ועוד
  2. ר’ אהרן גאטעהרער, הקדמות הרמב”ם ליד החזקה, עם ביאור, אגרות רב שרירא גאון עם הערות, ק’ זכרון לראשונים לר’ צדוק הכהן, רנא עמודים
  3. הרמ”ק בספרי תלמידיו ובני דורו, 112 עמודים
  4. מעגל טוב, יומן מסע של החיד”א, חלק א, מהדיר: ר’ אסף רביב, כולל הקדמה, 37 עמודים, + 275 עמודים. כולל שלל תמונות, מפות, אנשים, מקומות, כתבי ידות, יותר מאלף הערות שוליים, חלק אחד בשם ‘פלס מעגל’, הכולל ידיעות חשובות על האישים אשר עמם נפגש החיד”א, המאורעות השונים אשר פגש בדרכו, כתבי היד אשר ראה ועוד ועוד. וחלק שני בשם ‘המליץ בינותם’, יבאר את סגנונו של המליצי של הרב, ומראה מקומות לכל מטבעות לשונו במרחבי התנ”ך וספרות חז”ל.
  5. מעגל טוב, מכון המאור, כולל הרבה חומר חשוב מכת”י
  6. מאיר רפלד, המהרש”ל וספרו ים של שלמה, 288 עמודים
  7. גאון ישראל, על ר’ שלמה זלמן אויערבאך זצ”ל, 1021 עמודים
  8. אביר הרועים, ר’ עובדיה יוסף, חלק ג
  9. ר’ צבי ירבוב, שגדל בתורה, על ר’ חיים קניבסקי זצ”ל
  10. היומן – על ר’ אברהם דוב אויערבאך זצ”ל
  11. קונטרס אביר הרועים על הבעל שם טוב
  12. אוצר הגדולים, מהדורה חדשה, ד’ חלקים
  13. שיחות החפץ חיים, דרכיו נמוקיו ושיחותיו, מחיי אבא
  14. שמואל פינקל, גיבורי כוח נשכחים, מזכרת בתיה שדה קרב קדום על נשמת ארץ ישראל [מצוין]
  15. רבינו שלמה קורח, יחידי סגולה
  16. רבנו, א-ד על ר’ צבי יהודה קוק

מחקר

  1. ר’ משה הלל, חזון טברימון, תעודות מזויפות מבית היוצר של האחים טולידאנו מטבריה
  2. ר’ משה הלל, מסכת תמורות, תולדות ר’ מרדכי גירונדי מפאדובה, לקורות הרבנות והקהילות באיטליה בתקופת האמנציפציה וההשכלה [ניתן לקבל התוכן]
  3. שד”ל, אוהב הגר, על תרגום
  4. זהר עמר, ספר הרפואות של אסף הרופא
  5. אריה מורגנשטרן, משיח בן יוסף ובניין ירושלים מחוץ לחומות, מיסטיקה ריבלינית ומציאות היסטורית [שוב על קול התור]
  6. רוני רייך, יום ביומו: חיי היום־יום של היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל בשלהי ימי הבית השני לאור הממצא הארכיאולוג
  7. בתוך מערבולת הימים: משה פראגר היסטוריון שואה חרדי / מלי איזנברג
  8. כתבי יד מארם צובה – ד”ר מיכאל ריגלר
  9. עדו רכניץ, מדינת התורה הדמוקרטית, עיון במשנתם המדינית של הריא”ה הרצוג, הרא”י וולדינברג, והר”ש גורן
  10. גדעון כ”ץ, בדממה וקול, ליבוביץ בהקשר ישראלי
  11. ברכיהו ליפשיץ, מתנות שקיומן לאחר מיתה, בין קניין לבין התחייבות

שאר ספרים

  1. ר’ יצחק רצאבי, ספר ביצי נעמיות בבתי כנסיות
  2. ר’ חיים דוב לימאן, אוצר פנינים, ב’ חלקים, 1707 עמודים, מלא חומר מעניין
  3. ר’ מרדכי ציון, הלכות מצוה טאנץ
  4. ר’ מנשה גראסבערג, דגל מנשה, כולל מכתבים מכתב יד [בעריכת ר’ משה היבנר]
  5. ספרי זוטא, נשא בהעלותך עם פי’ באר אש, מנחת אש, לר’ אהרן שליו, תשט עמודים
  6. ספר גורלות החול חלק ב, מכתב יד, רבינו יהודה אלחריזי, קלב + 83 עמודים
  7. ספר גורלות החול חלקים ג-ה
  8. ר’ אפרים פישל הערשקאוויטש, שמע אפרים, בראשית, תקסט עמודים
  9. שיח דבר, אגרות ומכתבי תורה בין… מרן… הגאון רבי חיים קנייבסקי… והגאון רבי דוב לנדו, תעח עמודים
  10. ר’ יעקב זשוראוועל, מנחה קטנה, על מצות דרבנן, צא עמודים
  11. ר’ יצחק פוס, חמודי יצחק, בראשית, תתסד עמודים
  12. ר’ ישעיה רומאנין [מבני החבורה של ישיבת הרחמ”ל], מוסר מלכים, שסב +מב עמודים
  13. ר’ אליהו נאה, חקר מנהגי הנישואין, מקורות טעמים, רכד עמודים
  14. דרכי מרן, ר’ יוסף קארו, על כללי השו”ע והרמ”א, תתקסג עמודים
  15. תרגם מנחם על אונקלוס, ב’ חלקים
  16. מתורתו של הצפנת פענח על התורה והמועדים, עם פרקי תולדותיו, רמד עמודים
  17. ר’ אוריאל מקסימוב, יום השישי, ביאורים ועיונים בשער הכוונות של האריז”ל, חלק הכנת לשבת קודש, תעג עמודים
  18. ר’ נחמיה גבאי, עבר הירדן, בענין גבולות הארץ
  19. ר’ חיים חנון, צורת הארץ, צורת הארץ בליווי מפות…
  20. ר’ דניאל רובין, מראה המסעות
  21. ר’ עזריה אריאל, טהרת ישראל, חלק ב על טהרות
  22. אנציקלופדיה תלמודית, כרכים מז-מח
  23. דרשות נודע ביהודה, ב’ חלקים, כולל דרשות מכתב יד [מצוין]
  24. דרשות מחצית השקל [כולל דרשה לראש השנה]
  25. דרוש תפלת ישרים, לר’ יעקב עמדין
  26. ר’ יוסף אליהו מייערס, ציורי הרמב”ם למסכת מדות
  27. ר’ יהודה לנדי, שלש ארצות לשביעית תחומים וגבולות, מהדורה מתוקנת [מצוין]
  28. משניות שביעית, עם אנציקלופדיה הלכתית חקלאית, מכון התורה והארץ, 355 עמודים
  29. ר’ גרשון ולדנברג, בניינה של אשה, תבנית הגוף בדברי חכמים ובפירושי הראשונים, 169 עמודים [מצוין]
  30. איה מקום כבודו, איתור מקום המקדש בימינו מחקרים עיונים ופולמוסים, 566 עמודים [מעניין]
  31. לא בשמים היא, לבאר גודל המצוה לש העסק בפנימיות התורה, ומתי ואיך אפשר לעסוק בסודות התורה, קסג עמודים
  32. המערה – מקיף ומלבן בייחודיות מעשה רשב”י במערה, ובו התבארו בס”ד 70 קושיות חזקות על המעשה ועל כל קושיא תירוצים רבים ונפלאים ענייני רשב”י ההילולא, והעליה מירונה.
  33. ר’ שרגא פייבל שטרנפלד, פרשת סוטה, רמב”ם הלכות סוטה, תלט עמודים
  34.  ר’ חיים הדרי, קול בהדר, שיחות עומק ורוחב בתנך
  35. ר’ אליהו גרנצייג, מקרא העדה דברים א
  36. ר’ יהודה לינצ’נר, שרשי לשון הקודש
  37. ר’ מאיר מאזוז, שמות ב’ כרכים
  38. הנ”ל, שו”ת בית נאמן, ב
  39. הנ”ל, דרכי העיון, מהדורה רביעי
  40. ר’ אשר דוד מייערס, מלאכת בגדי כהונה
  41. ר’ יצחק פרוינד, עבודת אהרן, בענייני המשכן וכליו והעובדים בו
  42. ר’ יוסף תירשום, שושן יסוד העולם, מכתב יד
  43. חפץ חיים עם שיעורי ר’ הלל זקס
  44. חסדי אבות, פירוש מסכת אבות לרבי דוד פרווינצאלו, מכתב יד, בעריכת פר’ יעקב שפיגל
  45. ר’ יעקב העבר, לב אבות על פרקי אבות
  46. ר’ יצחק סילבר, אין עוד מלבדו, בעניני הכשפים והשדים, ושאר כחות הנעלמים והסגוליים… וענין הע”ז… עד דורינו…. כישוף, עין הרע ועוד, 660 עמודים 
  47. צרי היגון, לרבנו שם טוב בר יוסף אבן פלקירא, קיב עמודים
  48. ר’ אליהו אלימלך, ארון הברית
  49. ר’ הירש מבוא תורה שבעל פה
  50. גידולי תרומה על ספר התרומות, שער מה, שמיטת כספים ופרוזבול, כולל שו”ת של המחבר
  51. ר’ חיים סלומון, שבילי טהרות, בדיני טומאת מת כולל דיני אהלות המצויים בזמנינו
  52. פתח האהל, ממזרח שמש, קובץ מאמרים, בענין קו התאריך
  53. סידרה חדשה ‘ליקוטי מדרשים’ א-ג, ג’ חלקים מהדורה מצומצמת, כריכה רכה [הרב דשא]
  54. ילקוט תלמוד תורה, חלק א, [בראשית, נח] נדפס לראשונה מכתב יד, מבעל התורת המנחה, תלמיד הרשב”א, מהדורה מצומצמת, כריכה רכה
  55. ר’ אליהו כהן, מנחת אליהו, ספר שיטות וכללי הפוסקים וש”ת סביב תורת הקבלה
  56. תרגום אונקלוס, ויקרא
  57. פירוש הגר”א על כמה אגדות
  58. רזא דמהימנותא עם פירוש רזא דארמונ”י

ספרי ריעקב ישראל סטל

  1. סְגֻלָּה: גליון לתורה ולתעודה המופיע מעת לעת – אסופת גליונות 25-01, 414 עמודים,כריכה רכה, [מהדורה מודפסת של גליונות ‘סגולה’]
  2. גנזי תפילין: אסופת גנזים מתורתם של ראשונים בענייני מצוַת תפילין, 74 עמודים, כריכה רכה
  3. ארבע דרשות נישואין: לאחד מחכמי ביזנטיון הקדמונים, 98 עמודים, כריכה רכה.




Psalms 117:1-2: Why Are the Goyim Praising God?

Psalms 117:1-2: Why Are the Goyim Praising God?[1]

By Mitchell First
MFirstAtty@aol.com

 

In Hallel, has only two verses:

1) Praise Hashem all goyim; Laud him all the umim.

2) For his ḥesed is great?[2] עלינו and the emet of Hashem is forever, Halleluyah.

Why are the nations of the world to be praising God? Because his ḥesed is great on the Israelites? Does this make sense? I first read about this interpretive issue in Rabbi Hayyim Angel’s excellent article in Through an Opaque Lens (2006). I am writing this article to collect more sources and expand the discussion. I will also offer a different solution than the various solutions proposed by Rabbi Angel.

Admittedly it is possible to read the two verses as independent of one another. But in the simplest reading they are connected by that explanatory word כי (=for) and the author is asking the nations of his time to praise God because of the extravagant ḥesed that God has provided to the nation of Israel.

A Sage in the Talmud (Pes. 118b) realizes this difficulty and reads the verse as follows: “Praise Hashem all nations”- for the great acts and wonders which God does for the nations; how much more so should we praise Him, for his chesed is great on us…” In other words, this Sage suggests that the second part of the verse refers to Israelites praising God, even though that is not mentioned in the verse.?[3]

How do our commentaries deal with our issue?

Rashi writes that we should reinterpret the word כי so that it instead means “even though.” This drastically changes the meaning of the verse. R. Angel explains: “Rashi intimates that the nations are generally unhappy about God’s distinctive relationship with Israel. The Psalmist…calls to the nations to rise above their initial antagonism.”

It is true that כי has multiple meanings and “even though” is one of them. But this is still far from a plain sense reading of the verse.

Rashbam has an interesting approach to our verse (found in his comm. to Deut. 32:43). The nations are being told to believe in and praise God. If they do, he will give them great ḥesed just like he gave to Israel. This is clever but it does not read well into the verse.

Radak solves the difficulty a different way. The verse is talking about the messianic era. He cites Tzefaniah 3:9: “Then I will turn to the peoples…that they may all call the name of Hashem to worship Him with one shoulder.”?[4] Radak adds that the nations did not believe that God could liberate the Israelites from being subjugated. On seeing that he did, they will praise him.

Malbim suggests a specific context for the psalm. In the late 8th century BCE Sancheriv exiled the Israelites and exiled non-Israelites with them. Eventually, God will return the Israelites together with these non-Israelites. Since God’s rescue of the Israelites will benefit these non-Israelites, they will praise him. There are of course no clues to any of this in these two verses.

The Daat Mikra commentary (composed by Amos Chacham) takes the approach that when Israel is downtrodden, the nations mock the God of Israel. See, e.g., Ps. 115:2: “Why should the nations say now: ‘Where is their God?’.” Conversely, when Israel is succeeding, the nations are impressed and praise him. It cites Ezekiel 36:23: “I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am Hashem… when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.” Thus, Daat MIkra interprets the background to Psalms 117:1-2 to be that the nations have seen that God saved Israel.

Another approach is to deny the legitimacy of the question. It seems that there are many other verses in the book of Psalms where the nations of the world are called upon to praise God for saving Israel. This approach is taken by R. Feivel Meltzer in his Pnei Sefer Tehillim (1982), p. 332.?[5]

For example, at Ps. 98: 2-4, we have: “Hashem has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness to the nations. He has remembered His love and his faithfulness to Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to Hashem all the earth…”

Also, at Ps. 100:1-3: “Make a joyful sound to Hashem, all the lands.  Serve Hashem with gladness. Come before His presence with singing.  Know that Hashem is God: it is He that made us, we are His,?[6] we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”

Finally, there is the approach that the word aleinu in the phrase: “For his ḥesed is great aleinu“ is broad enough to include the ḥesed performed for non-Israelites as well. In the time of the Rishonim, R. Moshe Ibn Gikatilah took this approach.?[7] In more modern times, among those who took this approach are Rav S.R. Hirsch and the Iyun Tefillah commentary in the Siddur Otzar Ha-Tefillot.?[8]

This is a simple way to read the phrase, but is this approach a sensible approach? Here is the weakness with it. If ḥesed is being performed for Israelites and non-Israelites- for example, God provides rain– why would the goyim praise the God of Israel? If the goyim are living in proximity to the Temple, we could understand that they would praise the God of Israel. But if the goyim are living anywhere else, it is hard to imagine that they would think that the God that they are supposed to praise is the God of Israel.?[9] It seems evident that it is only ḥesed performed for Israelites that will trigger the goyim to praise the God of Israel.

I would like to offer a different approach, one that is not mentioned by Rabbi Angel.?[10]

I know from my own extensive writings on the acrostics in the book of Psalms that the fifth book (chaps. 107-150) dates to the early Second Temple period. (Probably the fourth book does too.) See my Esther Unmasked (2015), pp. 207-230.?[11] With this background, we can suggest that the author of chapter 117 viewed the Jewish worship in the Temple as beneficial to all the nations. That is why he may be asking the nations to praise God for his goodness to the people Israel. God let the people of Israel rebuild their Temple.

Something like this approach is mentioned in the Soncino: “If, as the modern commentators hold, it is of post-exilic date, it proves that universalism was strong in the heart of the Jews when they were struggling to rebuild a national life, and that this task was undertaken in no chauvinist spirit.” I am sure that others prior to the Soncino suggested something like this as well.

I have also thought of a way that could help us decide whether “For his ḥesed is great aleinu“ includes ḥesed to non-Israelites and I have not seen the following argument elsewhere.

We can look at the rest of the verse: “and the emet of Hashem is forever…” “Emet” has two possible meanings here: “truth” or “trustworthiness.” Many give it a truth-related meaning here.?[12] But I think that it is more likely that it means “trustworthiness.” Let us look at Psalm 100. Psalm 100 ends: “Ki tov Hashem le-olam ḥasdo ve-ad dor va-dor emunato.” This verse is somewhat similar to 117:2, just that it has the word emunato, instead of emet. This suggests that “trustworthiness” is the meaning of the emet of 117:2.?[13] A reference to God’s trustworthiness seems to me to be more suggestive of keeping promises to Israelites than it is of keeping promises to both Israelites and non-Israelites.

——

I will close with the fascinating (and obviously homiletical) interpretation of R. Isaac of Volozhin (d. 1849). I will present it the way it is summarized in the ArtScroll Tehillim commentary, in the comments to Psalms 117:2: “Once, a Russian prince asked Rav Yitzchak (Reb Itzaleh) of Volozhin to explain why non-Jews instead of Jews, are expected to praise God for his kindness to Israel. Rav Yitzchak replied without hesitation: ’You princes plan countless anti-Semitic schemes with which to destroy us, but our Merciful God always manages to foil your plots. Your secret councils are so well guarded that we Jews don’t even realize all the ways in which you intended to harm us, nor how God has saved us. Only you gentiles see clearly how God’s kindness to us was overwhelming?[14]; therefore only you can praise him adequately!’ ”?[15]

[1] I would like to thank Sam Borodach for reviewing the draft of this article.

[2] The implication of gavar here is that the esed is so great that it is beyond measure. We see this from Psalm 103:11. See the Soncino and Daat Mikra there. I have seen the suggestion that because God’s esed to Israel has been so great and beyond measure, the Psalmist believes that Israel cannot adequately discharge its responsibility to praise God by itself. He therefore invites the rest of the world to praise God as well.

[3] See also Midrash Tehillim 117:2 which splits our two verses into three different voices.

[4] The last two words are a metaphor for “together;” i.e., joined by a single yoke.

[5] He cites the earlier scholar Yechezkel Kaufmann who takes this approach and who laughs at those who think that 117:1-2 is an anomaly.

[6] I am translating according to the kri, not the ketiv.

[7] He is cited in Ibn Ezra. He writes that God’s esed to all is that he keeps us alive and sustains us.

[8] P. 447. I am sure that others took this approach in modern times as well. This approach to verses 117:1-2 is also perhaps implicit at Midrash Tehillim 117:1 in the statement by R. Tanchum about rainfall: “rainfall brings joy to the entire world.” See Rabbi Angel’s article.

[9] A few centuries later, there were Gentiles known as “Godfearers” who lived close and far and who feared and praised the God of Israel. But there is little evidence that the book of Psalms is dated later than the Persian period and there is no evidence for Gentile “Godfearers” as early as the Persian period unless one gives this meaning to the “yirei Hashem” mentioned at Psalms 115:11, 118:4, and 135:19.

The Soncino commentary to 115:11 observes that many modern expositors understand the “yirei Hashem” references to be to “pious Gentiles who come to worship in the Temple.” But the Daat Mikra commentary mentions several possible interpretations: 1) Israelites who took on extra stringencies, 2) another term for all Israelites, 3) converts, and 4) asidei umot ha-olam. Another suggestion is that ”yirei Hashem” are Israelites who serve God out of fear, in contrast to “Beit Aharon,” Israelites who serve God out of love. See The Complete ArtScroll Siddur, p. 635 (citing Maharal). I thank Michael Alweis for pointing out the interpretive issue of “yirei Hashem” to me.

[10] Of course, his article was limited to responses by traditional Orthodox sources.

[11] The title of the article I am referring to here is: “The Pe/Ayin Order In Ancient Israel and Its Implications for the Book of Tehillim.”Earlier than this, I had similar shorter articles in Biblical Archaeology Review (July-Aug. 2012) and in Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38 (2014). Basically I concluded that the acrostics in the first book of Psalms (chapters 1-41) were composed with the older pe preceding ayin order and that the ayin preceding pe order (reflected in the acrostics of the fifth book) did not begin to be used in ancient Israel until the post-exilic period. (The acrostics in the book of Psalms are only found in the first and fifth books.) See in particular the Daat Mikra commentary to Psalms 34:18, n. 9. (Psalms 34:16-18 makes much better sense assuming an original pe preceding ayin order.)

Although Bava Batra 14b attributes the book of Psalms to David and others who lived earlier than him, Shir Ha-Shirim Rabbah 4:4 preserves the views of both Rav and R. Yochanan that Ezra was one of the ten figures involved in the composition of Psalms. A similar passage is found at Kohelet Rabbah 7:19. Also, the scholar Avi Hurvitz has shown that the Hebrew of the fourth and fifth books of Psalms is later than that of the earlier books. (Note that the word Halleluyah is only found in the fourth and fifth books.) In modern times, Malbim (intro. to Psalms) and Daat Mikra (intro. to Psalms, pp. 13 and 47) are willing to accept that parts of Psalms date to the early Second Temple period. The commentary of Rashbam on most of Psalms (discovered in the 1990’s in a library in Russia, but not yet fully published) takes this position as well. (For the passages, see the 1997 article by I. Ta-Shema in Tarbitz 66, p. 418. When Ta-Shema wrote his article, the identity of the author of this commentary was not yet known.) It bears emphasizing that at Psalms 126:1 we have the phrase “shivat Tziyon” and at 137:1 we have the phrase “al naharot Bavel sham bakhinu.” See also R. Hayyim Angel, Vision from the Prophet and Counsel from the Elders (2013), pp. 210-18.

[12] See, e.g., the 1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation (included at the top in the Soncino): “And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.”

[13] At Psalms 146:6, we have ha-shomer emet le-olam. Here too emet seems to have a trust-related meaning. See Daat Mikra.

[14]  In their translation in this work, ArtScroll translates the ki gavar phrase as “For His kindness to us was overwhelming.” That is why this phrase is used here. But see n. 2 above.

[15] The commentary is getting this story from iddushei HaGriz HaLevi on the Torah, Yitro 18:10. See similarly the Iyun Tefillah commentary in the Siddur Otzar Ha-Tefillot, p. 447.

—–

Is there any possibility that our two-verse chapter is only the remnant of a larger lost psalm? Daat Mikra rejects this. It points out that that there are three psalms that only have three verses: 131, 133 and 134. It admits that there are some Masoretic texts which join chapter 117 with either 116 or 118. But the texts that are generally more reliable (including the Aleppo Codex) have 117 as a separate chapter. In the Septuagint, it is also a separate chapter. Also, there is a Halleluyah at the end of 116 and another one at the end of 117. These words always indicate either a beginning or end of a chapter. Daat Mikra nevertheless concludes that Psalm 117 serves as an introduction to Psalm 118. This may be another way to determine the meaning of the aleinu of 117:2. But I will leave this potential direction to others.




How Jews of Yesteryear Celebrated Graduation from Medical School: Congratulatory Poems for Jewish Medical Graduates in the 17th and 18th Centuries: An Unrecognized Genre

How Jews of Yesteryear Celebrated Graduation from Medical School:
Congratulatory Poems for Jewish Medical Graduates in the 17th and 18th Centuries:
An Unrecognized Genre

Rabbi Edward Reichman, MD

Edward Reichman, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is the author of The Anatomy of Jewish Law: A Fresh Dissection of the Relationship Between Medicine, Medical History and Rabbinic Literature (Published by Koren Publishers/OU Press/YU Press, 2022), as well as the forthcoming, Pondering Pre-Modern(a) Pandemics in Jewish History: Essays Inspired by and Written during the Covid-19 Pandemic by an Emergency Medicine Physician (Shikey Press).

Prelude

    As the season of graduation is upon us, I thought to look for a copy of the Hebrew poem I received upon my graduation from medical school. My search however was in vain, as I ultimately realized that no such sonnet was ever composed. When I graduated medical school some years ago, my parents, a”h, were overjoyed. They purchased me a copy of the Physician’s Prayer of Maimonides [1] (which still hangs on my wall) from the then-popular olive wood factory on the bustling Meah Shearim Street in Jerusalem. My extended family, friends, classmates, and mentors shared in my accomplishment, but no tangible expression of their happiness was forthcoming (nor did I expect one). At that time, the notion of someone authoring a poem in honor of my graduation, was, suffice it to say, nowhere to be found in the gyri of my cerebral cortex, with which I had become intimately familiar from my neuroanatomy lectures.

    My transient memory, or more aptly, history lapse may perhaps be forgiven, as I currently spend a portion of my life in Early Modern Europe, immersed in the world of Jewish medical history. It is in this period where we will find the origins of my (only partially misguided) poetic yearnings.

Introduction

    This year I discovered an account of a poem in honor of the graduation of an 18th century Jewish medical student. It appeared some fifty years ago in the pages of Koroth, a journal of Jewish medical history.[2] The poem is housed in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana in the Netherlands, part of the Library of the University of Amsterdam. The article, written by the late Professor Joshua Leibowitz, grandfather of the academic field of Jewish medical history, and founding editor of Koroth, discusses the poem’s author, Isaac Belinfante, a poet, bibliophile, and preacher at the Ets Haim Synagogue in Amsterdam, and provides a transcription and commentary of the poem.

    As to the date of the poem, Leibowitz suggests around 1770.[3] About the recipient, whose name appears in the text of the poem, Leibowitz was unable to identify additional biographical information.

    Leibowitz’s most astonishing observation, however, was that “what we have before us is an occasional poem dedicated to a topic not found in Hebrew literature, the graduation of a physician.” This was the first and only poem of this type Leibowitz had encountered.[4]

    Here we revisit this poem and reclaim the lost identity of its recipient, solving one seemingly insignificant historical mystery. In the process, however, we discover that Leibowitz’s observation was profoundly mistaken, though by no fault of his own. This poem is in fact part of a much larger story in Jewish literary and medical history, one that can only now be adequately explored. We reveal an entire genre of literature in Jewish history that has gone largely unrecognized and underappreciated.

Section 1- Solving a 150-year-old Mystery

    Isaac Belinfante was a prominent personality and prolific poet in eighteenth century Amsterdam. He penned poems for friends, preachers, fellow poets, and as far as we know, only one poem for a graduating physician, Moses Rodrigues.

    Until today, the identity of Rodrigues and his medical institution has remained unknown.

The Date of the Poem

    Leibowitz writes that, “The external evidence would favour a date round about the year 1770, as most of the printed poems of Isaac Belinfante appeared at this time.” In fact, we needn’t seek external sources. An examination of the original manuscript reveals the date at the very bottom of the page.[5]

 

 

 

 

    The “A” is assumedly for annum, and the Hebrew year 5529 corresponds to 1768 or 1769. As we shall see, it refers to the latter. Leibowitz was off by only one year. I suspect he viewed a reproduction of the document, and the bottom of the page, which included the date, was simply left off the copy. Had he viewed the original, this notation would have surely not escaped his keen eye.

The Institution and Identity of the Graduate

    The text of the poem does not explicitly mention the institution. The physical presence of the poem in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana in Amsterdam might reflect that the recipient was Dutch or that he graduated from a Dutch university. The author of the poem lived in Amsterdam and the last name of the recipient, Rodrigues, was common in 18th century Amsterdam. However, based on the description of the graduation ceremony in the text of the poem, as well as other factors, Leibowitz writes that “we are inclined to suppose that Dr. Rodrigues obtained his degree abroad, possibly in Padua, as most of the Dutch Jewish physicians in the 17th and 18th centuries bore foreign diplomas.”[6]

Below is the relevant verse:

    The mention of the student’s rejoicing upon exiting the “house of the argument” is clearly a reference to the room where the graduation dissertation/disputation was held. The verse concludes with a description of the placing of a hat (biretta) on the graduate’s head and a ring on his finger. These are known features of the graduation ceremony from the University of Padua,[7] with which Leibowitz was quite familiar.[8]

    There is a spectacular illustration of this ceremony, which has gone unnoticed, found in the diploma of a Jewish medical graduate of Padua from 1687, Moses Tilche.[9]

    However, these elements were not necessarily unique to Padua. Indeed, while disputations were a prominent feature of most European universities, starting from the late fifteenth century (at least), the disputationes before obtaining a doctorate had fallen into disuse in Padua.[10] Leibowitz was not aware of this. The other graduation features were also not unique to Padua and were found in the commencement ceremonies of other European universities. Leibowitz believed this poem to be a unicum, and as such, he had no basis for comparison, or reference points to identify the institution.

    As for the graduate himself, Rodrigues is found nowhere in Friedenwald’s classic work,[11] nor in Nathan Koren’s expansive biographical index of Jewish physicians.[12] Moreover, despite the proliferation of online resources and databases, a Google search yields no results.

    Let us consider Leibowitz’s suggestion that Rodrigues was a graduate of a foreign medical school, such as Padua. Modena and Morpurgo compiled a comprehensive list, based on extensive archival research, of the Jewish students who attended the University of Padua from 1617-1816.[13] There is no Rodrigues listed among the students who either matriculated or graduated from the University of Padua.

    If Rodrigues did not attend Padua, perhaps he trained in Germany, as by this time Jews were widely accepted into German universities.[14] A review of these records again reveals no Moses Rodrigues. He is likewise not found amongst the of Jewish physicians in Poland at the time.[15]

    Having ruled out a foreign institution, we return to the land of the poem’s origin. Komorowski lists the graduation and dissertation of a Moses Rodrigues from Leiden in 1788,[16] but this is some twenty years after our poem was written. Perhaps a relative.

    This brings us to the work of Hindle Hes, who authored a monograph focusing exclusively on the Jewish physicians in the Netherlands.[17] Indeed, it is Professor Leibowitz who suggested to Hes the subject of her study.[18] (Perhaps he had hoped to resolve Rodrigues’ identity.) Hes lists a Mozes Rodrigues who graduated the University of Utrecht July 7, 1769,[19] the year of Belinfante’s poem. This aligns with the recipient of our poem. Rodrigues’ dissertation is pictured below.

    Moses Rodrigues hailed from Madrid and trained and practiced as a surgeon in Paris prior to his stay in Amsterdam. He later completed a medical degree in the University of Utrecht.20 In the University of Utrecht student registry,[21] he is listed as Moseh Rodrigues, Hyspanus, Chirurgus Amstelodamensis (surgeon from Amsterdam), reflecting that he had already been a practicing surgeon. The other students in the registry have no such descriptor, only their names appearing.

    In the four-page introduction to his Latin dissertation,[22] Rodriguez notes that he had been a practicing surgeon for twenty-seven years prior to obtaining his medical degree. Unfortunately, he provides little other personal biographical information. What would compel a practicing surgeon to obtain an additional medical degree later in life? The content of the introduction provides possible insight. At this stage of history, surgery and medicine were unique disciplines with very different training and focus. Surgeons rarely attended universities. Rodrigues strongly advocates for the synthesis and unity of surgical and medical training.

It is one thing, moreover, that I thought it best to advise publicly in this work, namely, that twin arts are by the worst design and custom and are descended from the same father from the intimacy by which they are tied together. I am pointing to the medical and surgical art, which they distinguish with differences in various places, so that the first is concerned with curing internal diseases, the second in curing external diseases. What a distinction, since I see it extended beyond what is equal, as if these parts of medicine were to be separated rather than to be joined together! I wish to subject this work to this admonition, and to prove my endeavors in promoting both arts to good and fair readers, because, when I shall have attained it, I shall seem to have rendered to me the most beautiful fruit of design or of labor.[23]

    Formal university training in medicine would surely advance this objective. It is also possible that despite his years of experience, Rodrigues needed a formal degree to procure a higher-level position in the Netherlands.[24]

    The content of Belinfante’s poem further corroborates our identification.[25]

    In describing the medical practice of Rodrigues, Belinfante invokes distinctly surgical practices. The graduate is described as healing every “netah,” traumatic injury (from the word nituah, anatomy, or in today’s usage, surgery), as well as “one struck from a flying arrow.”[26] He seals the “mouth” of every wound and closes every opening. There are references to his treatment of afflictions of the skin and bone, as well as punctured, mauled or amputated limbs, all the domain of the barber-surgeon. This description would not have been applicable to a typical medical graduate or practitioner of medicine, but was clearly relevant to Moses Rodrigues, a practitioner of surgery. As mentioned above, Rodrigues was identified as a practicing surgeon in his matriculation record. He is also so identified on the cover page of his dissertation.

    While Hes makes no mention of any poem, it is unlikely she would have come across this lone leaflet buried in the archives of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana.

    In sum, we have conclusively proven that Moseh Rodrigues, graduate of Utrecht in 1769, is the recipient of Belinfante’s ode. While there is satisfaction in the historical restoration of this one obscure poem, it pales in comparison to the discovery revealed in the next section.

Section 2- An Update to Leibowitz’s Observation- Congratulatory Poems in Honor of Jewish Medical Graduates

    In 1971, Leibowitz was compelled to write an article on the Rodrigues poem owing to his belief in the utter novelty of a sonnet for a Jewish medical graduate in the 18th century. How novel indeed was such an enterprise?

    In the last fifty years, a number of similar poems have come to light. Experts in Jewish Renaissance poetry have written about them;[27] bibliophiles, collectors and libraries own them; Jewish medical historians have footnoted them,[28] but I suspect none of them appreciates the extent of the proverbial forest.

    In the course of my research in the field of Jewish medical history, I have taken note of these poems, the majority of which were written for graduates of the University of Padua.

    Italian Hebrew poetry from the Renaissance and Early Modern Period, often in broadside form, has been and remains an eminently collectible category. These poems, written for a variety of occasions including weddings and funerals, are often part of larger manuscript and book collections of bibliophiles, and while some remain in private hands, many have landed in major institutions.[29] Among these collections, we find poems written for medical graduates of Padua.[30] Thus far, I have identified a record of one hundred poems,[31] mostly in Hebrew, written for sixty five medical graduates, all from the University of Padua during the 17th to early 19th centuries.[32]

    Similar poems can also be found for Jewish graduates in the Netherlands and Germany, though in smaller numbers.[33] The timeline of their appearance mirrors the transition of Jewish medical training from Padua to the Netherlands to Germany.[34]

    Though Leibowitz had no access to other poems, his conjecture was Padua as the student’s place of graduation.[35] While the recipient of that particular poem happened to be a Dutch university graduate, Leibowitz’s instincts were essentially correct. We now know that this genre of poetry for the Jewish medical student, in particular in Padua, was quite common.

Below I provide some observations of the congratulatory poetry for Jewish medical graduates.

Graduates of the University of Padua[36]

    Padua was the first university to allow Jews to formally train in medicine, and for a number of centuries, it was the only one. It is thus in association with the University of Padua that we find the earliest and most plentiful examples of our genre of poetry.

Chronological Span

    The poems range primarily from the 1620’s to the 1780’s, with some outliers expanding the dates from 1600 to 1836. One of the earliest examples is a poem written by Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh De Modena for the graduate David Loria.[37] The original, likely in the author’s hand, resides in the Bodleian Library.[38]

Format

    While the majority of the Padua poems are found in broadside format, some are found in book form, and others in manuscript. The broadside below, in honor of the graduate Jacob Coen (1691), is a typical example.[39]

Authors

    The authors include mentors, fellow students or recent graduates, family members, and poets (e.g., Simha Calimani and Isaiah Romanin). Some of the prominent personalities included among the authors are Rabbi Yehuda Arye de Modena, Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto (Ramal), Rabbi Solomon Marini, and Rabbi Isaac Hayyim Cantarini. The example below, written by Ramal in honor of the graduation of Emanuele Calvo (1724),[40] is one of at least eight poems he authored for Padua graduates.[41]

Recipients

    For most of the graduates for whom we possess poems, we have only one example. A number of students however received multiple poems. For example, Joseph Hamitz (Padua, 1623) received eleven poems; Salomon Lustro (Padua, 1697)- eight; Shemarya (Marco) Morpurgo (Padua- 1747)- four. Below is a manuscript copy of a poem by Shabbetai Marini[42] in honor of Lustro. Marini, a fellow alumnus of Padua from 1685, and author of a number of graduate poems, also translated Ovid’s Metamorphosis into Hebrew.[43]

Numbers and Percentage of Students

    What percentage of medical graduates received congratulatory poems? Modena and Morpurgo list a total of 325 Jewish medical graduates from 1617-1816. We have a record of poems for sixty students in this period. We thus have poems for around 20% of the medical graduates from over a 200-year period. These are only the poems of which we are aware. As these poems were typically produced as ephemeral broadsides, there are certainly poems that have not survived. The actual percentage of student poems is thus likely higher.

Location

    The poems and broadsides derive primarily from the following institutions- the National Library of Israel (NLI),[44] the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the Valmadonna Trust,[45] the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and the Kaufmann Collection at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Hungary.[46] In a number of cases, a copy of the same poem is found in more than one library. There are likely poems in both private and public hands that have not yet surfaced.

Congratulatory Poems from Netherlands and Germany

    While the lion’s share of congratulatory poems are connected to Padua, there are examples from other countries as well. In the mid-seventeenth century, universities in the Netherlands (Utrecht, Franeker, Leiden) began accepting Jewish medical students. I have begun exploring the dissertations of Jewish medical graduates of the Netherlands and their value for the study of Jewish medical history. A comprehensive study remains a desideratum. The poems from the Netherlands, and from Germany as well, are not found in broadside form, but rather appended to the medical student dissertations. In Padua there were no dissertations within which to append poems, thus the poems were issued as broadsides. The broadside form was also used for other types of poetry in Italy at this time. Below is an example of a poem for a graduate of the University of Leiden, one of the premier medical schools in the world at this time. Salomon Gumpertz graduated Leiden in 1684 with the following dissertation.

    Appended to the dissertation is a poem written by his relative and fellow graduate, Phillip Levi (AKA Yehoshua Feibelman).

    While there is no poem at the end of Levi’s own dissertation, there is a short prayer in Hebrew composed by Levi himself to celebrate the completion of his medical studies.[47]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessed is the Lord who has not withheld his kindness from me and has bestowed upon me kindness and wisdom to learn the discipline of medicine. I hope that God will grant me blessing and success in my efforts and the scattered people of Israel from the four corners of the earth should be gathered, our exile should come to a speedy end, and God should send us to our land through the aegis of our Messiah speedily in our days, Amen.

    The Leiden University Senate was less than enamored by Levi’s addition and despite his graduation with honors censured him for concluding with a prayer insulting Christianity. The prayer ends with a plea to God to hasten the end of the exile by bringing “our Messiah” speedily in our days. The Senate added a warning as well for any future Jewish students to abstain from similar expressions.[48]

    We also find poems attached to medical dissertations of Jewish students in 18th century Germany. However, while in the Netherlands there were only three of four major universities where Jews attended, with Leiden being the most common, in Germany, there were many universities that opened their doors to Jews in the 18th century and onwards.[49] A proper study of the congratulatory poetry for Jewish medical graduates in Germany would be more challenging. Below is one example, a poem in honor of the graduation of Jonas Jeitteles[50] by Avraham HaKohen Halberstadt.

    Jonas was the Chief Physician of the Jewish community of Prague. In 1784, Joseph II granted Jonas and “his successors” the right to treat patients “without consideration of their religion.” He is best remembered for his campaign supporting Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccination, for which he received the approbation of Rabbi Mordechai Banet.

Congratulatory Poems for Jewish Medical Graduates- A Genre Whose Time has Come

    Even today, manuscripts or books hidden for centuries are occasionally discovered and brought to light.[51] In this case however, it is not one item, nor even one genizah or repository that we have revealed, rather, recently discovered and previously unidentified items in collections across the world that constitute, in their aggregate, a unique genre of poetry. Imagine that just fifty years ago the founder of the field of Jewish medical history was aware of only one example.

    The collection of Jewish medical graduate poems as a whole merits recognition as a unique entity and awaits comprehensive cataloging and research.[52] To be sure, the concept of congratulatory poetry written upon completion of academic study, including medical education,[53] was not limited to Padua, nor was it limited to Jewish students. There was a broader practice of writing congratulatory poems, often in Greek or Latin, at the end of academic dissertations.[54] Nor was the use of the Hebrew language for this poetic expression restricted to the Jewish community. There was even a practice by non-Jews, typically Christian Hebraists, to write congratulatory poems in Hebrew.[55] Comparison of these different bodies of literature will surely be the substance of future dissertations, but there is no doubt that our genre will have a unique place in history.

    Jews throughout history were often restricted in their choice of professions, limited to money lending or medicine. Though allowed to become physicians, Jews were barred by papal decree from obtaining a university education. It was around the 16th century that the first academic institution, the University of Padua officially accepted Jewish students. Next would be universities in the Netherlands, starting in the mid-17th century, followed by Germany in the early 18th century and others. It is in this historical context that the congratulatory poems for Jewish medical students evolved. The collective community elation at the newly allowed entrance into the world’s leading academic institutions is reflected in these sonnets.

Conclusion

    Writing in 1971 about a manuscript of a poem he had recently discovered, Leibowitz claimed that the congratulatory poem for Jewish medical graduates was “a topic not found in Hebrew literature.” We now know just how untrue this statement is. It is not only “found in Hebrew literature,” but it was a common practice spanning over two hundred years and multiple countries. More examples will surely be discovered. While extensive research has been done for the Paduan poems, more work is needed to explore and identify the poems from graduates of the Netherlands, Germany,[56] and other countries.[57]

    For a variety of reasons, the unique genre of poetry for the Jewish medical graduate has all but disappeared in the modern era. This at least partially reflects the dissipation of the novelty of the concept of the university-trained Jewish physician. While arguably a positive trend, it nonetheless behooves us to restore this underappreciated genre to its rightful glory. Though I hesitate to call for a resurrection of the enterprise, partially due to my personal literary ineptitude, at the very least a recollection of the practice would serve to imbue today’s Jewish medical graduates with a renewed sense of pride and historical perspective.

 

[1] This prayer of a “renowned Jewish physician in Egypt from the 12th century” was first published anonymously in German in 1783 in Deutches Museum 1 (January-June, 1783), 43-45. On the history of the dissemination, attribution and authorship of this prayer, see J. O. Leibowtz, Dapim Refuiim 1:13 (March, 1954), 77-81; Fred Rosner, “The Physician’s Prayer Attributed to Moses Maimonides,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 41:5 (1967), 440-457. Below is a picture (taken by the author) of a letter written by the Chief Rabbi of England, Rabbi J. H. Hertz, to Sir William Osler about the prayer.

 

[2] J. O. Leibowitz, “An 18th Century Manuscript Poem by I. Belinfante Honouring a Medical Graduate,” Koroth 5:7-8 (February, 1971), 427-434 (Hebrew) and LI-LIV (English).

[3] My summary of Leibowitz’s assessments is a composite of both the Hebrew and English versions of the article, which contain different information.

[4] As a footnote, he adds that he later discovered one additional poem of this type by Ephraim Luzzatto in honor of Barukh Ḥefetz (AKA Benedetto Gentili). This poem is published in Luzzatto’s collection of poetry. See Meir Letteris, ed., Ephraim Luzzatto, Eleh Bene ha-Ne’urim, (Druck und Verlag des Franz Edlen von Schmid: Wien, 1839), 43-44 (poem no. 27).

[5] Hs. Ros. Pl. B-23;L. Fuks, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Biblioteca Rosenthaliana University Library (Leiden, 1973), no. 317. I thank Rachel Boertjens, Curator of the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, for kindly providing me a copy of the poem.

[6] For a discussion about a physician from Amsterdam who obtained a foreign diploma, see E. Reichman, “The ‘Doctored’ Medical Diploma of Samuel, the Son of Menaseh ben Israel: Forgery of ‘For Jewry’,” Seforim Blog (link), March 23, 2021. Since the publication of this article, I discovered a record of Samuel’s matriculation at the University of Leiden Medical School on July 1, 1653 (along with his cousin Josephus Abarbanel), thus further buttressing my theory that his Oxford diploma is genuine and that he had received medical training elsewhere prior to obtaining his diploma from Oxford in 1655.

[7] The ceremony also included the symbolic opening and closing of a book to reflect the transmission of knowledge, as well as the placement of a wreath, and a kiss on the graduate’s cheek.

[8] Joshua Leibowitz, “William Harvey’s Diploma from Padua, 1602,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 12 (1957), 395.

[9] Gross Family Collection, Israel. I thank William Gross for graciously providing me a copy of the diploma. On the diplomas of the Jewish graduates of the University of Padua, see E. Reichman, “Confessions of a Would-be Forger: The Medical Diploma of Tobias Cohn (Tuvia Ha-Rofeh) and Other Jewish Medical Graduates of the University of Padua,”in Kenneth Collins and Samuel Kottek, eds., Ma’ase Tuviya (Venice, 1708): Tuviya Cohen on Medicine and Science (Jerusalem: Muriel and Philip Berman Medical Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2021), 79-127.

[10]  Personal correspondence with Francesco Piovan, Chief Archivist, University of Padua (March 18, 2022). The rare disputationes that were offered were only oral, and these were for Paduan citizens who wished to be admitted into a Collegium after their doctorate.

[11] Harry Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine (Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1944).

[12] Nathan Koren, Jewish Physicians: A Biographical Index (Israel Universities Press: Jerusalem, 1973).

[13] Abdelkader Modena and Edgardo Morpurgo (with editing and additions done posthumously by Aldo Luzzatto, Ladislao Munster and Vittore Colorni), Medici E Chirurghi Ebrei Dottorati E Licenziati Nell Universita Di Padova dal 1617 al 1816 (Bologna, 1967). While there have been some subsequent additions, this work, based on extensive archival research, remains the definitive reference on the Jewish medical students of Padua. It was published in Italy just four years before Leibowitz’s article was released, and he may not have yet been familiar with it.

[14] On the Jews in German medical schools, see Louis Lewin, “Die Judischen Studenten an der Universitat Frankfurtan der Oder,” Jahrbuch der Judisch Literarischen Gesellschaft 14 (1921), 217-238; Idem, “Die Judischen Studentenan der Universitat Frankfurt an der Oder,” Jahrbuch der Judisch Literarischen Gesellschaft 15 (1923), 59-96; Idem, “Die Judischen Studenten an der Universitat Frankfurt an der Oder,” Jahrbuch der Judisch Literarischen Gesellschaft 16 (1924), 43-87; Adolf Kober, “Rheinische Judendoktoren,Vornehmlich des 17 und 18 Jahrhunderts, ”Festschriftzum 75 Jährigen Bestehen des Jüdisch-Theologischen Seminars Fraenckelscher Stiftung, Volume II, (Breslau: Verlag M. & H. Marcus, 1929), 173-236; Idem, “Judische Studenten und Doktoranden der Universitat Duisberg im 18 Jahrhundert,” Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums Jahrg. 75 (N. F. 39), H. 3/4 (March/April 1931), 118-127; Monika Richarz, Der Eintritt der Juden in die akademischen Berufe: Judische Studenten Und Akademiker in Deutschland 1678-1848 (Schriftenreihe Wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen Des Leo Baeck: Tubingen, 1974); Wolfram Kaiser and Arina Volker, Judaica Medica des 18 und des Fruhen 19 Jahrhundertsin den Bestanden des Halleschen Universitatsarchivs (Wissenschaftliche Beitrage der Martin Luther Universitat Halle-Wittenberg: Halle, 1979); M. Komorowski, Bio-bibliographisches Verzeichnisjüdischer Doktoren im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (K. G. Saur Verlag: Munchen, 1991); Eberhard Wolff, “Between Jewish and Professional identity: Jewish Physicians in Early 19th Century Germany-The Case of Phoebus Philippson,” Jewish Studies 39 (5759), 23-34.John Efron, Medicine and the German Jews (Yale University Press: New Haven, 2001); Wolfram Kaiser,“ L’Enseignement Medical et les Juifs a L’Universite de Halle au XVIII Siecle” in Gad Freudenthal and Samuel Kottek, Melanges d’Histoire de la Medicine Hebraique (Brill: Leiden, 2003), 347-370; Petra Schaffrodt, Heidelberg-Juden ander Universitat Heidelberg: Dokumente aus Sieben Jahrhunderten (Ruprecht Karls Universitat Heidelberg Universitatsbibliothek, August, 2012); Steffi Katschke, “Jüdische Studenten an der Universität Rostock im 18. Jahrhun-dert. Ein Beitrag zur jüdischen Bildungs-und Sozialgeschichte,” in Gisela Boeck und Hans-Uwe Lammel, eds., Jüdische kulturelle und religiöse Einflüsse auf die Stadt Rostock und ihre Universität (Jewish cultural and religious influences on the city of Rostock and its university) (Rostocker Studien zur Universitätsgeschichte, Band 28: Rostock 2014), 29-40; Malgorzata Anna Maksymiak and Hans-Uwe Lammel, “Die Bützower Jüdischen Doctores Medicinae und der Orientalist O. G. Tychsen,” in Rafael Arnold, et. al., eds., Der Rostocker Gelehrte Oluf Gerhard Tychsen (1734-1815) und seine Internationalen Netzwerke (Wehrhahn Verlag, 2019), 115-133.

[15] N. M. Gelber, “History of Jewish Physicians in Poland in the 18th Century,” (Hebrew) in Y. Tirosh, ed., Shai li-Yesha‘yahu, (Tel Aviv: Ha-Merkaz le-Tarbut shel ha-Po‘el ha-Mizraḥi, 5716), 347–37.

[16]  Komorowski, op.cit., 68.

[17] Hindle Hes, Jewish Physicians in the Netherlands (Van Gorcum: Assen, 1980), 140.

[18] Hes, op.cit., XI.

[19] Hes gleaned her information from an article by David Ezechial Cohen, the Dutch physician and medical historian.

De Amsterdamasche Joodsche Chirurgijns” N.T.v.G. 74 I. (May 3, 1930), 2234-2256, esp. 2252. On Cohen, see Hes, op.cit., 26. Cohen authored a number of articles in the Netherlands Journal of Medicine on the history of Jewish surgeons and physicians in Amsterdam.

[20] Album studiosorum Academiae rheno-traiectinae MDCXXXVI-MDCCCLXXXVI. Accedunt nomina curatorum etprofessorum per eadem secula (Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1886), 164.

[21] This is not noted by either Hes or Cohen.

[22] De Indicationibus pro re Nata Mutandis, University of Utrecht (July 7, 1769).

[23] Translation by Demetrios Paraschos.

[24] “Although Jews with foreign degrees were permitted to engage in medicine as general practitioners, tolerance was not extended to tertiary education.” George Weisz and William Albury, “Rembrandt’s Jewish Physician Dr. Ephraim Beuno (1599-1665): A Brief Medical History,” Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal 4:2 (April 2013), 1-4.

[25] The second and third stanzas from the original alongside Leibowitz’s transcription.

[26] Line 3 of stanza 2 is an allusion to Tehillim, Chap. 91.

[27] See, for example, Devora Bregman Tzror Zehuvim(Ben Gurion University: Be’er Sheva, 1997), 200 and idem,Shevil haZahav (Ben Gurion University: Be’er Sheva, 1997), 186.

[28] See Abdelkader Modena and Edgardo Morpurgo, Medici E Chirurghi Ebrei Dottorati E Licenziati Nell Universita Di Padova dal 1617 al 1816 (Bologna, 1967).

[29] The institutions include the National Library of Israel (NLI), the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS),the Valmadonna Trust, the British Libraryand the Kaufmann Collection at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Hungary. The Valmadonna Trust poems were recently integrated into the NLI, and a number of medical poems are featured in S. Liberman Mintz, S. Seidler-Feller, and D. Wachtel (eds.), The Writing on the Wall: A Catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from the Valmadonna Trust Library (London, 2015).

[30] The medical poems are sometimes found hidden and unidentified, together with other Italian occasional poems written for weddings, memorials, or other assorted events. See, for example, the previously unidentified poem written in honor of Abram Macchioro’s graduation from Padua in 1698, which is buried in a large collection of miscellaneous poems (NLI, system n. 990001920200205171, folio 19r).

[31] In book, manuscript and broadside form.

[32] Edward Reichman, “Congratulatory Poems for the Jewish Medical Graduates of the University of Padua,” forthcoming. Only a few of these poems are not extant.

[33] These are not found in broadside form.

[34] See Edward Reichman, “The Mystery of the Medical Training of the Many Isaac Wallichs: Amsterdam (1675),Leiden (1675), Padua (1683) and Halle (1703),” Hakirah 31 (Winter 2022), 313-330.

[35] Returning to the poem briefly, despite being the beneficiaries of a database of sorts, we would not be in any better position today to identify Rodrigues’ institution from internal evidence of the poem alone. While many of the Padua poems share a similar form, they come in many different varieties of size and style. While this poem has certain similar features and conforms to the general style of some of the extant poems of Padua, this alone is not dispositive. Several of the Padua poems mention the university explicitly, but inconsistently; thus, absence of its mention does not preclude the poem’s association with Padua. See, for example, the poem written by Isaiah Roman in in honor of the graduation of Yisrael Gedaliah Cases in 1733 (JTS Library Ms. 9027 V5:26). As to whether the poem’s location in the Netherlands presents a challenge for positing a Paduan origin, suffice it to say that of all extant Padua poems for Jewish medical students, a sum total of one is found in Italy (the poem for Samuele Coen 1702). The others can be found in libraries in Israel, America, England, and Hungary, though I have yet to locate as ingle Padua poem in the Netherlands. Leibowitz’s instincts however were correct, and by pure statistics alone, not knowing the identity of the student, the odds would certainly favor a Paduan source. Fortunately, this entire exercise is rendered moot once the identity of the student has been revealed.

[36] What follows is drawn from my forthcoming work on the congratulatory poems from Padua.

[37] On Loria, see Edward Reichman, “From Graduation to Contagion: Jewish Physicians Facing Plague in Padua, 1631” The Lehrhaus (link), September 8, 2020.

[38] MS. Michael 528, 60 recto, number 341.This poem was published in Simon Bernstein, Divan of Rabbi Yehuda Arye MiModena (Hebrew) (Philadelphia, 1932), n. 79.I thank Sam Sales, Superintendent, Special Collections Reading Rooms, Bodleian Library for his assistance and graciousness in locating and providing copies of this manuscript.

[39] This copy is from the JTS Library, Ms. 9027 V5:5. Another copy is found in the British Library, The Oriental and India Office Collections, Shelfmark 1978.f.3.

[40] JTS Library, Ms. 9027 V5:8. See Y. Zemora, Rabi Moshe Ḥayyim Luzzatto, Sefer HaShirim (Mosad HaRav Kook: Jerusalem, 5710), 10-11.

[41] The other graduates are Elia Consigli (1723), Elia Cesana (1727), Jacob Alpron (1727), Marco Coen (1728), Yekutiel Gordon (1732), Israel Gedalya Cases (1733), and Salomon Lampronti, (1734). On the relationship between Luzzatto and the medical students of Padua, see, for example, Morris Hoffman, trans., Isaiah Tishby, Messianic Mysticism: Moses Hayim Luzzatto and the Padua School (Oxford: The Littman Library, 2008).

[42]  On Marini, see M. Benayahu,“Rabbi Avraham Ha-Kohen Mi-Zanti U-Lehakat Ha-Rof ’im Ha-Meshorerim Be-Padova,”Ha-Sifrut26 (1978): 108-40, esp. 110-111.

[43] See Jacob Goldenthal, Rieti und Marini: Dante und Ovid in Hebräischer Umkleidung (Vienna: Gerold, 1851); Laura Roumani,“Le Metamorfosidi Ovidio nella traduzione ebraica di Shabbetay Hayyim Marini di Padova” [Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated into Hebrew by Shabtai Ḥayim Marini from Padua] (PhD diss., University of Turin, 1992); idem, “The Legend of Daphne and Apollo in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Translated into Hebrew by Shabbetay Ḥayyim Marini” [in Italian], Henoch (Turin University) 13 (1991): 319–335.

[44] The NLI also has reference and reproductions of many of the poems found in the other collections.

[45] See S. Liberman Mintz, S. Seidler-Feller, and D. Wachtel (eds.), The Writing on the Wall: A Catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from the Valmadonna Trust Library (London, 2015).

[46] Prior to their landing in these major libraries and institutions, many of these poems belonged to private collectors including Moses Soave, David Kaufmann and Meir Beneyahu.

[47] See Hes, op.cit., 95.

[48] Philip Christiaan Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit 1574-1811 (s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1916-1923), vol. 4, p. *194, entry for June 5, 1684.

[49] Examples include Heidelberg, Geissen, Berlin,Duisberg, Halle, Butzow, Rostack, Gottingen, Frankfurt, and Erlangen.

[50] See the biography of Jonas Jeitteles by his son, Yehuda ben Jona Jeitteles, Bnei haNe’urim (Prague 1821).

[51] See David Israel, “Newly Discovered Jewish Genizah in Cairo Grabbed by Egyptian Government” Jewish Press Online (March 24, 2022). Time will tell what hidden gems this cache will reveal. See also, for example, Edward Reichman, “The Discovery of a Hidden Treasure in the Vatican and the Correction of a Centuries-Old Error,” the Seforim Blog (link), January 11, 2022.

[52] The Valmadonna Trust Library, now incorporated into the National Library of Israel, began the process, and identified a separate category of broadside poems honoring Jewish medical graduates. See The Writing on the Wall, op.cit., 166-169.

[53] See Jaap Harskamp, Disertatio Medica Inauguralis… Leyden Medical Dissertations in the British Library 1593-1746 (Catalogue of a Sloane-inspired Collection) (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1997), 270, where the author lists all the medical dissertations from the University of Leiden housed in the British Library collection that contain congratulatory poetry. There are hundreds on this list alone, and this does not include other Dutch universities.

[54] Bernhard Schirg, Bernd Roling, and Stefan Heinrich Bauhaus, eds., Apotheosis of the North: The Swedish Appropriation of Classical Antiquity around the Baltic Sea and Beyond (1650 to 1800) (De Gruyter: Berlin, 2017),64ff. As dissertations were not typically required for graduation at the University of Padua, the congratulatory poems were usually produced as separately published broadsides. However, I have as yet to find poetry written for non-Jewish medical graduates of the University of Padua.

[55] Andrea Gotz, “A Corpus of Hebrew-Language Congratulatory Poems by 17th-Century Hungarian Peregrine Students: Introducing the Hebrew Carmina Gratulatoria (HCG) Corpus and its Research Potentials,” Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica 11:3 (2019), 17-32; Jozsef Zsengeller, “Hebrew Carmina Gratulatoria from Franeker by Georg Martonfalvi and His Students,” Reformatus Szemle 114:2 (2021), 125-158.We rarely find these for medical dissertations. One example is the poem by György Magnus, found in the dissertation of Sámuel Kochmeister, “De Apoplexia,” from 1668, submitted at Wittenberg. I thank Andrea Gotz for this reference.

[56] As opposed to the case of Padua, where the poetry was published as ephemeral broadsides, and one can never know how many poems did not survive the test of time, poems found in association with dissertations are more likely to endure. Copies of student dissertations, wherein the poetry would be found, are typically preserved in university archives. We can therefore get a better idea of the true prevalence of this genre of poetry in the Netherlands and Germany. From a comprehensive review of the Jewish student dissertations, we will learn the percentage of Jewish students for whom poems were written, the language and quality of the poetry, and the identification of the authors. Moreover, these dissertations also often contain introductions, acknowledgments, and other appended material, which represent an untapped source of historical and genealogical information.

[57] Other universities opened to Jewish students in the 18thcentury, including Jagalonian University, and the universities of Pest, Lemberg, Prague, Vienna, and Warsaw, for example. Universities in Odessa and Kiev were only established in the mid to late 19thcentury. I have yet to find poems for graduates of these institutions.




Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part II

Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part II

By Ezra Brand

Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached at ezrabrand-at-gmail.com; any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. This post is a continuation. The first part of this post is here.

11.Tools and Indexes

There are some very powerful tools for researching primary and secondary sources.

Gone are the days when one is completely at the mercy of memory, concordance, index, or colleagues. Many of the websites in the previous section (“Primary texts”) have good hyperlinked navigation pages. In addition, they have very good search capabilities. In addition to this, there are websites which are dedicated to search and indexes, that provide powerful capabilities that the previously mentioned websites don’t have.

Open-access

  1. Dicta.
    1. Search is highly recommended.
    2. From the About Us page: “Dicta applies cutting edge machine learning and natural language processing tools to the analysis of Hebrew texts.”
    3. Created by Prof. Moshe Koppel of Bar-Ilan University, who has written for Seforim Blog (see here). List of their search and other tools, all very cool and quite user-friendly and hyper-modern UX/UI, in the best way:
      1. Tanach search: “Search the Bible intuitively, with no need to worry about alternate spellings, prefixes and suffixes or sorting out multiple meanings of a word. Dicta’s search engine understands what you’re looking for.”
      2. Talmud Search: “Search the Talmud and Mishnah for words and phrases intuitively, with no need to worry about alternate spellings and multiple meanings. Dicta’s search engine understands what you’re looking for.”
      3. Quick Nakdan: “Automatically add nikud (vocalization) to text as you type.”
      4. Citation finder: “Identify exact or approximate quotations of biblical and talmudic sources in a given text.”
      5. Rabbinic Abbreviation Expander: “Expand abbreviations in Rabbinic texts. An entered text will be displayed including expanded abbreviations. The automated expansions are editable by the user.”
      6. Synopsis Builder: “Align two or more versions of the same (arbitrarily long) text, highlighting differences between versions and matching parallel words, including variant spellings and synonyms.”
      7. Stylistic Segmentation: “Partition any selected text into distinct stylistic components. For example, a multi-authored text can be automatically decomposed and displayed so that distinct authorial threads are shown in different colors.”
      8. Charuzit: “Find rhymes, assonance, and alliteration for any given Hebrew word. Search results can be filtered by entering semantic words and configuring various grammatical settings.”
  2. Parallels in Yerushalmi (מקבילות לירושלמי).
    1. Project of Prof. Leib Moscovitz of Bar-Ilan University.
    2. From the About page:
      1. “This site contains lists of sources and parallels to the Jerusalem Talmud, from the Bible, the literature of the Tannaim (Mishnah, Tosefta, and the Halachic Midrashim), the Jerusalem Talmud itself, and the classic Aggadic Midrashim of the Land of Israel. For some of the Tractates, parallels from the Babylonian Talmud are also recorded.”
  3. Escriptorium
    1. From the homepage: “A project providing digital recognition of handwritten documents using machine learning techniques.”[13]

12.Bibliographic info

Open-access

  1. Merhav – The National Library (מרחב – הספרייה הלאומית של ישראל).
    1. Recommended. Tremendous bibliographic resource, besides for being a powerful search tool (mentioned also above, under “Search”).
    2. Overview at their website here (Hebrew): “The National Library’s collection includes about five million items, including books, manuscripts, journals, maps, music and audio-visual and electronic material, in a variety of languages.
  2. The Bibliography of The Hebrew Book (also here) (מפעל הביבליוגרפיה העברית).
    1. My understanding is that “The Bibliography of The Hebrew Book” has been incorporated into “Merhav”. See also National Library’s guides here: https://www.nli.org.il/en/research-and-teach/catalogs/bibliographic-databases
    2. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “A body designated for the editing of a bibliography of Jewish printing. The project lists and describes all the books printed in Hebrew characters in the Hebrew language and in the languages ​​of the Jews (Yiddish, Ladino, Judaeo-Arabic, etc.) from the first Hebrew incunabula in the year 1475, until about 1960. The bibliographic database was built on the basis of the collections of the National Library and other collections in Israel and around the world. The bibliography numbers over 141,000 bibliographic and 15,000 biographical entries, and includes: books, journals and individual pages (ephemera). Each publication is reviewed by the project staff, and the description of the books is very broad and comprehensive than their description in the National Library catalog, and includes, for example: book approvals (הסכמות לספרים), introductions written by other authors, and the like. As of 2011, the project recorded and described close to 90% of the world’s Jewish books and is online on the National Library website.”
  3. Thesaurus of Talmudic Manuscripts
    1. Hosted at the Hachi Garsinan website, mentioned earlier. Requires registration (free).
    2. Based on Y. Sussman, Thesaurus of Talmudic Manuscripts, Jerusalem 2012. With Friedberg updates, edited by M. Katz, September 2017.

Requires subscription or purchase

  1. Talmud Yerushalmi Citation Database (מאגרי מידע לתלמוד בבלי). Requires subscription.
    1. Project of Dr. Moshe Pinchuk of Netanya Academic College.[14] 

13.Indexes

Open access

  1. Halacha Brura Institute – Virtual Library (מכון הלכה ברורה – ספריה וירטואלית).
    1. This is an incredible project.
    2. From the webpage: “The Halacha Brura Institute centralizes here links to seforim that are on the Internet at various websites, in full text, some as text and some as images, to save the visit to libraries.”
    3. Has an extensive methodology of symbols to mark the website where the work is found, and the file type.
    4. Ironically, Halacha Brura’s own meta-index of its own indexes is unfortunately not very good, there’s no full sitemap available on the website, and the organization of the webpages doesn’t isn’t always the best (for example, Rambam and commentators and Responsa are on the same page). Presumably, this is because webpages were split as they got larger. In any case, to help with this issue, I created my own meta-index of Halacha Brura’s indexes, see appendix.
    5. This project appears to be affiliated with the Rambam Library (ספריית הרמב”ם – בית אריאלה) in Tel-Aviv, though it’s not clearly stated on their website. See the appendix.
  2. Bibliography of works in Judeo-Arabic (אתר פרידברג לביבלוגרפיה בערבית יהודית).
    1. From the webpage:
      1. “The aim of this website is to present to all scholars, researchers and, in general, users interested in Judeo-Arabic texts, a comprehensive bibliography of all works in Judeo-Arabic ever printed, in a variety of formats, with some filtering capabilities.
      2. The list, with some 1,500 entries, is intended to cover all regions of publications and all periods of the works’ writings, up until and including the very early works of the 21st century.”
  3. Seforimonline.org .
    1. Well-organized, publications can be sorted by place of publication, year, etc. There also seem to be works there not found in other websites. (Halacha Brura’s index above sometimes links to Seforimonline.org.)
  4. Heichal Menahem (היכל מנחם).
    1. E-commerce website selling seforim. Can be used as a kind of index of recently published seforim, with lots of bibliographical info and pictures.

14.Secondary literature

15.Books

There are a nice amount of academic books available online, especially more recent ones.

Open-access

  1. Society for the Interpretation of the Talmud (האיגוד לפרשנות התלמוד). Scholarly interpretation of Talmud Bavli, written in Modern Hebrew.
    1. Recommended. The first seven of their publications are available there (published between 2006 – 2016). Does not include the most recent publications published 2019 – 2021. The level of scholarship is very high.
    2. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “A series of commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud based on scientific research as well as a traditional-religious interpretation. Most of the project’s books are available for public use as PDF files on the Society’s website, along with additional unpublished reference materials. The chairman of the association is its founder, Professor Shama Friedman, and its management consists of Prof. Yeshayahu Gafni, Prof. Gideon Libson and Prof. Shmuel Shilo.”
  2. AsifSifriyat Asif (אסיף ספריית אסיף). Dissertations in Hebrew, written by scholars associated with hesder and Religious-Zionist institutions. Also whole seforim and Torah journals divided neatly and searchable, many of them of potential scholarly interest, well-annotated and sourced (such as R’ David Bruckner’s series Mishnat Tana’im).
  3. P’sik (פסיק) . Scholarly books in Hebrew, for a more popular audience, mostly on Bible and contemporary religious thought.
    1. From Bar-Ilan University’s library guide: “The digital book platform is designed for reading and academic research.”
  4. De Gruyter. Academic publisher. Has around 100 open-access books in English categorized as on Jewish topics available for download.[15]
  5. JSTOR.
    1. Many open-access books, see the books marked “open-access”.
    2. Especially JSTOR, Brown Judaic Studies. Currently around 65 open-access books. From the “Publisher Description”:
      1. “Brown Judaic Studies has been publishing scholarly books in all areas of Judaic studies for forty years. Our books, many of which contain groundbreaking scholarship, were typically printed in small runs and are not easily accessible outside of major research libraries. We are delighted that with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program, we are now able to make available, in digital, open-access, format, fifty titles from our backlist. Once digitized the volumes will be freely available through ProjectMUSE, JSTOR, ACLS Open Humanities and the Hathi Trust.”

Requires subscription or purchase

  1. Kotar . (כותר) – Requires subscription.
    1. For Hebrew academic books. Fairly user friendly for reading, though not as user-friendly as Kindle (see later). According to results, around 800 titles in Jewish studies. Leans towards newer publications. Subscription for remote access is sometimes available through libraries, such as my library (Tel Aviv library). Should be pointed out that Kotar links are often linked in National Library’s Merhav search results (see earlier under “Search”).[16]
    2. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “A website that is an online library for subscribers of scholarly books in Hebrew, in collaboration with Israeli publishers. The title library offers hundreds of digital books and online reference on a wide range of topics from the humanities and social sciences, law, natural sciences and exact sciences and more. The publishers involved in the project include about 100 academic, public and private book publishers. The library began operating in January 2006. Kotar offers online access to a large variety of information sources. Kotar offers online browsing of a selection of over 3,000 titles (as of March 2018) of reference and information books and is constantly expanding.”
    3. There are a large amount of works put out by the following publishers:
      1. Yad Ben-Tzvi
      2. Bialik
      3. Sifriyat Heileil Ben-Chaim
    4. A few of the hundreds of books that are available there (all in Hebrew, as mentioned):
      1. M. Kahana et. al (ed.), Sifrut Hazal HaEretz Yisra’elit (2 vol.)
      2. A. Grosman, Rashi VeHaPolemos HaYehudi HaNotzri
      3. A. Reiner, Rabbeinu Tam
      4. S. Reif, HaGeniza MiKahir
      5. Anat Reizel, Mavo LeMidrashim.[17]
  2. Kindle e-books.
    1. Great for scholarly books in English. Recommend, in my opinion underrated as a resource for scholarly English books. Great advantages of Kindle e-books:
      1. Can highlight and annotate, with a special section with your highlights and annotations, which is great for later skimming and refreshing memory.
      2. Can hover for dictionary definitions and Wikipedia entry header paragraphs.
      3. As well as many of the other advantages mentioned above for electronic resources: instant availability; takes up minimal space, searchable, easily screenshotted, etc.
      4. For most books, can download free sample of beginning of book, usually containing front matter, Table of Contents, intro, and first chapter or two.
    2. However, it should be pointed out that Kindle editions are not necessarily “cheap”, though they’re generally cheaper than the physical copies. For example, Halivni’s book mentioned below is currently being sold on Amazon for $104, and the Kindle version is $67.[18]
    3. Some of the many scholarly books available on Kindle:
        1. Secunda, The Iranian Talmud
        2. Halivni, The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud
        3. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah
        4. Feiner, The Jewish Enlightenment
  3. Magnes Press. Hebrew University’s academic press. Around 350 books available as ebooks for purchase, to read on their app. Came across this while researching this guide, have no idea if it’s any good, but looks promising.

16.Journals

There are a lot of academic articles readily available online.

Open-access

Journals whose full archives are currently open-access.

  1. Kiryat Sefer (קרית ספר) (years available: 1924 – 1998). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew.
    1. Recommended. Contains a huge number of articles by the greats of Hebrew bibliography.
    2. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “The journal was published from the founding of the database in 1925 until 2003. It also contains many bibliographic articles.”
  2. Cathedra (קתדרה) (years available: 1976 – 2017). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew.
    1. See description in Wikipedia Hebrew: קתדרה (כתב עת) – ויקיפדיה
  3. Pe’amim (פעמים) (years available: 1979 – 2009). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. After 2009, some articles open-access, but most not.
    1. See description in Wikipedia Hebrew: פעמיםויקיפדיה .
  4. Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal (years available: 2002 -). Scholarly articles written in English and Modern Hebrew
    1. Started in 2002, have issued 21 issues so far. Editor-in-Chief – Prof. James L. Kugel. Managing Editor – Prof. Leib Moscovitz.
    2. From the home page: “JSIJ is a peer-reviewed electronic journal dealing with all fields of Jewish studies, which is distributed free of charge via the Internet. By publishing articles electronically via the Internet, JSIJ seeks to disseminate articles much faster than is possible with paper publication, and to make these articles readily and conveniently accessible to a wide variety of readers at all times. We hope that the use of this new technology will eventually allow JSIJ to develop in ways not available with conventional print journals, including the possibility of computerized full-text searches and the use of hyperlinks to other texts.”
  5. Ginzei Qedem (גנזי קדם). (years available: 2005 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Journal is published by the Friedberg Genizah Project and the Ben-Zvi Institute.
    1. From the About page: “Ginzei Qedem is a peer reviewed annual publication devoted to Genizah texts and studies published by the Friedberg Genizah Project and the Ben-Zvi Institute. Ginzei Qedem uses the term, “Genizah texts and studies” in the widest sense of the term – fragments of literary works and documents from genizot in Cairo and elsewhere – including all the relevant disciplines – history, literature (including piyyut), language, Biblical studies and exegesis, Talmud and Rabbinics, magic etc. The articles are in Hebrew and English. Seven issues have appeared to date.”
    2. See further description in Wikipedia Hebrew: גנזי קדם (שנתון) – ויקיפדיה
  6. HaTzofeh LaHochmat Yisra’el (הצופה לחכמת ישראל). Available on HebrewBooks. (years available: 1921 – 1931). Scholarly articles written in Hebrew. See description in Wikipedia Hebrew: הצופה מארץ הגרויקיפדיה.
  7. Kovetz al Yad (קובץ על יד) . Available on HebrewBooks. (years available: 1885 – 1946). Publications of works from manuscripts. See description in Wikipedia Hebrew: מקיצי נרדמים.
  8. Hama’ayan (המעין) (years available: 1953 – 2009). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Journal is currently affiliated with Yeshivat Sha’alvim.
    1. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “HaMa’ayan is a quarterly publication, published since 1953, ‘which combines a Torah dimension with a scientific-Torah dimension’ and contains various articles on Halacha, hashkafa, Jewish history and scholarly research.”
    2. Available here:
      1. המעין מכון שלמה אומן: years available: 2007 –
      2. Earlier issues, years available: 1953 – 2006, at Daat and HebrewBooks
  9. Netu’im (נטועים) (years available: 1994 -). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Focuses on Torah Sheba’al Peh. Journal is affiliated with Yeshivat Alon Shevut and Herzog College.
  10. Dinei Yisra’el (דיני ישראל). (years available: 2009 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Focuses on Jewish law. Journal is affiliated with Tel-Aviv University.[19]
  11. Masechet (years available: 2004 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Focuses on topics related to women. Journal is affiliated with Bar-Ilan University.
  12. Tallelei Orot (טללי אורות) (years available: 1989 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Journal is affiliated with Orot Yisra’el College. Also selected articles at Daat, in text format.
  13. Oreshet (אורשת) (years available: 2010 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Journal is affiliated with Orot Yisra’el College.
  14. Moreshet Israel (מורשת ישראל) (years available: 2018 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew. Journal is affiliated with Ariel University.
  15. Oqimta (אוקימתא). (years available: 2013 – ). Scholarly articles written in Modern Hebrew and English. Journal started by Prof. Shamma Friedman of Bar-Ilan University.
    1. See description in Wikipedia Hebrew: אוקימתא (כתב עת)
  16. Tradition (years available: 1958 -).
  17. Hakira (years available: 2004 – ). Scholarly articles written in English.
    1. Wikipedia: “Ḥakirah, The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of halakha and Jewish thought. Hakirah is a Jewish journal which publishes articles that reflect a wide range of Orthodox beliefs and ideas. Those who submit articles run the gamut from laypeople, to rabbis, doctors and professors. The first volume of Hakirah was published in the fall of 2004. Each volume generally contains about ten English and two Hebrew articles comprising a total of about 250 pages. A new volume appears about every six to seven months.”
  18. Many Torani journals are available on HebrewBooks, by searching the title. Many are also linked to by Halach Brura in their index of journals, and in their respective Wikipedia entries. These are Torani journals, meaning that they are published by Orthodox institutions. They are all written in Modern Hebrew. The articles in these journals are mostly not relevant for this guide, however, they often contain scholarly articles, especially related to publications of manuscripts of rabinnic works of Geonim, Rishonim, or Aharonim. For ideological reasons, the scholarly articles relevant for this guide generally don’t cover topics earlier than the Geonic period, and they are more likely to publish on recent topics than earlier ones.[20]
    1. Tzefunot (צפונות). (years available: 1989 – 1993). Focuses on bibliographic topics. See description in Wikipedia: צפונות .
    2. Kovetz Beis Aharon VeYisra’el (קובץ בית אהרן וישראל) (years available: 1986 – 2002) . Also available on Otzar Hachochma’s forum.
    3. Or Yisra’el (אור ישראל). (Years available: 1996 – 2015). See description in Wikipedia: חסידות_קרלין#קובץ_בית_אהרן_וישראל .
    4. Pe’alim LeTorah (פעלים לתורה).
    5. Yeshurun (ישורון). (Years available: 1996 – 2015). See description in Wikipedia: ישורון (מאסף תורני) .
    6. Yerushateinu (ירושתנו). See description in Wikipedia: ירושתנו .
    7. Asifas Chachomim (אסיפת חכמים).
    8. Hitzei Giborim (חצי גבורים).
    9. Min HaGenazim (מן הגנזים).

Requires subscription or purchase

  1. JSTOR
    1. 58 journals that focus on the subject of Jewish Studies.
  2. Nevo.
    1. Israeli law journals, in Modern Hebrew. Journals there with many articles relevant to history of halacha:
      1. Dinei Yisra’el available at Nevo (נבו) with subscription, years available: 1970 -.
      2. Sh’naton Hamishpat Ha’ivri (שנתון המשפט העברי). (years available: 1974 – 2006). Journal is affiliated with Hebrew University.
      3. Mehkerei Mishpat (מחקרי משפט). (years available: 1980 – ). Journal is affiliated with Bar-Ilan University.
  3. Otzar HaHochma (אוצר החכמה):
    1. See on this resource above.
    2. Areshet (ארשת). (years available: 1958 – 1980). Journal published by Mossad HaRav Kook, focused on Hebrew bibliography. Links at the Wikipedia entry for the journal.
  4. Project MUSE.
    1. Some journals on Project MUSE that focus on Jewish Studies: JQR
  5. EBSCO

17.Articles

Websites with scholarly articles.

Open-access

  1. Academy of Hebrew Language (האקדמיה ללשון העברית).
    1. Scholarly articles in Modern Hebrew.
    2. From the page on “Articles”: “The Hebrew Language Academy publishes selected articles here from time to time for the benefit and enjoyment of the visitors to the site. The articles are written by linguists – including members of the Academy and its researchers – and are usually taken from the journals of the Academy:Leshonenu (לשוננו), Ha’Ivrit (Leshonenu L’am) (העברית = לשוננו לעם) and Akadem (אקדם). Some of the articles were written specifically for the academy’s website.”
    3. Appear in both PDF format, as well as text.
  2. Daat (דעת).
    1. See above. Besides for complete texts of primary works, has many scholarly articles from journals, in text format, such as Sinai (סיני), Shma’atin (שמעתין), Mahanayim (מחניים).
  3. Academia.edu .
    1. I follow around 200 academics. Some of them are for deceased scholars whose students have set up a profile for them, and uploaded their work. I get updates of articles in my “feed” about once a day, and the articles are generally a good fit for my interests. (E.g. Elliot Wolfson has many of his articles there.)
    2. Wikipedia – English: “Academia.edu is an American for-profit social networking website for academics. It began as a free and open repository of academic journal articles and registered a .edu domain name when this was not limited to educational institutions.”
  4. Metah (מטח).
    1. Lots of transcribed scholarly articles in Hebrew. See also the section of the website called “Peshita” (פשיטא).
    2. From the About page: “The virtual library project of Metah began in 2000. Metah is a non-profit institution and the library project is non-commercial; The library is open and accessible to anyone for free.”
    3. Some examples of articles available:
      1. 55 Tarbitz (תרביץ) articles, see list.
  5. Ad Henah (עד הנה).
    1. Lots of PDFs of scholarly articles in Hebrew.
    2. From the About page: “A study and research institute that studies the Torah work of Galician and Bukovina Jewry, from the sixteenth century to the present time.”
  6. Ptil Tekhelet (פתיל תכלת).
    1. Lots of PDFs of scholarly articles in Hebrew (shows 530 items). Focuses on the topic of tekhelet.
  7. Author academic websites (e.g., Meir Bar-Ilan ; Yehuda Liebes)
  8. Ask the author – generally amenable to sending their own articles and dissertation.

18.Bibliographic info and indexes

Open-access

  1. RAMBI (רמב”י).
    1. My understanding is that “The Bibliography of The Hebrew Book” has been incorporated into “Merhav” (see above).
    2. Wikipedia – Hebrew: “An indexed and cataloged article index (or bibliography) of thousands of academic and other articles in a wide range of fields in the Jewish Studies, the study of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel, and is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind in the world. The information contained in Rambi was collected from thousands of scientific journals, literary or documentary journals, collections and files of one-time articles on a specific topic, in Hebrew, English, French, German and other languages ​​and in the Judaic languages: Yiddish, Arabic, Ladino and others; most of them found in the National Library. The criteria for inclusion in Rambi are that the publication be in an academic publication or another recognized and respected stage, or that it be useful for academic research purposes.”
  2. RAMBISH (רמבי”ש). Same concept as RAMBI, but for articles appearing in Orthodox journals.
  3. Indexes of dissertations / theses:
    1. Hebrew University – search
    2. Bar-Ilan University, Jewish Studies Department – list
    3. Jewish Theological Seminary– search and list
  4. Google Scholar

Requires subscription or purchase

  1. Index of References Dealing with Talmudic Literature (Lieberman Index) . Requires subscription.
    1. From the home page:
      1. “The Index of References Dealing with Talmudic Literature, offering pinpointed citations from hundreds of classic and modern scholarly works directly related to the specific selected passage within Talmudic literature.”
  2. Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies. Requires subscription.
    1. From Bar-Ilan University’s library guide: “Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies is an interdisciplinary database encompassing history, religion, philosophy, literature, sociology and political science. Its chronological and geographical range stretches from the Bible to the present, including communities from the Americas to Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Africa. Oxford Bibliographies Jewish Studies offers selected articles that break down subject areas into their component parts and pithy annotations that summarize the main contribution of each citation. The database is one of the components of the Oxford Bibliography, a database that offers an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, containing original commentary and annotations.”

19.Dictionaries

Open-access

  1. Wiktionary – Hebrew (H). Generally very good entries, with ample primary and secondary sources.
  2. Jastrow’s A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, in English:
    1. Sefaria: here. Transcribed and searchable, with hyperlinked Table of Contents.
    2. Wiktionary: here. Transcribed, with hyperlinked Table of Contents.
    3. Tyndale House: here. Scanned, with hyperlinked Table of Contents.
  3. R’ Natan of Rome, Sefer HeArukh, ed. Lublin 1883, on Sefaria. Includes R’ Benjamin Mousafia’s Musaf Aruch. Also at Sefaria: R’ Isaiah Berlin’s Hafla’ah ShebaArakhin on Sefer HeArukh.
  4. Academy of Hebrew language’s online dictionary . In Modern Hebrew. Based on Milon HaHoveh (מילון ההווה). Does not include etymologies or sources.

20.Encyclopedias

Open-access

  1. Jewish Encyclopedia . In English.
    1. Large parts of it have been incorporated into the corresponding English Wikipedia entries.
  2. Wikipedia – Hebrew.
    1. Great source for Jewish topics. I personally have found Wikipedia to be great sources for, among other topics:
      1. Biographies of Jews
      2. Jewish communities
      3. Jewish Law (halacha)
  3. Encyclopedia Talmudit – Micropedia (האנציקלופדיה התלמודית). In rabbinic/modern Hebrew, on Talmudic topics.
    1. From the webpage: “From Micropedia to Encyclopedia: Wikishiva (ויקישיבה) continues its collaboration with the Talmudic Encyclopedia project and now becomes the home of the new Talmudic Encyclopedia entries. Now, beyond the Talmudic Micropedia project, the entries of the Encyclopedia itself will be published here. It is important to note that entries published here are not currently published as books. To date, 251 entries have been written in the Talmudic Encyclopedia project. The Talmudic Encyclopedia: The new Talmudic Encyclopedia entries are already on Wikishiva! You can browse all the entries on the site or search using the search box, select the first letter, or select from the new entries on the site. The Talmudic Micropedia: The Talmudic Micropedia is a concise and up-to-date treasure trove of the entries of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, in a flowing and clear style.”

Requires subscription or purchase

  1. Encyclopedia Judaica, 2nd edition. In English.
    1. Second edition published by Gale and available on their website. Requires subscription, many libraries give access through OpenAthens, see for example Bar-Ilan University’s page.
    2. The entries (all? some?) of Encyclopedia Judaica, 2nd edition, appear to have been incorporated into encyclopedia.com, and fully hyperlinked to other EJ entries. The entries seem to be able to be found only via search, there’s no way to browse list of entries. See google search “Encyclopaedia Judaica site:https://www.encyclopedia.com/”.
    3. Bar-Ilan University overview: “Provides an overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel, from Rabbinic to modern Yiddish literature, from Kabbalah to “Americana” and from Zionism to the contribution of Jews to world cultures.”
  2. Encyclopedias published by Brill, in English:
    1. Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online.
      1. From the webpage: “The prize-winning Encyclopaedia of Judaism is now available online. More than 200 entries comprising more than 1,000,000 words. This unique reference tool offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of the current state of scholarship on fundamental issues of Judaism, both past and present. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it reflects the highest standards in scholarship. Covering a tradition of nearly four thousand years, some of the most distinguished scholars in the field describe the way of life, history, art, theology, philosophy, and the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people.”
    2. Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online.
      1. From the webpage: “[T]he first cohesive and discreet reference work which covers the Jews of Muslim lands particularly in the late medieval, early modern and modern periods. The expanded online version, EJIW Online (started in 2010), is updated twice annually with newly commissioned articles, illustrations, multimedia, and primary source material. Interdisciplinary articles cover a wide range of topics from history, law, music, visual arts, social sciences, philosophy, anthropology and demography.”
    3. Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online.
      1. From the webpage: “From Europe to America to the Middle East, North Africa and other non-European Jewish settlement areas the Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture covers the recent history of the Jews from 1750 until the 1950s. Translated from German into English, approximately 800 keywords present the current state of international research and depict a complex portrait of Jewish life – illustrated by many maps and images. About 40 key articles convey central themes on topics like autonomy, exile, emancipation, literature, liturgy, music or the science of Judaism.”
    4. Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online.
      1. From the webpage: “[A] systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day. The encyclopedia contains overview articles that provide a readable synopsis of current knowledge of the major periods and varieties of the Hebrew language as well as thematically-organized entries which provide further information on individual topics. With over 950 entries and approximately 400 contributing scholars, the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Hebrew linguistics, general linguistics, Biblical studies, Hebrew and Jewish literature, and related fields.”

[13] For overview, see the recent presentation, available on YouTube: “eScriptorium for Handwritten Text Recognition in Humanities Research” (uploaded Mar 3, 2021. accessed 25-Feb-2022).

For use on Hebrew manuscripts, there is a gated presentation cited by Katz 2022, footnote 16:
D. Stoekl Ben Ezra, “Sofer Mahir: Opening Up Rabbinic Manuscripts Towards Scholarly Editions”.

Presentation at the DHJewish conference in Luxemburg, January 2021. URL:

https://sofermahir.hypotheses.org/59.

Katz and Gershuni point out: “Unfortunately, the ability to use OCR to read Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts is not yet sufficiently developed. When textual manuscript-based projects such as Stoeklet al.’s Sofer Mahir and Tikoun Sofrim will reach a more mature stage, the extension of the edition to the entire Talmud will be far easier to achieve.” (Katz 2022, section 4.1).
[14] See his article:משה פינצ’וק, “מאגרי מידע לתלמוד הירושלמי“, עלי ספר כב (תשע”ב), עמ’ 165-171.
[15] Search done on 23-Jan-2022. Example of books available: Ari Bergmann’s recent book, The Formation of the Talmud: Scholarship and Politics in Yitzhak Isaac Halevy’s Dorot Harishonim (2021) ; Guggenheimer’s recent translation into English and short commentary of Talmud Yershalmi. (Guggenheimer’s translation is also available in Sefaria.)
[16] Such as for the series משנת ארץ ישראל. It appears that the entire series is on Kotar, see Merhav search results and Kotar search results.
[17] This books is also available open-access, in a very user-friendly format, at a dedicated website: מבוא למדרשים | מחלקי המים . Thanks to Eliezer Brodt for pointing this out.
[18] As of 20-Jan-2022.
[19] Previous issues of Dinei Yisra’el available at Nevo (נבו) with subscription, years available: 1970 -.
[20] See index of Hebrew Wikipedia entries on Torani journals here: קטגוריה:ישראל: כתבי עת תורנייםויקיפדיה




Legacy Judaica: Astrological Title Pages, R. Hutner, and Other Items of Note

Legacy Judaica‘s Spring auction is on May 8, 2022. The catalog includes some especially rare first editions, Siddur ha-Shelah, (no. 119), Mesilat Yesharim (no. 45), a volume of the Bomberg edition of the Talmud (lot 10), and some other items of interest.

Sefer Evronot, Offenbach, 1722, (lot no. 63) is an unusual Hebrew book because it includes paper cut-outs that are reattached to the book and form an interstellar calculator allowing precise determination of the calendar. Despite the celestial nature of the work, at the top center of the title page, held aloft by putti, is a depiction of the universe. The earth is in the center, but unlike a geocentric approach with the sun circling the earth, there is no reference to the sun, only the planets. The image depicts the orb system of planets and pre-dates even Copernicus’s theory. (See, Ariel Cohen, “The Celestial Host, the Calendar, and Jewish Art,” in Written in the Stars: Art and Symbolism of the Zodiac, ed. Iris Fishof (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 2001), 18). Israel ben Meir (his father was a noted publisher) and his non-Jewish partner, Bonaventura de Launoy, published the book. (See Marvin Heller, Essays in the Making of the Hebrew Book (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 273-92).

Auction 10 Batch 2 #18b Sefer Ibronos

The Sefer Evronot is not the book for which this title page was designed. Instead, Israel first used the illustration on Abraham ben Hiya’s, Tzurat ha-Arets (Offenbach, 1720). The image is appropriate for the book as it also discusses the solar system’s depiction. This is one of the earliest examples of a title page illustration allusion to the book’s contents and not serving an aesthetic purpose.

Tzurat Ha-Aretz, from the Gross Family Collection

A similar illustration to the title page’s celestial illustration appears in the book. 58a. But the one in the book is less sophisticated than the title page; that one contains a very detailed zodiac. Although it was specifically created for a Hebrew book it didn’t stop the ubiquitous error of depicting Aaron with a bishop’s miter, this time with a cross clearly visible. The Moses and Aaron theme title page first appeared in 1610 in Hanua. One year later, it was used in another book, Nishmat Adam, (lot no. 11), although that one does not have a cross.

The zodiac title page illustration appears on at least two other of Israel’s books that have no association with celestial ideas: a commentary on Birkat ha-Mazon and Zemirot, Mateh Yehuda, (Offenbach,1721) and a Haggadah with the commentary Zera Yehuda (Offenbach, 1721). Israel printed over 40 books, and it is unclear why he decided to use it on these two books that seemingly have no relationship to the image.

There are two items related to R. Hutner’s Torat ha-Nazir. Lot 70, is the first edition published in softcover format in Kovno in 1932. This is the only edition that R. Kook’s approbation appears. The later editions of Torat HaNazir remove it. In some editions, all the approbations are removed and in others, R. Chaim Ozer’s was retained. (although the printers did not alter the original heading, “Letters of the Ge’onim.” See Marc Shapiro, Changing the Immutable (Oxford: Littman, 2015), 157-160.

Another item related to the Torat Ha-Nazir is a letter to an unidentified correspondent (lot 236). Apparently, R. Hunter chanced upon that person’s copy of Torat ha-Nazir with their notes. One of which took issue with R. Hutner’s approach, and he defended himself. R. Hutner added a postscript that the tone was inappropriate whatever the objections (in the margins).

Lot 223 is a letter from R. Chaim Ozer regarding cremation.  Although today after the Holocaust it seems difficult to imagine cremation widely accepted by Jews, in the early 20th century, some Orthodox rabbis permitted cremation.  R. Ozer’s letter discusses one the main works, Hayyi Olam.

Lot 77 is two broadsides. One is from a list of Rabbis against Heichal Shlomo, against attending a convention. These Rabbis consistently opposed the creation of Heichal Shlomo and the idea of a Central Organization that controlled and spoke for all Orthodox Jews. The Heichal Shlomo board discussed how best to respond to those objections. Ultimately, Zerach Warhftig, argued against responding as they tried to engage and even discuss changing the name but received no response. (See Protocols of the Merkaz HaRuchani HaOlami, January 28, 1958).

The inauguration of Heichal Shlomo occurred on Lag Be’Omer, 1958, to great pomp and circumstance. The mayor held a cocktail party in the garden, and the gentleman was told to wear suits and hats.

There are both editions of the “Survivors Talmud.” (lots 160 & 161).The first edition, published in Munich in1946, only included Nedarim and Kiddushin. In 1948, the American Army published a complete edition of the Talmud. These are the only editions of the Talmud that any government published before the establishment of the State of Israel. There are three introductions, one in English and two in Hebrew. The English one reads in part:

This edition of the Talmud is dedicated to the United States Army. This Army played a major role in the rescue of the Jewish people from total annihilation and after the defeat of Hitler bore the major burden of sustaining the DPs of the Jewish faith. This special edition of the Talmud published in the very land where, but a short time ago, everything Jewish and Jewish inspiration was an anathema, will remain a symbol of the indestructibility of the Torah. […]

Rabbi Samuel A. Snieg, Chief Rabbi of the United States Zone, “Dedication.”

Munich, Germany, 1948 edition of the Talmud printed under the supervision of the Procurement Division, European Quartermaster General Depot, United States Army.

Interesting personal copies one is R. Chaim Ozer’s Achiezer with his inscription (lot 176), R. Chaim Keanievsky’s personal siddur (lot 181), and R. Yaakov Loberbaum’s, the author of the Nesivot ha-Mishpat, copy of Shev Shema’ata (lot 183) and R Chaim Berlin (item 182) a rare volume of Shut Harshaba that R Hirsch got as a gift from his father (item 179) and two items from the Beis Halevi’s Library (items 192 &194) [One with unpublished glosses].