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‘Yikar Sahaduta Dipum Bidatta’ R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Besamim Rosh and the Chida

Yikar Sahaduta Dipum Bidatta’

R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Besamim Rosh and the Chida

Rabbi Moshe Maimon, Jackson NJ

Some of the worst epidemics we have known in our history have indirectly been the catalyst for important contributions by scholars who produced their valuable works under quarantine. Eliezer Brodt has published in these pages considerable lists of such scholarship, from bygone plagues down to the current terrible epidemic, which highlight the vast scope of this literary bounty.

I recently came across a very interesting sefer-epidemic connection which I have not seen mentioned yet. This material highlights the contribution of a scholar who was quite probably in quarantine when he produced his indices to a well-known and much debated sefer—R. Saul Berlin’s storied publication, Besamim Rosh. Perhaps most famous (or infamous) for its reputation as the ultimate rabbinic forgery, an exhaustive history of this volume has already been written (and interested readers would do well to refresh their memory with the excellent survey in this blog post by Dan Rabinowitz & Eliezer Brodt; see also Eliezer Brodt’s exhaustive bibliography on the subject in a footnote in Yeshurun, vol. 24, pp. 425-427). My own study of the saga of this sefer during the present COVID-19 quarantine era can hopefully shed light on some striking details pertaining to this account.

R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin in defense of Besamim Rosh

Those who have followed the rocky history associated with Besamim Rosh will recall the strenuous defense of this sefer penned by R. Saul’s father, R. Tzvi Hirsh Levin, rabbi of Berlin, and reproduced in the introduction to Rabbi Amar’s recent edition of Besamim Rosh, and most recently, together with a facsimile of the original, in R. Yisroel Chaim Tessler’s comprehensive overview of the history of R. Saul Berlin and the Besamim Rosh in Pe’alim LaTorah (vol. 34 pp. 226-229).

Modern books of Hebrew Bibliography, such as Friedberg’s Bet Eked Sefarim and Winograd’s Otzar HaSefer Ha’Ivri, contain an entry for a separate pamphlet published by R. Zvi Hirsch Levin written in defense of the Besamim Rosh entitled Yikar Sahaduta. This has led some to conclude that in addition to his letter of defense, R. Levin also wrote an additional pamphlet to clear his son of any suspicion. As far as I could tell, a separate pamphlet by this name is not to be found in any library or other public holding (cf. the aforementioned Pe’alim LaTorah article fn. 61), however, the Heimann Michael collection catalogue אוצרות חיים contains an entry on p. 250 for a copy of Besamim Rosh which has an additional pamphlet by R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin by this name appended to it, and this is likely the source for the entry in the aforementioned bibliographies.

As the printed books from Heimann Michael collection were later purchased by the British Library, it stands to reason that we may yet be able to ascertain if this Yikar Sahaduta is indeed a separate publication, though I have a hunch it is none other than R. Levin’s famous (untitled) letter that must have been bound at a later date with the sefer (as it is in R. Levin’s manuscript copy of the Besamim Rosh held at The Russian State Military Archives, see here).

The existence of a volume of R. Saul’s earlier controversial work, Mitzpeh Yakte’el (Berlin 1789), bound with R. Levin’s letter in defense of the Besamim Rosh, would lend some weight to this supposition. This copy is attested to by Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger, in his Sefer VeSayaf (New York 1967, pp. 213-215), who was somehow misled by it into thinking that the defense of Besamim Rosh was written and published with Mitzpeh Yakte’el four years prior to the actual publication of the Besamim Rosh! In any event, the British Library is at present closed to staff and public alike due to Covid-19 restrictions, and I have had to arrest my investigation of the matter for now.

While In Seclusion…

This untitled letter starts with some rhymed prose, beginning with the words איש עניו, and continues on with a passionate defense of the integrity of the sefer, and includes a barely restrained attack on those who dare to impugn it. R. Levin writes that anyone who disparages this sefer is besmirching the good name of R. Levin himself, for it was he who had given the sefer his imprimatur after reading it in manuscript form (prepared for him by his other son, R. Shlomo, later famous as R. Solomon Hirschell, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain). The manuscript had been in his possession for close to ten years prior to its 1793 printing, and it was R. Levin himself who had helped prepare the indices for this volume during his stay in Pyrmont:

והנה מעידני עלי שמים וארץ כי הספר הלז הועתק לי מבני הרבני המופלג ומושלם כמוהר”ר שלמה נר”ו זה כעשר שנים, ואני בעצמי עשיתי לו המפתחות כסדר הטורים בפרמונד… ואם כדברי המתקדשים הללו בי אני העון אשר הסכמתי להוציאם לאורה ולא על בני הגאון נר”ו לבד תלונתם כי אם גם עלי.

[I call heaven and earth as my witnesses that this sefer was copied for me about ten years ago by my son, the distinguished and perfect rabbi, R. Solomon, may G-d protect and keep him, and I personally prepared the indices according to the order of the Tur in Pyrmont… and if these sanctimonious hypocrites are correct, then the fault lies with me for sanctioning the publication; their grievance is not just with my son [R. Saul], the exemplary scholar, may G-d keep and protect him, but rather with me as well]

R. Menachem Silber pointed out to me that this Pyrmont is most probably the resort and spa town Bad Pyrmont. Here is a contemporary depiction of the promenade between the baths and the town of Pyrmont from 1780, about the time of R. Levin’s stay there, courtesy of Wikipedia.

R. Levin does not explain in this letter the significance of his stay in Pyrmont. However, in an entry in his journal, published by his descendant, R. Tzvi Michaelsohn, in his responsa Tirosh VeYitzhar in the section at the end of the sefer devoted to his antecedents’ novellae (new pagination, p. 35), we read the following:

כל זה כתבתי לי זה רבות בשנים ועתה בשנת תקו”ם לפ”ק בהיותי בפירמונד ונשב בד בבד ואין ספרים הצריכים בידי כי אם מעט אשר לקחתי מביתי ומהם ס’ בשמים ראש כ”י )ברור שכך צ”ל, ובמקור “כו'” וכנראה נשתבש המעתיק בהעתקת כתה”י – MM).

[I had written the above some years ago, but now in the year 1786, while dwelling in solitude in Pyrmont, I have few sefarim with me save for the few that I was able to take with me from home, including the sefer Besamim Rosh in manuscript].

This manuscript’s placement in Pyrmont is further evidenced by an inscription on the manuscript by one Yechiel Michel b. R. Isserl who, writing in Pyrmont (the date 1757 given in the JNUL catalogue is obviously an error in transcription), attests that the volume was in the possession of “the exemplary scholar and great rabbi of Berlin and its environs” (a reference to R. Levin himself). Later (p. 41), R. Levin writes further of his stay in Pyrmont:

ב”ה פירמונד. לאשר אין אתי כי אם ספרי משניות ושאר ספרי דבי רב אינם נמצאים כאן אמרתי לרשום כל העולה בלבי עד ירחם ה לנו ונעיין בה.

[By the Grace of G-d, Pyrmont: Having no sefarim with me here, save for a set of Mishnayot and a few other rabbinic volumes, I have determined to note whatever thoughts occur to me until God has mercy on us and I have the opportunity to do further research on them].

I have not found confirmation of an epidemic in the environs of Berlin in the year 1786, but the fact that R. Levin bemoaned his having to remain in solitude in Pyrmont, bereft of his holy works, until God shows mercy on his people, does strongly indicate that he was not there on vacation, but was forced to shelter in place there to avoid the plague. Perhaps one of the readers can supply more information and shed light on this episode.

Be that as it may, it is clear that R. Levin took advantage of his time in Pyrmont to thoroughly review the manuscript volume of Besamim Rosh (see also further references to Besamim Rosh in his novella, ibid. p. 38 section 41:3, 42:6 and p. 44 section 56:1), and it was then that he created the indices for the sefer. This must have been no small feat, as he was likely forced to rely in great part on his prodigious memory due to the dearth of basic source material available at Pyrmont.

Noteworthy in itself is that the manuscript of Besamim Rosh was among the few volumes R. Levin took with him to Pyrmont, indicative of his interest – unique among his contemporaries – in manuscript works of Rishonim. Further testament to this interest is R. Levin’s copy of a manuscript of Sefer Ra’avyah (today known as The Beth Din & Beth Hamidrash Library, London, England Ms. 11) which later formed the basis of the new edition published by R. David Deblitzky (Bnei Braq 2005), and which contains many glosses in R. Levin’s hand. One such gloss actually concerns the Besamim Rosh, and it is published here for the first time in its entirety (it is cited in R. Deblitzky’s edition, vol. 1 p. 40 fn. 14, though R. Deblitzky had trouble deciphering a couple of words):

נראה שיש כאן חסרון לשון ומ”מ אנו למדין ממנו שמחלוקת ישנה היא אי בעל קרי מותר בתפילין וכאשר כתבתי במקום אחר לסתום פי דוברי נבלה אשר שננו לשונם דבר מר על ספר בשמים ראש

[There appears to be a lacunae here, however, we may adduce from this statement that the debate with regards to the permissibility of a Ba’al Keri to wear tefillin is an old one, and I already wrote on this elsewhere to silence the speakers of mendacity (cf. Yeshayahu 9:16 – MM) who sharpened their tongues to speak ill of the sefer Besamim Rosh].

Besamim Rosh in the Chida’s Shem HaGedolim

Once on the topic of the Besamim Rosh and R. Levin’s letter of defense of it, I would like to revisit the issue of the Chida’s opinion of the sefer, and his response to R. Levin’s missive supporting it. (I had touched on this previously in a note to an article for Yeshurun vol. 28 p. 935 fn. 3).

Our primary concern will be with the entry on Besamim Rosh in the Chida’s popular bibliographical work, Shem HaGedolim, though our study of his views will give us occasion to examine statements in various other works of his as well (followed by loose translations of these statements that aim to preserve the intent of the Chida’s rich rhetorical melitza, if not necessarily its literal translation). In the course of our study, it will serve us well to bear in mind that the Chida was ever the prolific writer who particularly favored the Sephardic style of journalistic study, and in the course of his study he would constantly note in his journals anything he wished to be able to refer to later.

[In Sephardic parlance these journals would be called Zichronot – perhaps best rendered in English as ‘reminders’ – as distinct from the same term used in Ashkenazic circles to denote memoir literature. For the Chida’s own use of the term in describing his journals see the list in the bibliographical work Maranan VeRabanan appended to the Machon HaMao’r edition of Shem HaGedolim vol. 2 p. 52 #17. This list adds to the scant entry in the previous edition of Maranan VeRabanan, Jerusalem 1991, though it is far from comprehensive. The Chida also alluded to this term in the naming of his sefer Eyn Zocher as evidenced in his prelude there].

The Chida’s prolific sefarim output was based on this method of study, as he would use the material in these diaries for publication in his many sefarim (compare in general Meir Benayahu’s description of the Chida’s method of arranging his notes for publication in his biography, Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulay, Jerusalem, 1959, p. 93). Perhaps unique among his peers in this regard, the Chida, with his keen bibliographical instinct, was also accustomed to jot down historical and bibliographical items of interest to him, and these notations would later form the basis of his various works which together form his celebrated Shem HaGedolim (cf. Oded Cohen’s doctoral dissertation on the Chida’s cultural world: Chadashim Gam Yeshanim, Tel Aviv University, 2016, from p. 169, and recently, in the introduction to the new edition of Shem Hagedolim published by Machon HaMa’or (Jerusalem, 2019).

Contemporary editions of this work are all based on the 1852 edition, edited and published in Vilna by Yitzchak Isaac Ben-Jacob. This volume is an amalgamation of two separate, though similar, works published in various editions by the Chida, Shem HaGedolim and Va’ad Lechachamim, along with various supplemental additions appended by him to some of his subsequent works, ordered in separate arrangements – by names of scholars and by names of publications. On this edition in general, and on the editorial discretion (and liberties) employed by its publisher in particular, see the excellent article by Oded Cohen, ‘The Freedom of Editing: Isaac Benjacob’s Re-editing of Hida’s Shem Ha-gedolim’, in Zutot 10 (2013), pp. 71-87 (based on his aforementioned dissertation, from p. 182; in both sources the date for Ben Jacob’s edition is given as 1853, seemingly based on a simple computation of the Hebrew date, תרי”ג, however the date 1852 is clearly listed on the title page, so the sefer must have been published in the few months remaining to that year after Rosh Hashana).

This streamlined format is very beneficial as it made it easy to access all of the Chida’s previously disassembled comments on a particular sefer or author, and this popular format has been reproduced in all subsequent editions. Yet, while Ben-Jacob was careful to delineate the various sources from the Chida’s publications used in each particular entry, and noted them in his footnotes, the later editions omitted his notations altogether. This has proven to be a major drawback since when attempting to unpack the chronological progression of the Chida’s views concerning a specific sefer, tracking down the earlier works that now comprise the Shem HaGedolim is often indispensable in determining what he had written when.

The new Machon HaMa’or edition does make some headway in this regard, and many times the varying publications that make up a specific entry in this edition are sourced in the notes. However, as explained in their introduction, they chose not to replicate Ben-Jacob’s system, but rather to incorporate these sources in their own notes when deemed important, without systematically annotating the text. This is a regrettable decision, as without a systematic formula by which the reader can identify the different sources, the reader is often at a loss in determining that what appears at times to be one unified entry, has in fact been culled from a variety of sources.

The entry on Besamim Rosh is one such example, since this entry contains three separate statements regarding the sefer – from two different publications and espousing different views. The written record in the Chida’s other works contains varied positions towards the sefer; an initial enthusiastic reception shifting to reserved suspicion, and finally, unqualified acceptance. Only by classifying the differing statements chronologically, is it possible to ascertain the progression of his opinions.

The Chida’s Evolving Assessment

The first statement in Shem HaGedolim concerning this sefer comes from the entry for Besamim Rosh in the first volume of his sefer Va’ad LeChachamim, a bibliographical sequel to the two previously published volumes of Shem HaGedolim. Va’ad LeChachamim was first published in 1796, though this entry was apparently written very shortly after the 1793 publication of Besamim Rosh, as indicated by the opening words “עתה מקרוב” =“just now”:

בשמים ראש – עתה מקרוב נדפס ספר זה בברלין ושיש בו סימנים שצ”ב מתשובות הרא”ש ושאר גדולים וזה שמו בשמים גימטריא שצ”ב. רא”ש תשובות הרא”ש. וזה הספר הכינו וקבצו וחקרו הרב הגדול מהר”ר יצחק די מולינא ז”ל אשר מצא ספר גדול משו”ת הרא”ש וגדולים אחרים אצל גביר אחד והוא סילת וזיקק ולקט קובץ זה ועשה עליו הגהות כמפורש שם. ועוד יש הגהות כסא דהרסנא.

[Besamim Rosh – This sefer has just now published in Berlin, and it has 392 responsa from the Rosh and other great rabbis, and it is thus called Besamim, the numerical value of which is 392. This volume was collected and prepared for publication by the great rabbi, our esteemed teacher R. Yitzchak De Molina of blessed memory, who found a large volume of responsa from the Rosh and other great rabbis at the home of a wealthy patron, and he sifted through them and collected the select ones to which he appended his comments as described within. There are also included a section of comments entitled Kasa DeHarsena].

The decidedly reserved tone of this entry is readily apparent, and the reason for this is immediately explained by the Chida’s observation below:

ואשמע אחרי קול רעש כי יש בספר זה קצת דברים זרים ואמרו שהמעתיק הראשון בארץ תוגרמה מכ”י הרב יצחק די מולינא ז”ל יש לחוש שהוסיף וגרע. ולכן הקורא בס’ זה לא יסמוך עליו דאפשר דתלי בוקי סריקי בגדולים עד אשר יחקור ויברר הדברים ודברי אמת ניכרים. ודי בזה.

[I subsequently heard a clamor to the effect that there are some strange things in this sefer, and that the person in Turkey who first transcribed this sefer from the original manuscript of R. Yitzchak De Molina of blessed memory, may have perhaps added and detracted. Therefore, one who reads this sefer should not rely on it as there exists the possibility that nonsensical things have been attributed to great rabbis, unless he first investigates and clarifies the matter; and indeed, authentic material is recognizable as such. Let this suffice].

The Chida, one of the most outstanding rabbinic scholars and bibliophiles of his time, was typically very enthusiastic about newly published rabbinic manuscripts. His writings are replete with references to new ones he had seen, and from which he gleaned various insights for inclusion in his own sefarim.

The publication of the Besamim Rosh understandably excited him and he perused it for insight into topics he had himself dealt with in his writings. In his collection of halachic essays, Tov Ayin, published in the same volume as the aforementioned Va’ad LeChachamim, some of the insights gleaned from this perusal are recorded in various sections (#8, 9, 18:12,29,86).

In fact, one particular section (#9), is devoted solely to halachic observations pertaining to the Besamim Rosh. This section consists of various entries, culled by the Chida from his many diaries, to which were added notations pertaining to thoughts he had seen in the copy of Besamim Rosh that he had borrowed for a few days.

[The Chida was careful to note when he quoted from a borrowed sefer so that contemporaries could not criticize him for not citing a specific source from a volume he had himself quoted elsewhere; see for example Shu”t Chayyim Sha’al, vol. 2, section 10 paragraph 1, to wit: “והיטב חרה לו דהיה לי להביא דברי ספר הכוונת… אך גר אנכי בארץ וכמה ספרים עיקריים אין בידי ואם חיי”ם שא”ל ספרא וספרי מקיים מצות השבה” =“He was greatly upset that I did not cite Sefer HaKavanot… however I am but sojourner in this land and I lack many basic sefarim. Even when I did borrow a specific sefer, I was quick to return it”].

One entry in this section (#9:2) records the Chida’s enthusiastic reception of the new sefer (“היום נראה בעליל ספר בשמים ראש”), and all the entries show how various notations in the Chida’s writings were enhanced by his brief study of the sefer. The section concludes with the Chida’s measured remarks concerning the suspicion that had been raised in connection with this sefer:

הן בעודני קורא דרך ארעי בספר בשמים ראש הנזכר אחרי כתבי קצת פרטים שכתבתי לעיל שמעתי שיש מפקפקים בספר הזה כמו שכתבתי בקונטריס ועד לחכמים ריש מערכת בי”ת והנה צור”ף כי הספר הנזכר שאול הוא אתי לכן עמד קנה במקומו לעת הלום וה’ יצילנו משגיאות ויראנו מתורתו נפלאות כי”ר.

[During my perfunctory study of the aforementioned sefer Besamim Rosh, after I had written the few things previously mentioned, I heard that there are those who view this sefer with suspicion as I have written in my work Va’ad LeChachamim at the beginning of section Bet, which is appended to this work. As it was a borrowed sefer, I desisted from further study of it for now. May God protect us from blunders and may it be His will to reveal wondrous Torah insights to us].

This passage is revealing in that it demonstrates how the Chida’s writings were constructed. As mentioned earlier, the Chida only had the Besamim Rosh in his possession for a few days before desisting from studying it upon hearing the negative rumors surrounding the sefer. Nevertheless, in this short amount of time he had managed to write down several pages of novellae, as well as add various notations to existing entries in his diaries. Only after hearing the rumblings did he go back to add a cautionary note vis-à-vis the Besamim Rosh.

It is alluring to visualize the Chida sitting diligently at his desk with his notebooks open and pen in hand, variously writing and studying, studying and writing. The Chida describes his decision to desist from further study of the Besamim Rosh with the phrase, “לכן עמד קנה במקומו” =“and so the pen stopped here”—likely a quite literal statement.

The language in the aforementioned entry in Va’ad Lechachamim, “ואשמע אחרי” =“I subsequently heard,” also suggests that the two paragraphs were written at separate intervals. It seems that the first paragraph was written almost as soon as the Chida held the sefer in hand, and he quickly noted the bibliographical information in the manuscript of Va’ad LeChachamim that he was working on. Only later, upon hearing of the suspicions leveled against the sefer, did he go back and added the cautionary note. (I might add that I think it likely that the original entries pertaining to the Besamim Rosh contained some of the Chida’s customarily laudatory language, such as we find in Tov Ayin, but were later mildly edited for publication in light of the new findings).

Further evidence for the two stages in the Chida’s early reception of the Besamim Rosh can be adduced from an earlier entry for Mar Avraham Gaon in Va’ad LeChachamim, where the Chida first notes a responsum of Besamim Rosh pertinent to the discussion of using the biblical name of Yishma’el, and only in a later paragraph adds the disclaimer:

ואחרי כותבי יצאו עוררין על ספר זה כמו שכתבתי להלן במערכת בית ע”ש.

[After this writing, rumors were spread impugning this sefer as noted further in section Bet, see there].

The notebooks that were to become the Va’ad LeChachamim and the Tov Ayin were not the only volumes on the Chida’s desk at the time he conducted his survey of Besamim Rosh. He was simultaneously in the process of publishing his Nachal Kedumim, a running commentary on the Chumash culled from manuscript works of Rishonim along with his own observations, which appeared alongside the classic Chumash commentaries in the five volume set of Torah Ohr, in the years 1795-1797. In this work too, the Chida had occasion to reference the Besamim Rosh, though only in the addendum, Arvei Nachal. This was pursuant to his comments on Shemot (25:4) regarding the identity of the Chilazon from which the t’chelet dye was extracted for use in the construction of the Mishkan:

אחר זמן נדפסו שו”ת בשמים ראש ומשם הוכחתי בקונטריס טוב עין סי’ ט’ אות י”ב דחלזון הוא טהור ולפי”ז נחה שקטה האר”ש כל זמן שלא מצינו בדברי רז”ל להיפך.

[After some time, the responsa Besamim Rosh were published and from there I was able to prove in my compendium Tov Ayin, section 9 paragraph 12, that the Chilazon was a kosher species, and accordingly, the matter is settled as long as we don’t find any contradictory passage in the words of our sages of blessed memory].

Interestingly, here the Chida refers to what he had written in his Tov Ayin based on the Besamim Rosh, though this is already after the Chida became aware of the calumnies leveled against the Besamim Rosh, and he therefore adds the postscript that he is only relying on the Besamim Rosh as a proof text inasmuch as the conclusion drawn from this particular responsum is not contradicted by any Talmudic findings. It is instructive to contrast this position with his initial position regarding Besamim Rosh, displayed earlier in Tov Ayin (section 8) whereby the Chida exhorts his correspondent to follow the ruling of Besamim Rosh, as they are the words of the Rishonim.

One reference to Besamim Rosh in Tov Ayin (18:29), where the Chida highlights the finer points of his earlier discussion regarding the propriety of using the name Yishma’el, was similarly penned after the Chida had begun to view the sefer with suspicion, and he reiterates the disclaimer that he had made in Va’ad LeChachamim:

ועוד האריך בשו”ת בשמים ראש סימן י”ט ובתשובה לא חתים שמה דמארה עלה ואין לסמוך עליה, ומה גם שנשמע שערערו שהמעתיק תשובות אלו בתוגרמה הוסיף איזה דברים כמ”ש בקונטריס ועד לחכמים.

[This is elaborated on in the responsa Besamim Rosh section 19; however that particular responsum is unsigned and it cannot be relied upon – especially after hearing the rumors claiming that the copyist of these responsa in Turkey added some interpolations, as I have written in Va’ad LeChachamim].

Suspicion Raised by Anonymous Responsa

Throughout, it is apparent that the Chida’s main suspicion lay with those responsa that appear in Besamim Rosh anonymously. This concurs with the gist of the rumors that had reached the Chida, spelled out in the aforementioned entry in Va’ad LeChachamim and also mentioned briefly in Tov Ayin, namely, that an unnamed scribe in Turkey was responsible for inserting non-authentic responsa into his transcription of the original collection.

This brings us to the letter of defense of Besamim Rosh penned by R. Levin, and the Chida’s reaction to it. Though this letter was penned in 1794, it only reached the Chida’s attention after the 1796 publication of the first volume of Va’ad LeChachamim – though sometime before the 1798 publication of the second volume (a digital copy of which can be found here), for only in this second volume, does the Chida record his reception of this letter:

בשמים ראש – עמ”ש בח”א, ואחר זמן ראיתי בדפוס דברי הגאון הגדול המפורסם ר”מ ואב”ד דק”ק ברלין יע”א מהר”ר צבי הירש נר”ו, אמר מר כי שמע מוציאי דבה על הס’ הנז’, והפיץ והדיח כל הדברים יגעים ואסהדתיה דרב כי הספר תמים כתיב ביה והיה עשר שנים בביתו טרם שנדפס ואהניא לן יק”ר סהדותא דפום בדת”א.

[Besamim Rosh – See what I wrote in volume one. After some time I saw a printed letter from the great and famous exemplary scholar, Chief Rabbi and Academy head of the holy community of Berlin, may G-d rebuild His city Amen, our esteemed teacher and rabbi R. Tzvi Hirsch, may G-d protect and keep him. Our master said that he heard of people spreading calumnies against the aforementioned sefer, and he shattered and discredited all the inane words. The rabbi testified regarding the integrity of the sefer which had been in his possession for ten years prior to its publication, and we were pleased with his testimony against the deceitful speech].

Mystery Phrase

At the end of this volume, in a section devoted to corrigenda entitled Shulchan BaMidbar, the Chida noted that two words should be added to the concluding sentence of this entry: ותנן בבחירת”א.

However, the meaning of this rhetorical flourish is not entirely clear. In my aforementioned Yeshurun article, I suggested that these words be taken in context of the Chida’s generally strong aversion to controversy, and translated accordingly as “and it was therefore chosen for inclusion.”

Later, R. Betzalel Deblitzky wrote to me proposing that these words be understood as the Chida’s emphasis of his endorsement of R. Levin’s testimony, which he did by applying to it the same Talmudic phrase used to indicate that the Halacha is in accordance with those choice halachic testimonies recorded in Masechet Eduyot (cf. Rashi Kiddushin, end of 54b).

This reading, however, is not without difficulty. At the outset, if nothing essential has been added, it is hard to see why the Chida would trouble himself to add these two words in the corrigenda. Furthermore, in an addendum to what was to be the Chida’s final publication, his Mar’it Ha’Ayin, in a parallel passage to this one in Va’ad LeChachamim 2, the Chida writes:

ועתה אמת אגיד כי בקונטריס ועד לחכמים, ושם בטוב עין כתבתי דיצאו עוררין על ספר בשמים ראש, ע”ש, ואחר זמן ראיתי פתקא אחת שהדפיס הגאון מוהר”ר הירש אב”ד דק”ק ברלין להפיץ ולהדיח מה שערערו על הס’ הנזכר, והעיד שהס’ הנזכר הוא אמיתי ולא חלו בו ידים כלל, והוא היודע ועד, ועוד האריך בזה. ובודאי דסמכינן אהימנותיה ואהניא לן אסהדתיה.

[And now, I must tell you the truth; previously I had written in the compendium Va’ad LeChachamim, and in that same volume, in Tov Ayin, that rumors were spread impugning the sefer Besamim Rosh – see what I wrote there. Yet, after a while I saw a single flyer printed by the exemplary scholar, our esteemed teacher and rabbi R. Hirsch, Chief Rabbi of the holy community of Berlin, in order to shatter and discredit the rumors impugning the aforementioned sefer, and in it he testified that the aforementioned sefer is authentic and has not been tampered with at all, saying that he knows this to be true firsthand; and he elaborated in this vein. We should certainly rely on his trustworthiness, and I was pleased with his testimony].

It is instructive to note the similarity in language in these two parallel passages. It would appear that one of these passages actually served as the basis for the other. The fact that the Chida in this Mar’it Ha’Ayin passage only refers to the first volume of Va’ad LeChachamim and not to the updated entry in Volume Two, is a strong indication that this particular passage had been penned before the 1798 publication of Volume Two, in which case it is more than likely that the Chida copied the gist of this paragraph into his final draft of Volume Two as he readied it for publication. This possibility is further bolstered by the observation that the Chida’s language in this passage indicates that this is his first telling of his about-face on the Besamim Rosh on account of R. Levin’s bulletin.

The upshot of this is that in view of the source for the entry in Va’ad LeChachamim, the addition of the two words ותנן בבחירת”א in the corrigenda, which do not appear in the original source, does not appear to serve the purpose of emphasis alone. More likely, those two words serve a purpose germane to the context in which they appear, namely as an apologetic for the inclusion of the Besamim Rosh entry in the Chida’s sefer.

My final objection to this reading is based on my understanding of the Chida’s rhetorical melitzah style. This reading would have it that the term ותנן בבחירת”א here is borrowed from its Talmudic context, with the intent to draw a parallel from its usage there. I feel this reading is more typical of the Ashkenazic melitzah of Chida’s contemporaries – such as the celebrated R. Ya’akov Emden – who would throw around Talmudic and biblical phrases in loose context just to emphasize a point connected to the meaning of the phrase in its original context. In this sort of melitzah, one cannot fully comprehend the import of the words without knowledge of their meaning in the original, though oftentimes the message of the passage is abundantly clear on its own.

The Chida’s Sephardic melitza, however was of a rather different sort. In his melitzah, the words from the fragmented biblical or talmudical quotation – applied with little regard to proper syntax and grammar – are intended to take the place of words with similar meaning, and must be read with the sentence in order to make sense. As such, it would be expected that these two words are to be understood as saying something distinct and are not just intended to add fuel to the fire.

In this case, the Chida hyphenated בבחירת”א, which he invariably does in order to highlight that the word is being used in a different manner, or with a different spelling, than in its original context. This leads me to believe that בבחירת”א here is not a reference to the Talmudic use of the phrase in which בחירתא is the name given to the collection of choice testimonies in Masechet Eduyot, but is rather used here as to indicate the Chida’s choice (בחירה) in including the entry in his bibliographical compendium.

Unequivocal Acceptance

It may also refer to the Chida’s general acceptance of the sefer, as from this point forward, the Chida freely references the sefer without adding any note of reservation, such as in his Kisse Rachamim (Livorno 1803, Soferim, Tosefot, 1:9). Especially noteworthy is the citation in his 1798 publication Shu”T Yosef Ometz (section 11) where for the third time the discussion is raised about the permissibility of using names such as Yishma’el. While in the first two discussions cited earlier, the mention of the responsum in Besamim Rosh prompted the Chida’s subsequent disclaimer, here the mention of this responsum is stated with equanimity.

Despite the ambiguity of this particular addendum, it is clear that the Chida relied completely on R. Levin’s letter and that, in his mind, the sefer was now clear of all suspicion. Yet, one question remains. If, as the Chida stated in the Besamim Rosh entry in Va’ad LeChachamim, the suspicions concerned additions to the manuscript by an unknown scribe while still in Turkey—that is before reaching the hands of the publisher in Berlin, R. Saul Berlin, and his father, R. Hirsch Levin—how would R. Levin’s testimony to the integrity of the manuscript allay these suspicions? After all, R. Levin’s manuscript was based on the one which contained these alleged interpolations! (An editorial footnote to my article points out that this question already bothered the author of Dikdukei Soferim in his glosses to Shem Hagedolim).

In my Yeshurun article, I posited that the Chida deliberately concealed the real suspicions surrounding the sefer, namely that R. Saul himself was responsible for the fraudulent interpolations in Besamim Rosh, and out of respect for R. Saul’s father, the Chida instead blamed these insertions on some anonymous copyist in Turkey. Later, I saw that R. Matisyahu Shtrashun had already reached a similar conclusion in his notes to Sh. Y. Fuenn’s Kiryah Ne’emanah (Vilna 1915, p. 47-48).

An observation noted in the new edition of Shem HaGedolim by Machon HaMa’or may lend weight to this interpretation; nowhere in all the entries pertaining to this sefer does the Chida so much as mention the name of the publisher R. Saul Berlin. This is all the more conspicuous after the Chida mentions that the notes, Kasa DeHarsena, were appended to the sefer, without mentioning the author of these notes, R. Saul Berlin himself.

On the surface, this may indeed be indicative of the Chida’s holding of R. Saul in contempt for his role in the forgery. Yet, as noted in the same Yeshurun article, the Chida rarely cites his contemporaries in his Shem HaGedolim, and little can be deduced from the omission of R. Saul’s name. This is particularly true in light of the fact that previously, in his 1785 Machazik Beracha, and his 1790 Petach Eynayim, the Chida responded to critical glosses penned by the same R. Saul Berlin on the Chida’s Birkei Yoseph on Yoreh De’ah, and when referring to these glosses, the Chida does not name the author, whom he describes as ‘a formidable scholar’ (גברא רבא), and refers to him only as ‘the German Rabbi’ (see R. Reuven Margalios article in Areshet, Jerusalem 1944, pp. 414-417, and R. Ya’akov Chaim Sofer, Menuchat Shalom, vol. 8 p. 229). Similarly, when the Chida refers in his Shu”T Yosef Ometz (section 7), to something R. Saul wrote in Kasa DeHarsena, he refers only to the sefer but does not mention the author by name.

Furthermore, we have already seen how the Chida reiterates the claim about the errant Turkish copyist in his Tov Ayin, itself an indication that this is an accurate description of the claim countered by the Chida. As previously indicated, this passage underscores that the Chida was not worried about forgery as much as unworthy interpolation; he was therefore only concerned about an unattributed and unsigned responsum.

In the Final Analysis…

I now think that the Chida’s report of interpolations by an unnamed Turkish copyist should be taken at face value. Though the Chida’s language indicates that the complaints leveled against the Besamim Rosh were mere hearsay (as opposed to R. Levin’s defense which the Chida stresses he saw in print), and we cannot specifically identify the source of the rumors that reached his ears, we do know that similar rumors did indeed abound. Take for instance this quote from one of the leading antagonists, R. Mordechai Benet, in his Parashat Mordechai (section 5, page 8): ‘He amassed a heap of untoward sources,’ and compare also this selection from R. Levin’s letter in response to the accusations:

כי מצאו בתוך הבשמים חלבנה, והדברים לא יצאו מפי המחברים אשר נקרא שמם עליהם כי דבר בליעל יצוק בו להדיח עם ה’ מעל אלהיהם.

[They claimed to have found foul-smelling Galbanum among the Besamim incense, and that the essays are misattributed to the authors whose names they bear, for malicious content has been added in to cause Hashem’s nation to stray from their God].

Though R. Levin’s description of the charges does include the charge of forgery, it still does not name R. Saul as the culprit, and it may indicate the presence of rumors that accused him of negligence in publishing a work that contained forged and misattributed material, while stopping short of accusing him of actually perpetrating the forgery. It should be pointed out that from a historical perspective, the notion that a rabbinic work could be a complete forgery was such an outlandish proposition at that time that even the detractors wouldn’t openly make such a claim. It would be almost a hundred years before someone like R. Matisyahu Shtrashun would seriously consider the possibility that the entire work was the brainchild of R. Saul alone, and even after that we still find the likes of the great R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk insisting that the Besamim Rosh does contain legitimate Rishonaic responsa (see Chiddushei R. Meir Simcha, vol. 2, p. 372).

As such, we should understand that the Chida accepted R. Levin’s defense of the Besamim Rosh more as vouching for the content of the sefer, and less as attesting to his son’s innocence. Contrast this with the comments of the author of Dikdukei Soferim and R. Matisyahu Shtrashun (cf. the earlier citations to their respective comments), who both wondered how the Chida could rely on R. Levin’s testimony and ignore a father’s obvious partiality towards his son. Obviously, whereas they took R. Levin’s missive as an argument in support of his son, the Chida took it as a vindication of the sefer itself.

The Chida’s reading is in fact borne out by the bulk of R. Levin’s circular (which R. Matisyahu Shtrashun admits he had not actually seen) in which R. Levin asserts that that the presence of some strange content in a sefer should by no means disqualify it, as the same can be said of many sefarim, and it is wrong to characterize a sefer on the basis of a few anomalous statements (“for this is typical of [Jewish] apostates, they collect what appears to them as strange Aggadot and unjust laws, and they then slant them in a way that will incite hatred and animosity towards us”). In any case, he adds, when taken in context these passages can often be explained in a satisfactory manner. The Chida thus appeals to R. Levin’s authority and esteem, and after reading R. Levin’s strenuous claim for the veracity and integrity of the content of Besamim Rosh, the Chida readily accepted his testimony, and discounted the false rumors without equivocation.

Ironically, though R. Matisyahu Shtrashun has all but discounted the Chida’s reliance on the testimony of R. Levin, my reading of the Chida actually anticipates R. Shtrashun’s own opinion of the sefer. R. Shtrashun concludes his brief survey of the reception of Besamim Rosh with the following remarks:

ואחרי כל אלה יש להעיר כי אף אם נחליט שכל הספר מראשיתו ועד אחריתו מעשי ידי ר’ שאול הנהו, לא נוכל לדחותו כלאחר יד חלילה, ואחרי אשר נסיר ממנו איזה דברים שנפש היפה סולדת בהם (אשר אמנם גם שם נשאר מקום רחב ידים להפוך בזכותו) הנהו מלא תורה כרמון וריח בשמיו נודף כאפרסמון בלול בחריפות ובקיאות, מחברו חותר ומעמיק בפלפול ישר בדברי הש”ס ובדברי הראשונים והאחרונים כאחד ממיוחדי גאוני זמנו.

[Having said all this, it is worth noting that even if we were to conclude that the entire sefer from beginning to end is but the handiwork of R. Saul, we still cannot discount it out of hand. For once we remove some of the more objectionable content (although there is actually ample ground to find justification even for this content), we will find it be full of excellent Torah insight, replete with ingenuity and proficiency. The author utilizes sound sophistry in developing his penetrating arguments from the Talmud and the works of Rishonim and Acharonim, like one of the special exemplary scholars of his time].

R. Shtrashun, like most of the others who dealt with the subject, was primarily concerned with the question of the sefer’s authorship, and indeed in this regard the jury has come out strongly on the side of those who claim R. Saul produced this volume on his own. Yet, as demonstrated above, the Chida’s main interest in the provenance of the sefer was to ascertain the reliability of its content. As such, the Chida was delighted with R. Levin’s yikar sahaduta – esteemed testimony, who concluded, much as R. Shtrashun was later to write, that despite some of its questionable content – for which a justifiable argument could be made in any case – the sefer on the whole was full of valuable content, and all reports to the contrary were but pum bidatta – salacious rumors.

Taken this way, R. Levin’s appraisal, enthusiastically received by the Chida, and echoed in the assessment of R. Shtrashun, may yet stand the test of time.




Post-Mosaic Additions to the Torah?

Post-Mosaic Additions to the Torah?

Marc B. Shapiro

In his post here, Ben Zion Katz deals with medieval rabbinic views regarding post-Mosaic additions to the Torah. Katz refers to The Limits of Orthodox Theology, and I have mentioned many additional sources in Seforim Blog posts. (A couple of people have commented that in a few recent publications on this topic it seems that the authors used my writings without any acknowledgment. I would only say that I don’t have a copyright on any sources. Once I discuss the sources publicly, then anyone is free to make use of them. It would, however, be appropriate for these authors to at least mention my book and posts if that is how they learned of these sources.)

In Limits, pp 109-110, I mention that the Tosafist R. Avigdor Katz cites interpretations found in R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary to the Torah both with regard to post-Mosaic additions to the Torah and about material being removed from the Torah and placed in the book of Psalms. (While R. Avigdor only refers to one chapter [Psalm 136] being removed from the Torah, R. Judah he-Hasid speaks of this and all other anonymous Psalms written by Moses.) R. Avigdor does not mention R. Judah he-Hasid, and regarding the removal of the chapter from the Torah and placing it in the book of Psalms, before citing this interpretation he states, “I have heard.” Thus, I think it is fair to say that the “critical” interpretations he mentions were “in the air.”

H. J. Zimmels published the two passages from R. Avigdor just mentioned,[1] but there is another comment that appears as a note to R. Avigdor’s manuscript. It has recently been published by Miriam Weitman,[2] and states:

וישם את אפרים לפני מנשה פי‘ לא על יעקב אמ‘, אל‘ משה רבינ‘ שם ראש דגל אפרי‘ לפני מנשה בעבור שיעקב אמ‘ ואחיו הקטן יגדל ממנוויהושע או אנשי כנסת הגדול‘ כתבודאי משה כתבו אם היה לו [צל היה לו לומראני שמתי כמו שאומ‘ אחרכ‘ ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך

This interpretation, speaking of a post-Mosaic addition to the Torah, is also found in R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary. 

In a previous post, available here, I mentioned R. Shlomo Fisher’s rejection of R. Moshe Feinstein’s view that R. Judah he-Hasid’s “biblical criticism” is a forgery. As R. Fisher put it, R. Moshe assumed that R. Judah he-Hasid has to accept Maimonides’ Principles, but that is not the case, and when it comes to the issue of complete Mosaic authorship, R. Judah he-Hasid disagrees with Maimonides. R. Uri Sherki has apparently also discussed this matter with R. Fisher, as he cites R. Fisher as stating that the issue of whether post-Mosaic additions are religiously objectionable is a dispute between the medieval Ashkenazic and Sephardic sages. See here.

What this means is that in medieval Ashkenaz it was not regarded as heretical to posit post-Mosaic additions, while the opposite was the case in the Sephardic world (and this would explain why Ibn Ezra could only hint to his view). I am skeptical of this point, particularly because Ibn Ezra’s secrets are, in fact, explained openly by people who lived in the Sephardic world.[3] Yet Haym Soloveitchik has also recently made same point, and pointed to differences between Jews living in the Christian and Muslim worlds. His argument is that since medieval Ashkenazic Jews were not confronted with a theological challenge of the sort Jews had to deal with in the Islamic world, where Jews were accused of altering the text of the Pentateuch, there was no assumption in medieval Ashkenazic Europe that belief in what we know as Maimonides’ Eighth Principle was a binding doctrine of faith.

Here is some of what Soloveitchik writes (the emphasis does not appear in the original):

One tanna had stated, simply and with no ado, that the last eight verses were of Divine origin but not of Mosaic authorship, and R. Yehudah he-Hasid added that there were several more verses that were not penned by Moses. Was such a position seen as being thoroughly mistaken? Most probably. Was it viewed as odd and non-conformist? Undoubtedly; though hardly more eccentric than R. Yehudah’s view that King David, to flesh out his book of Psalms, lifted from the text of the “original” Pentateuch many anonymous “psalms” that Moses had penned! Were these strange and misguided views, however, perceived as being in any way heretical or even dangerous? At that time and place, certainly not. They contained no concession to the surrounding culture, opened no Pandora’s Box of questions. Indeed, one can take the religious temperature of R. Yehudah he-Hasid’s explanation by the matter of fact way European medieval commentators (rishonim) treated the passages in Menahot and Bava Batra where the tannaitic dictum of Joshua’s authorship is brought.[4] In their world, these words did not abut any slippery slope of a “documentary hypothesis” or of “Jewish forgery”. No need, therefore, to reinterpret this passage or to forfend any untoward implications. What concerned R. Yehudah he-Hasid’s contemporaries, the Tosafists, in this statement were its practical halakhic implications for the Sabbath Torah readings, not its theological or dogmatic ones, for to them, as to R. Yehudah, there were none.[5] 

One of the biggest theological changes in Orthodoxy in the last decades—perhaps the sources collected in Limits were significant in this regard—is the acknowledgment that asserting limited post-Mosaic additions to the Torah is not to be regarded as heretical.[6] In Limits and subsequent blog posts I have recorded around thirty-five rishonim and aharonim who claim that Ibn Ezra believed in post-Mosaic additions. When you throw in R. Judah he-Hasid, R. Avigdor Katz, R. Menahem Tziyoni, and other sources I referred to in Limits, it is hard to convince people this is a heretical position, despite what Maimonides’ Eighth Principle states. It is also hard to convince them that this matter has been “decided” in accordance with Maimonides’ view. R. Mordechai Breuer states flatly that the legitimacy of Ibn Ezra’s opinion cannot be denied.[7] 

אין אני יודעאם רוח חכמים נוחה מהדברים האלהמכל מקום הם יצאו מפי אבן עזראושוב לא נוכל לשלול את הלגיטימיות שלהם

Yet fifty years ago, speaking about these opinions would have been regarded as incredibly controversial, if not heretical in many eyes. Today, it seems like it is no big deal, and I have in mind not just Modern Orthodox circles but in the intellectual haredi world as well. It is significant that it its affirmation of Torah mi-Sinai, the Rabbinical Council of America did not deny the existence of views that speak of small additions to the Torah, but instead noted the great difference between these views and modern critical approaches. Here is the relevant paragraph (the entire statement can be seen here).

When critical approaches to the Torah’s authorship first arose, every Orthodox rabbinic figure recognized that they strike at the heart of the classical Jewish faith. Whatever weight one assigns to a small number of remarks by medieval figures regarding the later addition of a few scattered phrases, there is a chasm between them and the position that large swaths of the Torah were written later – all the more so when that position asserts that virtually the entire Torah was written by several authors who, in their ignorance, regularly provided erroneous information and generated genuine, irreconcilable contradictions. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, none of the above mentioned figures would have regarded such a position as falling within the framework of authentic Judaism

Without getting into the content of this statement which I believe is generally correct,[8] what is important for our purposes is that I do not believe such a statement would have been issued even fifty years ago, as it acknowledges the existence of “remarks by medieval figures” that are at odds with  Maimonides’ Eighth Principle.[9] 

What are we to make of the approach to Torah mi-Sinai in R. Judah he-Hasid’s “school”? Weitman suggests a few possibilities, one of which is that they believed in the existence of a “continuing revelation,” namely, that the Torah continued to be revealed even after the initial revelation to Moses. This would be an extension of the talmudic view that the last eight verses of the Torah were written by Joshua. While some might find this approach quite provocative, I think it is actually the meaning not just of R. Judah’s “school” but of Ibn Ezra and pretty much everyone who believed in intentional post-Mosaic additions. That is, they believed that these were added by prophets, as they would have regarded as completely unacceptable, indeed heretical, the notion that the Torah contains non-prophetic verses.

One of the most important sources in this matter is R. Judah he-Hasid, as he is a universally recognized rishon who pointed to post-Mosaic additions. Not surprisingly, his opinion is often quoted, and the censorship of his commentary has also been widely discussed. R. Judah he-Hasid’s words have been read in the exact same way by the greatest Torah scholars as well as the greatest academic scholars, and yet, what if everyone is mistaken? This is the claim of Eran Viezel, who in a recent article has argued that the passages in R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary that point to post-Mosaic additions were actually written by R. Judah he-Hasid’s son, R. Moses Zaltman, a figure who does not have the religious authority of his famous father.[10] Since Viezel feels that he has removed the veil of “Bible critic” from R. Judah he-Hasid, he also wonders if R. Moses, and not R. Judah he-Hasid, should be identified as the source of the claim that texts were removed from the Pentateuch and placed in the Psalms. In this case, however, he acknowledges that there is no evidence to support his suggestion.

I have gone through Viezel’s arguments, and while I agree that it seems that R. Moses is the author of the “critical” comment to Leviticus 2:13, I don’t see this when it comes to the other passages. More importantly, none of the scholars I have consulted in this matter accept Viezel’s argument, so I don’t think we need to revise all the discussions about R. Judah he-Hasid and substitute his son, R. Moses. I would also add that it is precisely the other two passages in R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary that speak of post-Mosaic additions, as well as the passage that speaks of Psalms being removed from the Torah, that appear as well in R. Avigdor Katz’s commentary (with the difference noted above that R. Avigdor only speaks of one Psalm having been removed). In other words, what we have here is not some radical individual view advocated by R. Moses, but a position that was shared by others and no doubt well known.

It is noteworthy that while earlier editions of Otzar haChochma included the censored version of R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary, the current edition includes the uncensored text. Otzar haChochma is careful not to include anything heretical on its site, so this can be seen as a “koshering,” as it were, of the uncensored commentary of R. Judah he-Hasid. Also significant is that in the new Otzar ha-Rishonim on Torah, two of the four “critical” comments in R. Judah he-Hasid’s commentary are included (Lev. 2:13, Deut. 2:8). Here is the page that includes the commentary to Deuteronomy 2:8.

As far as I know, no one has placed the Otzar ha-Rishonim in herem for including R. Judah he-Hasid’s comments. 

There is one other thing that is noteworthy about this edition of the Humash. Here is a page where you can see something called Targum Yerushalmi ha-Shalem.

This is not found in the regular Mikraot Gedolot Humash. There you only have a fragmentary Targum Yerushalmi. In academic circles, the complete Targum Yerushalmi is known as Targum Neofiti, and it was only discovered in 1949. You can read about it in Wikipedia here. The Wikipedia entry states that Neofiti is “the most important of the Palestinian Targumim, as it is by far the most complete of the Western Targumim and perhaps the earliest as well.”[11] 

Returning to Viezel, I want to now offer  some valuable information which in my opinion not only shows that Viezel’s argument is lacking, but is significant in its own right. From this point on, when speaking of important medieval Ashkenazic sages who believed that there are post-Mosaic additions in the Torah, in addition to R. Judah he-Hasid and R. Avigdor Katz, we have to add R. Judah he-Hasid’s student, the great R. Elazar of Worms. This at least is Amos Geula’s identification of the author of an unpublished medieval commentary on the Torah, and for the purposes of this post I will assume Geula is correct.[[12] 

In his commentary to Genesis 36:1, R. Elazar writes:[13] 

ואלה המלכים [בראשית לולאלפי הפשט עזרא כתב ואלה המלכים עד שאולאו משה כתבו ברוח הקדשכבלעם שכתב מעשה אגג ומשיח . . . לפני מלוך מלך בישר[אל] אילו המלכים מלכו קודם שאול המלך כי כשהומלך שאול הכניע אדום כי נלחם באדום ובעמלק עד זמן יהורם שכת‘ ומלך אין באדום נצב מלך [מלא כבמח] . . . ואלה שמות אלופי (אדום) [עשו] [ברלוממזמן שאול עד יהורם

אלה המלכים המלכים היו קודם האלופים שהרי מנה אותם תחילהאלופים [מלכיםאילו קודם שמלך דוד שנ‘ לפני מלוך מלך לבני ישר[אלואין לך לומר לפני משה שהרי לא מצינו שמלך משהואין לומר ויהי בישורון מלך [דב‘ לג,המשה

R. Elazar explains that according to the peshat, Genesis 36:31-39, which gives the list of kings “that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel,” was written by Ezra. He offers another suggestion that Moses wrote this prophetically, but as you can see from the rest of his comment, this is not the approach he adopts, as he assumes that these verses, as well as Genesis 36:40-43, are post-Mosaic.

This interpretation is already found in R. Judah he-Hasid and R. Avigdor Katz, who think that these verses were written in the days of Anshei Keneset ha-Gedolah. According to a medieval Tosafist collection of Torah commentaries, this view was also held by R. Samuel ben Meir (Rashbam).[[14] It is thus obvious that this was a common interpretation in medieval Ashkenaz, and as more medieval manuscripts are published we will no doubt find more such “critical” interpretations.

As Geula notes, in the published version of R. Elazar Rokeah’s commentary on the Torah,[15] which was apparently written not by him but by one of his students,[16] we also find the view that Genesis 36:40-43, in addition to Genesis 36: 31-39, are post-Mosaic.

הרי אילו יא אלופים היו בימי ח‘ מלכי ישראל לכן נקרא אלוף תמנע כי מנעו מהםמלך אין באדום נצב מלך (מלכים א כבמחכנגדם העמידו ישראל יא שפטים יהושע עד שמואלובימי השפטים העמידו מלכים באדום

From all we have seen of how members of this “school” explained this chapter of Genesis, it is clear that this commentary does not mean that the names of the chiefs or the kings were written prophetically.

Another comment from R. Elazar pointing to a post-Mosaic addition is on Genesis 47:26: “And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth.” This refers to the produce given in Egypt to the Pharaoh. But what do the words “unto this day” mean? R. Elazar sees these words as a post-Mosaic addition.[17] 

ושם אתה יוסף לחוק למשפטעד היום הזה עד שהגלה נבוכד נצר [!] ובימי משה שכתב את התורה עדיין היה חוק

On this verse, R. Menahem ben Solomon (12th century), in his Midrash Sekhel Tov,[18] writes:

עד היום הזה אלו דברי הסדרן

Geula understands the “sadran” to be a post-Mosaic author, and at first glance this would seem to make the most sense. However, Richard C. Steiner has studied the use of the term “sadran” in various medieval works, and he believes that it could also be used with reference to Moses.[19] 

Returning to R. Elazar of Worms’ commentary, we find something interesting in the manuscript, although we have no way of knowing what the original text was.[20] The copyist wrote:

וכתב שדהו במשנה תורה [דב‘ היחלפי שכבר סמוך שייכנסו לארץ [וי]היה להם שדות

However, this was corrected to read:

לפי שכבר נכנסו לארץ והיה להם שדות

The question is why in the version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:18, in the commandment against coveting, does it include coveting your neighbor’s field while this point is missing from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:13. According to the second reading in the manuscript, the word שדהו was added after the Israelites entered the Land of Israel. Geula rightly asks, was this a “correction” of a reader of the manuscript, or was he returning the text to its original form?

With all the evidence that we now have, and as mentioned more will no doubt be forthcoming as additional manuscripts are published, it is clear that the viewpoint that there are limited post-Mosaic additions in the Torah was considered acceptable in medieval Ashkenaz (and thus it is hard to see how it can be regarded as an unacceptable view today[21]).

Regarding R. Judah he-Hasid, the following is also worth noting. Here is his commentary to Deuteronomy 2:8.

In the middle we see the following words:

שהוא נמצא כמו מרשיילא או פנדייא שעוברים דרך שם לעכבו כך לא היו יכולין לילך אחר הזהב אם לא היו באין לעציון גבר מתחילה

What does לעכבו mean? Viezel translates as follows: “For it was located like Marseille or Pontoise [place names], as a way station en route [to the gold] so that they were not able to go after the gold unless they came to Etzion Geber first.” (His identification of פנדייא as Pontoise must be correct, and in medieval times Pointoise was an important commercial center.)

Zev Farber in his article here translates the passage as follows: “For it is situated like Marseilles or Pandaya[22] such that people must pass through there to stop in, so that they could not get to the gold if they did not stop first in Etzion-geber.”

I have underlined the words that Viezel and Farber use as translations of לעכבו. Yet both of them overlooked what I pointed out in Limits, p. 109 n. 136, that the parallel text of R. Avigdor Katz allows us to see that the word לעכבו is a mistake and it should actually read לעכו, “to Acre”, which for almost two hundred years was part of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.[23] Now the passage makes perfect sense.

Let me make three final comments about the text of the Torah.

A. In Limits I discussed those who understand Tikkun Soferim literally. To the list of the authorities I mention, we can add R. Pesah Finfer,[24] R. Isidore Epstein, and R. Joseph Messas.


R. Finfer was a dayan in Vilna and considered the expert on masoretic matters in Lithuania.[25] In his Masoret ha-Torah ve-ha-Nevi’im (Vilna, 1906), p. 6, he writes:

ראוי הי‘ עזרא שתנתן התורה על ידו . . . והוא ונחמי‘ עשו תיקון סופרים וכינויי סופרים.

R. Epstein, Judaism (Baltimore, 1959), pp. 195-196, writes:

The spiritualization of the conception of God is reflected already in certain changes known as Tikkune Soferim (Corrections of the Scribes), which, ascribed to Ezra, were introduced into the Biblical text in order to tone down certain anthropomorphic expressions.

R. Messas, Minhat Yosef (Jerusalem, 2012), vol. 4, p. 40, writes:

וזה אחד מתקוני סופרים בתורה לכנוי ולתקון לשון עכ”ל. ענין זה מפורש בתנחומא פרשת בשלח על הכתוב וברוב גאונך, ובעץ יוסף שם, ובערוך ערך כבד . . . והעולה מכלם הוא, כי בי”ח מקומות בתנ”ך תקנו הסופרים שהם אנשי כנה”ג איזה תקונים בהם

B. One of the greatest Moroccan rabbis of the last two hundred years was R. Raphael Berdugo (1747-1821), known as המלאך, who wrote important responsa and biblical and talmudic commentaries. In his Mesamhei Lev on Joshua, chapter 5, R. Berdugo calls attention to verse 12 which shows us that even after entering the Land of Canaan, the Israelites were still fed for a time with manna. “And the manna ceased on the morrow, after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

R. Berdugo points out that Exodus 16:35 states: “And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” The problem is obvious. The verse in Exodus is written from the perspective of when the Israelites were no longer eating the manna, yet we see from the book of Joshua that they continued eating the manna even after Moses’ death. So who wrote the verse in Exodus?

R. Berdugo acknowledges that one can say that it was prophetically written by Moses. Yet he doesn’t think that this makes sense, namely, to write a verse prophetically so that it appears to be written about an event that happened in the past. Therefore, he says that Joshua wrote the verse. It seems that that this does not raise any theological issues for him, and he compares it to the dispute about the last eight verses in the Torah where one tanna holds that Joshua wrote these verses because they refer to events after Moses’ death. Here, too, R. Berdugo states that since the verse refers to something that took place after Moses’ death, it makes sense to say that it was written by Joshua.[26] 

ויאכלו מעבור הארץ ולא היה עוד לבני ישראל מן וגומשמע שאחר שבאו לארץ כנען היו אוכלים מןומש בתורה את המן אכלו עד בואם אל קצה ארץ כנען הוא סמוך ליריחו אחר מות מרעהואכ צע מי כתב אותו פסוק בתורהואף כי אין מעצור לומר כי מרעה כתב זה ברוח קדשו ידע העתידות ושישראל יאכלו המן אחר מותו מכל מקום לשכל קשה זה וכש שיאמר אותם בלשון שכבר נעשוולכן העיקר שיהושע כתבו אחרי מות מרעהוכן מצאנו שנחלקו רזל בפסוק וימת שםשר‘ יוסי אמר שיהושע כתבו וכו‘.

Also of interest is R. Berdugo’s comment to Deuteronomy 34:10, where in speaking about verses at the end of the Torah written after Moses’ death, he attributes them to כותבי התורה rather than just to Joshua.[27] 

C. In the very interesting book, Derekh Sihah, which records conversations with R. Hayyim Kanievsky, the following questions and answers appear (vol. 1, pp. 323- 324):

שאלה: באור החיים הק‘ (לדכטכתב ממדרש שקרני ההוד נעשו עי שיור הדיו שנתן על ראשווהכוונה כי משה מרוב ענוה לא כתב והאיש משה עניו עם יודולכן נשאר דיווזה פלא וכי כתב איך שירצההרי כל אות היתה בנבואה

תשובה: כיוצא בזה כתב בעל הטורים (ריש ספר ויקראשכתוב אלף זעיראכי רצה משה לכתוב ויקר“, אמר לו הקבה כתוב עם אלףאבל ממ כתב אותה בזעיראוכנראה שזה לא נמסר לו איך לכתוב.

שאלה: שאלתי להרב שליטא עד דברי האור החיים” הק‘ שכתב כי קרני הוד של משה משיירי קולמוסשהיה צריך לכתוב עניו” עם יודוכתב בלא יודוכי זה נתון לדעתוואמר הרב שלא אמרו לו כיצד לכתובוחזינן שאמרו רק התוכןוגם כאן כן הוא.

תשובה: שם זה היה על התיבה הזאת בלבד שלא אמרו לו איך לכתובאבל פעם שאלתי מהגר גדליה נדל שליטא שרואים בחזל טענות על נביאים כיצד אמרו בלשון מסוייםכגון במסכת פסחים (סוב‘) כל המתייהר אם נביא וכו‘ מדבורה דכתיב חדלו וכו‘, וזה היה בנבואהוכן במסכת מגילה ידב‘ “כרכושתא כתיב בה אמרו לאיש ולא אמרה אמרו למלך“, ושם מלכים (ב‘ כבטוכתוב כה אמר ה‘, חזינן מזה שיש פעמים שהשאירו הבחירה ביד הנביא אלו תיבות לומר

R. Kanievsky states that Moses on his own decided to leave out the yud in the word ענו in Numbers 12:3. R. Kanievsky supports this position with the comment of the Baal ha-Turim on Leviticus 1:1 who states that Moses on his own wrote the final aleph in the word ויקרא in small print. (I did not cite this comment of Ba’al ha-Turim in Limits, as I don’t see it as in opposition to Maimonides’ Eighth Principle. The Principle speaks of the letters of the Torah themselves, not whether they are regular size or small.[28]

Despite the citation of Ba’al ha-Turim, I am sure that some will regard R. Kanievsky’s position as inappropriate, or even in opposition to the Eighth Principle which states that the entire Torah found in our hands is of divine origin, for R. Kanievsky states that Moses had the authority to determine if the word ענו should be written with a yud or not.[29] It is true that in the Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Teshuvah 3:8, Maimonides defines a heretic as “One who says that the Torah, even one verse or one word, is not from God.” Maimonides here does not include one who says that a single letter is not from God. However, in the Eighth Principle he does not make such a distinction. Presumably, R. Kanievsky would say that the words of the Eighth Principle must be understood in line with what appears in the Mishneh Torah. Nevertheless, it is significant that R. Kanievsky regards as theologically legitimate the notion that Moses independently determined how a word in the Torah should be written, as the standard view is that all such matters were determined by divine command.

R. Kanievsky further supports his position with a striking insight. He points to Pesahim 66b and Megillah 14b where statements of Deborah and Hulda are criticized by the Sages for being boastful. Yet both these statements are actually part of a prophecy, so how could the Sages find problems with these words if they came from God? R. Kanievsky concludes from this that while the prophetic message comes from God, there are times when the actual words originate in the prophet’s mind, and this explains how the Sages can regard these words as problematic. Although Moses’ prophetic level was above that of all other prophets, R. Kanievsky believes that on at least one occasion Moses was allowed to choose how a word in the Torah was written.

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My Torah in Motion classes are now being placed on Youtube. Those who are interested can view them here.

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[1] Abhandlungen zur Erinnerung an Hirsch Perez Chajes (Vienna, 1933), pp. 259, 261.

[2] “Hedei Parshanuto shel Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid be-Kitvei Talmidav – Hemshekh Mul Tzimtzum,” Megadim 55 (2014), p. p. 77.

[3] In Limits and subsequent blog posts I listed numerous rishonim and aharonim who understood Ibn Ezra’s hints to mean that there are post-Mosaic additions in the Torah.  Here is another important text, a comment by Tosafot (Tosafot ha-Shalem, ed. Gellis, to Gen. 12:6 [p. 14]:

והכנעני אז בארץ . . . ואם איננו כן יש לו סודכי כוונתו שזה לא כתבו משה אך נכתב אחר שנכבשהוכן דעתו בהרבה פסוקים

Tosafot rejects this opinion, stating:

ואנחנו לא ניאות בזה הדעת שכל התורה כתבה משה מפי ה’ בלא חילוק ושנוי

It is significant that Tosafot does not refer to Ibn Ezra’s interpretation as heretical. For another source that assumes that Ibn Ezra believed that there are post-Mosaic additions in the Torah, see R. Aharon Friedman, Be-Har ha-Shem Yeraeh (Kerem be-Yavneh, 2009), p. 30.

[4] I am aware of no evidence that the rishonim in the Islamic world interpreted these passages in a fundamentally different way than the Ashkenazic rishonim. As noted in Limits,  pp. 104-105, R. Joseph Ibn Migash openly accepted the viewpoint that Joshua wrote the last eight verses of the Torah. One point which I did not make in Limits is that while the Talmud attributes to individual tannaim the view that the last eight verses in the Torah were written by Joshua, in Sifrei, Devarim, piska 357, this opinion is cited anonymously, apparently signifying that it is the view of the Sages as a whole, which is then challenged by R. Meir.

וימת שם משה איפשר שמת משה וכותב וימת שם משה אלא עד כאן כתב משה מיכן ואילך כתב יהושע רבי מאיר אומר הרי הוא אומר ויכתוב משה את התורה הזאת איפשר שנתן משה את התורה כשהיא חסירה אפילו אות אחת . . .

See Nahum Bruell in Beit Talmud 2 (1881), p. 15.

[5] “Two Notes on the Commentary on the Torah of R. Yehudah he-Hasid,” in Michael A. Shmidman, ed. Turim (New York, 2008), pp. 245-246. Ephraim Kanarfogel, The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz (Detroit, 2013), p. 32, writes: “The availability of this kind of interpretational freedom and variety also allowed Hasidei Ashkenaz to be comfortable with Ibn Ezra’s stipulation of verses that may have been added to the Torah after the revelation at Sinai.”

[6] See my “Is Modern Orthodoxy Moving Towards an Acceptance of Biblical Criticism?” Modern Judaism 37 (May 2017), pp. 1-29, where I also discuss Modern Orthodox thinkers who go beyond this and have accepted the assumptions of modern biblical scholarship regarding source criticism. See also my post here. In my article, I neglected to mention R. Michael Abraham who also sees no religious objection to post-Mosaic additions to the Torah, or even that the Torah is composed from different sources (as posited by the Documentary Hypothesis). See herehereherehere, and here.

[7] Shitat ha-Behinot” shel ha-Rav Mordechai Breuer, ed. Yosef Ofer (Alon Shevut, 2005), p. 311. The standard view is that Ibn Ezra believed that the post-Mosaic additions are from later prophets, but R. Breuer seems to understand Ibn Ezra to mean that these additions are simply readers’ notes, which would not be prophetic (p. 312):

והואיל ואין כל ודאותשנוסח הרוב הוא גם הנוסח הנכוןכבר אפשרי הדבר שספר התורה שבידינו כולל דברים שנוספו לו אחר כך על ידי סופרים טועיםאך מעולם לא היו בספר שנמסר למשה מפי הגבורה.

והאמור בטעויות סופרים אמור גם בתוספות של תלמידיםשהרי הדבר ידועשדרכם של קוראים להוסיף את הערותיהם בגיליון הספר – ואחר כך באים תלמידים טועים” ומוסיפים את ההערות האלה בגופו של הספרואין לך ספר שאיננו כולל הוספות או גלוסות כאלהואבן עזרא סבורכנראהשגם ספר התורה לא יצא מכלל זהוהוא כולל אפוא גם דברים שלא נכתבו על ידי מחבר הספראלא נוספו לו אחר כך על ידי הלומדיםאבל מובן מאליושהוא יכול היה לומר את הדבר הזה רק על אותם מקומות מועטיםשתוכנם מעיד עליהם שהם הוספות מאוחרות.

[8] I say “generally correct” because the assumption that medieval figures only referred to “the later addition of a few scattered phrases” is not accurate if one includes explanations offered by commentaries on Ibn Ezra. In this post as well I give examples which refer to more than a few scattered phrases”

[9] R. Yehoshua Enbal, who often presents original perspectives, has a very strange passage in his Torah she-Ba’al Peh (Jerusalem, 2015), p. 685:

הטענה שכל התורה שבידינו היא המסורה למשה רבינו עליו השלום“, אינה באה בנימוק הגיוני שלא יתכן שאירעה איזו טעות בימי יהושע בן נון ונוספה אות ו‘ באיזו מלהכאשר בזמן משה לא היתה קיימת אות זוטכנית אולי הדבר ייתכןואף יש חילופי נוסח זעומים בפועל בין העדותאלא שמי שמחזיק בדעה כזועם כל הכבוד וההערכהוהנימוקים ההגיוניים שאולי יצרף לדבריואינו חלק מהדת שלנושכן ויתור על אות אחתהינו ויתור על הטקסט כולושאינו אלא סך של אותיות.  אם נוותר על א‘ ועל ב‘ ועל ג‘, איננו מאמינים בכלוםהקישור בין כלל זה לבין נימוק הגיונימעקר את הכללאין העיקר קובע שהגיוני מאד שלא אירע שום שינוי ואף מנסה לשכנע אותנושכן נימוק הגיוני אין כחו יפה בהכרח כנגד נימוקים שיבואו מולואו מחקרים אחרים שיבואו ביום מן הימיםהעיקר קובע שרירותית את גבולות הדתהדת מוקירה ומעריכה כל שימוש בהגיוןואף יכולה להביע הערכה להברקות מקוריותאבל המחזיק בדעה שלא כל התורה מפי הגבורהחוצה פורמלית את הגבול שבין דת להעידרה.

R. Enbal’s declaration that one who expresses doubt about the authenticity of a vav in the Masoretic text is to be regarded as a heretic cannot be taken seriously, especially as he himself notes, there are differences in this regard between different communities. In fact, before the printing press, there were widespread variations among Torah scrolls when it came to minor spelling differences, and the Talmud, Midrash, and medieval commentators often preserve different readings than the Masoretic text. See Limits, ch. 7. And what is one to make of his statement that העיקר קובע שרירותית את גבולות הדת? Principles of faith are to be determined arbitrarily without regard for truth? Earlier on the page he writes (emphasis added):

באוקיינוס של דעות מתפשטותשהתחיל כבר בזמן הרמבםוכמובן בזמננומבלי גבול שרירותינישאר רק עם טקסט.וכמובן גם הטקסט עצמו זקוק להגנה שרירותיתשכן ניתן לטעון שחלקים ממנו אינם מקוריים.

I can’t imagine that this approach, which sounds like it comes from Isaiah Leibowitz, will find many backers. R. Breuer obviously had a different perspective. See “Shitat ha-Behinot” shel ha-Rav Mordechai Breuer, p. 74:

אף על פי שרק נוסח המסורה ראוי להיקרא נוסח המקרא” – שהרי רק הוא נתקבל על ידי ההלכה – עדיין רשאים אנחנו לשאול אם זהו גם הנוסח המקורי של המקרא

[10] Viezel, “R. Judah he-Hasid or R. Moshe Zaltman: Who Proposed that Torah Verses were Written After the Time of Moses?” Journal of Jewish Studies 66 (Spring, 2015), pp. 97-115.

[11] In R. Menahem M. Kasher’s Torah Shelemah, beginning with parashat Ki Tissa, vol. 2, this Targum is included. R. Kasher was very excited by the discovery of this Targum and wrote about it in a number of places, in particular in Torah Shelemah, vol. 24, which is devoted to the Targumim. One of the most fascinating points he makes is as follows (Torah Shelemah, vol. 24, pp. 22ff.).

Deut. 24:3 states: וכתב לה ספר כריתות. Each of the three Targumim translates this passage differently.

Onkelos: ויכתוב לה גט פטורין

Neofiti: ויכתוב לה אגרא דשיבוקין

Ps. Jonathan: ויכתוב לה ספר תירוכין

Mishnah, Gittin 9:3 states:

גּוּפוֹ שֶׁל גֵּטהֲרֵי אַתְּ מֻתֶּרֶת לְכָל אָדָםרַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵרוְדֵין דְּיֶהֱוֵי לִיכִי מִנַּאי סֵפֶר תֵּרוּכִין וְאִגֶּרֶת שִׁבּוּקִין וְגֵט פִּטּוּרִיןלִמְהָךְ לְהִתְנְסָבָא לְכָל גְּבַר דְּתִצְבַּיִן

The Gemara offers no reason for the text of the get that R. Judah requires. Why would one need to repeat the same thing in three different ways? (Contemporary gittin differ from R. Judah’s text, but still include the three terms: פטרית ושבקית ותרוכית) Later rabbinic authorities offer all sorts of forced explanations for this. R. Betzalel Ashkenazi, She’elot u-Teshuvot, no. 21, writes:

גט פטורין כמו שתרגם אונקלוס על גט כריתות אבל תרוכין ושבוקין ושאר הדברים שהם דברי עצמו אשר לא כתוב בספר

R. Ashkenazi recognizes that the words גט פטורין appear in Onkelos, but he thinks the other two words are original to R. Judah. (This shows that R. Ashkenazi did not have access to Targum Ps. Jonathan).

According to R. Kasher, R. Judah was simply using the Targumim known to him. He required inclusion in the get of the three different words that explain the term כריתות so that everyone would understand its meaning. In other words, he was including every possible translation of כריתות that was prevalent among the Aramaic speaking Jews, and this would ensure that a get written this way would be accepted by all who used these Targumim.

[12] Geula, “‘Le-Fi ha-Peshat Ezra Katav . . . O Moshe Ketavo be-Ruah ha-Kodesh’: Hearot al Hibbur ha-Torah be-Ferush Hadash le-Torah mi-Ketav Yad Vatican,” in Avigdor Shinan and Yisrael Y. Huval, eds.,Divrei Hakhamim ve-Hidotam (Jerusalem, 2018), pp. 89-114.

[13] Geula, pp. 91, 92. The verse is cited as מלוך מלך instead of מְלָךְ, but that is to indicate the pronunciation, as the first lamed has a kamatz katan. We find examples of this in our text of the Talmud (although we would have to check manuscripts to see how far back this goes). For example, the word כּׄתֶל, if you put a suffix on it, the holam then becomes a kamatz katan:  כָּתְלנו, as we see in Song of Songs 2:9. Yet throughout the Talmud we find the form כּותליinstead of כָּתְלי. The same thing happens if you put a suffix on the word צׄרֶך. Thus, in II Chron. 4:15 we have צָרְכך not צורכך. In the Talmud, however, you have the form צורכי (as well as צרכי). This was noted by R. Bentzion Cohen, Sefat Emet ((Jerusalem, 1997), p. 167.

[14]  See the text published by Isaac Lange in Ha-Ma’yan 12 (Tamuz, 5732), p. 83.

[15] Perush ha-Rokeah al ha-Torah (Bnei Brak, 1979), p. 258; also in Tosafot ha-Shalem al ha-Torah, vol. 3, p. 287,

[16] See Geula, p. 90.

[17] Geula, p. 96.

[18] Ed. Buber (Berlin, 1900), p. 298.

[19] “A Jewish Theory of Biblical Redaction from Byzantium: Its Rabbinic Roots, Its Diffusion and Its Encounter with the Muslim Doctrine of Falsification,” Jewish Studies Internet Journal 2 (2003), pp. 123-167.

[20] Geula, p. 100.

[21] On the other hand, R. Zvi Yisrael Tau, Tzaddik be-Emunato Yihyeh, pp. 281-282, rejects the legitimacy of this opinion in favor of Maimonides’ principle. He further states that allowing such a view, that there are limited post-Mosaic additions, will open the door to all forms of Higher Criticism and the consequent rejection of Torah min ha-Shamayim. As such, he does not believe that future teachers should be exposed the views of Ibn Ezra, R. Judah he-Hasid, and the others we have discussed.

מדוע חשוב לו כל כך לומר את זהלמה כל כך חשוב למרצה הזה שהמורה העתידי יידע את זההתשובה היא כי אחרי שעוברים את המחסום הזהנעשים פתוחים לכל ביקורת המקרא ולכל הדעות האוניברסיטאיות.

[22] Farber’s note: I do not know what city פנדייא is or even how to transliterate it properly.

[23] See Abhandlungen zur Erinnerung an Hirsch Perez Chajes, 259.

[24] This is the proper spelling, not Pinfer. See Masoret ha-Torah ve-ha-Nevi’im, p. 119.

[25] R. Finfer wished to publish a Tanakh that would replace the Christian chapters we have become accustomed to with the Jewish divisions. In Masoret ha-Torah ve-ha-Nevi’im, p. 118, he published a letter from R. Elijah David Rabinowitz-Teomim agreeing with him in this matter and calling this a “mitzvah gedolah. However, it is reported that the Hazon Ish disagreed, as the Ein Mishpat on the Talmud refers to the Christian chapters, and we have become so attuned to this that any change now would cause more problems than it is worth. See R. Reuven Elitzur, Degel Mahaneh Reuven, p. 363. (The Hazon Ish was the older brother of R. Finfer’s son-in-law, R. Moses Karelitz.) R. Finfer had a small success in that Koren’s divisions are based on R. Finfer. See R. Eliyahu Katz, Be’er Eliyahu (n.p., 2002), p. 151.

R. Finfer reports that the Vilna Gaon brought back the practice of reading the haftarah from a scroll, and that this then spread throughout Lithuania. See Masoret ha-Torah ve-ha-Nevi’im, p. 114.

Also of interest is that it was R. Finfer who published the famous mysterious letter of the Vilna Gaon. Often reprinted, the letter first appeared in the Jerusalem journal Torah mi-Tziyon 3 (Tishrei 5658).

Regarding unknown materials from the Vilna Gaon, I recently found a letter from Shirley Feuerstein to Yaacov Herzog that I think readers will find of interest. It is located in the Yaacov Herzog Archives at the Israel State Archives, available here; old file no.: 4068/21-פ, new file no.: 000zl9r.

[26] Mesamhei Lev (Jerusalem, 1990), p. 296, called to my attention by Rabbi Yitzhak Churaqi. R. Berdugo offers a different perspective in his Mei Menuhot (Jerusalem, 2009), vol. 2, p. 917:

שלא יחובר לתורתו של משה רבינו ע”ה שום נבואה אחרת כללת כי מסלוק משה רבינו ע”ה נחתמה התורה . . . כי לא קם ולא יקום מי שיוסיף על התורה אפילו אות אחת

[27] Mesamhei Lev, p. 150.

[28] See Pithei TeshuvahYoreh Deah 274:7, who cites R. Jonah Landsofer, Benei YonahYoreh Deah 274:20,  that if a letter is mistakenly written large or small it does not disqualify the Torah scroll.

[29] See R. Nahum Abraham, Darkhei ha-Ma’amarim (n.p., 2017), pp. 146-147 (first pagination), who states that what appears in Derekh Sihah is heresy, and therefore he denies that R. Kanievsky could have said it. 




Summer 2020 Sale Announcement: Eight New (or newish) book recommendations

Summer 2020 Sale Announcement: Eight New (or newish) book recommendations

By Eliezer Brodt

Normally this time of the year I post to announce book week and to list out many of the seforim and books printed during the year. This year, due to Covid-19, there is no book fair. At this time there is “talk” of holding a fair in a few months, but who knows what the future will bring. Some publishing companies are currently running sales via their websites; others did not. What follows is a partial list of publishers on sale right now: Bialik, Bar-Ilan University Press, Magnes Press, Academy L’Lashon Haivrit, Mechon Shlomo Uman, Zichron Aron, Mechon Yerushalayim (catalog available upon request), and Ahavat Shalom (catalog available upon request). As in previous years I am offering a service, for a small fee to help one purchase seforim or Books from these sales. For more information about this email me at Eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

This post serves a dual purpose; by mentioning and describing a few, new, important works (some are brand new; others are not), the Seforim blog readership is made aware that they are out there. The second purpose of this post is to make particular seforim available for a limited time and at a special price to those interested in purchasing them through me. Part of the proceeds will be going to support the efforts of the Seforim Blog. Contact me at Eliezerbrodt@gmail.com for more information.

The first book I would like to mention is in English, titled Torah & Rationalism, Understanding Torah and the Mesorah – Writings of Rabbi Aaron Chaim Halevi Zimmerman (216 pp.).

This work was compiled and annotated by Rabbi Moshe Landy. It’s very well written and will certainly be enjoyed by readers. Of note is that this work includes his attacks on Chochmat Yisroel in general and specifically on Louis Ginsburg, G. Scholem and Leo Strauss.

Here is the table of contents.

משה ארנד, שבעים פנים לתורה, 747 עמודים

The second work I would like to mention is a collection of Professor Moshe Arend’s writings. Arend was a famous educator at various institutions and universities. He also wrote numerous articles and books, including a critical edition of R’ Yosef Kra on Iyov and a work on Rashi with Nechama Lebowitz (via Open University).

This new work is composed of a few parts (see the table of contents below). The first section is based on Shiurim he gave devoted to outlying the methods of fourteen different Rishonim and Achronim on Chumash. This part is 348 pages long and is a very valuable tool, as he was known as a master educator.

Other sections are devoted to education (including a section on how to properly teach Tanach) Aggadah, articles on Moadim, Teffilah and Minhaghim. It also includes some memoirs of his interesting life, and write ups of some people he knew. The work concludes with some interesting letters. This wide range collection of material was compiled by his son Dr. Aharon Arend and includes a thorough index to easily locate the numerous gems found throughout the book. Some sample pages are available upon request.

Here is the Table of contents and cover.

 

 

 

 

יצחק טברסקי, כמעיין המתגבר, הלכה ורוח ביצירת חכמי ימי הביניים, עורך: כרמי הורוביץ, מרכז זלמן שזר, 749 עמודים

The third work I would like to mention is the collection of all of Professor Yitzchak (Isadore) Twersky’s thirty-one articles, translated into Hebrew on a wide range of topics. As the original English articles have yet to be collected into one volume, this compilation serves an additional benefit. Many of these articles have been quoted, used and become classics in academic literature, and now for the first time many of them are easily accessible for the Hebrew reader. A PDF of the introduction is available upon request.

Here is the Table of contents and cover.

 

 

 

גנזי הירושלמי, יעקב זוסמן, בהשתתפות בנימין אליצור, בתוספת החיבור, שלמה נאה הערות ללשון קטעי הגניזה של התלמוד הירושלמי, 831 עמודים, בן צבי

The fourth important work I would like to mention is Ginzei HaYerushalmi from Professor Yaakov Sussman. This work collects all of the Yerushalmi manuscript fragments from the Cairo Geniza as well as collections from all over the world. The original plan was to include in this volume, Sussman’s discussions on the Yerushalmi, but due to his health that part of the project was cancelled. A PDF of the introduction and some sample pages are available upon request.

שרגא אברמסון, מחקרים בספרות הגאונים, מגנס, 488 עמודים

The fifth work I would like to mention is a collection of articles by Professor Shraga Abramson. As the abstract of this book states, Abramson was the most important scholar of his time in the field of Geonic literature and the teacher of most of the proceeding generation in this field of study. This book is the third collection of his studies pertaining to the Geonic period. The two previous volumes are considered mandatory for those interested in this formative and fascinating period. The current volume contains studies published in his lifetime but were not included in other compilations, as well as some unpublished studies found in his estate. The articles deal with various aspects of the Geonic literature. A PDF of the Table of contents & introduction are available upon request.

ספר המספיק לעובדי השם לראברהם בן הרמבם, מהדורה שניה מתוקנת, הוצאת אוניברסיטת בראילן, 358 עמודים

The sixth important work worth mentioning is the Sefer Hamaspik of R’ Avraham Maimuni, son of the Rambam. This part of the work was first printed in 1989 and is mostly of a Halachic nature, focusing on Tefilah. At the time, critical reviews of the edition noted various issues with the translation from Judeo-Arabic, issues which were addressed in this new, revised edition. At this time, I am not able to weigh in if enough was corrected or not, however I can say the work is very special, unique and is definitely worth one’s time to learn through it.

יעקב זוסמן, תורה שבעל פה פשוטה כמשמעה, כוחו של קוצו של יוד, מגנס, 228 עמודים

This essay is one of the most incredible academic works I have ever read. The abstract describes it as follows: It deals with the famous question of the manner in which the Tannaitic and Amoraic literature was passed on, orally or in writing, which is of great importance in determining the basic cultural and historical facts in the world of the Sages and in understanding the development of the Oral Law and in the formation of its literature. In Sussman’s revolutionary study, this complex subject was re-examined based on a thorough and profound study of various Talmudic sources, while comparing them with external, time-based evidence, published for the first time in Talmud Studies in 2004. It is published again in this book, along with detailed indices for source texts and various topics discussed therein.

חנן גפני, מפי סופרים תפיסת התורה שבעל פה בראי המחקר, מרכז זלמן שזר, 342 עמודים

Another slightly older work I would like to mention is Chanan Gafni’s Conception of the Oral Law in Modern Jewish Scholarship. This book continues his previous, excellent work P’shuto Shel Mishna. The detailed table of contents below gives one an idea of the topics dealt with inside. A pdf of the introduction is available upon request.

 

 

 

 




Pets on Shabbat, Rabbi Morenu, and Epidemics

Pets on Shabbat, Rabbi Morenu, and Epidemics

Marc B. Shapiro

1. In my last post here I wrote as follows:

R. Yitzhak Nahman Eshkoli calls attention to what he sees as another mistake made by those who published R. Moshe Feinstein’s works.[1] Here is Iggerot Moshe,Orah Hayyim 5, 22:21.

According to the text of R. Moshe’s responsum, animals are muktzeh, even those that children play with. This means that R. Moshe held that pets are also muktzeh. Yet in the small print the editor added that pets are permitted, even though this completely contradicts the first part of the sentence. See also Iggerot Moshe, Orah Hayyim 4, no. 16 (end), where R. Moshe forbids moving a fish tank on Shabbat and Yom Tov: דבע”ח מוקצין.

If you search online you will find a number of people who deal with R. Moshe’s view of pets on Shabbat. R. Chaim Jachter, referring only to Iggerot Moshe, Orah Hayyim 4, no. 16, states that R. Moshe held that pets are muktzeh. See here. Rabbi Dov Lev writes:

See Orach Chaim 308:39 that all animals are considered muktzeh. However, see Shu”t Igros Moshe (Orach Chaim 5:22:21) that rules that designated pets are exceptional and are not muktzeh. On the other hand, Rabbi Y. P. Bodner writes (Halachos of Muktzeh, Feldheim, p. 118) that he heard from Rabbi Feinstein that pets are indeed muktzeh. This is supported by Rabbi Feinstein’s responsum (#24) at the end of the book as well as by Shu”t Igros Moshe (Orach Chaim 4:16).

There are two interesting things here. The first is that R. Lev cites the most recent responsum in Iggerot Moshe that pets are not muktzeh without taking note of what many have seen as a contradiction between what R. Moshe wrote and the small print added by the editors. Also of significance is that R. Pinchas Bodner, who wrote a book on muktzeh and consulted with R. Moshe, claims that R. Moshe told him that pets are muktzeh. See also R. Natan Slifkin, Man and Beast: Our Relationships with Animals in Jewish Law and Thought, p. 237 n. 1.

R. Yonason Rosman, Petihat ha-Iggerot, p. 314, quotes R. Moshe Kaufman, a son-in-law of R. Mordechai Tendler, that after R Moshe gave his stringent answer to R. Bodner, he then reconsidered and came to a lenient opinion. R. Kaufman adds that  R. Moshe permitted his son-in-law, R. Moshe Tendler, to handle his cat on Shabbat.

R. Doniel Yehuda Neustadt, The Daily Halacha Discussion, p. 115, n. 108, writes that “there are conflicting sources regarding Harav M. Feinstein’s opinion on this subject.”

R. Anthony Manning writes:

In the 8th volume of Iggrot Moshe (published posthumously) (O.C. 5:22:21) Rav Moshe again rules that animals are muktza. However Rav Moshe’s grandson, R. Mordechai Tendler, adds afterwards – (אלא א”כ הם מיוחדים לשעשועים (פעטס. It is not clear if Rav Moshe agreed with this addition. Rabbi Pinchas Bodner writes (Halachos of Muktza p. 119 footnote 6) that he heard directly from Rav Moshe that pets are muktza.

R. Zvi Ryzman was also troubled by the apparent contradiction inIggerot Moshe,Orah Hayyim 5, 22:21. He wrote to R. Shabbetai Rapoport, as it was R. Rapoport and R. Mordechai Tendler who were the editors of this posthumous Iggerot Moshe volume and the ones responsible for the small print. Ryzman published his correspondence with R. Rapoport in Moriah 36 (Nisan 5778), pp. 358-359.[2]

 

I think that for most people R. Rapoport’s letter will settle the matter that R. Moshe did not regard pets as muktzeh. It would thus be permissible to handle your own cat that lives in your home, but not to do so with a stray cat or with an animal on a farm, as they are not pets. While we must be grateful to R. Rapoport for explaining matters, there is no question that this should have been properly explained in Iggerot Moshe, as the poor editing job there has created an enormous amount of confusion.[3]

Ryzman provides a number of sources in traditional texts that express a negative view of having dogs as pets. Chronologically, the first on his list is R. Jacob Emden in She’elat Ya’avetz, vol. 1, no. 17.[4] It is worth noting that R. Emden also discusses this matter in Birat Migdal Oz (Warsaw, 1912), p. 127a (5:16):

.ולגדל לשחוק בהן אית ביה איסור מוסיף אחד אנשים ואחד נשים ביחוד אותן המשתעשעים ומגעגעים בכלבים חלקים מעשה עכו”ם הוא ר”ל

R. Emden had another issue with dogs, in that he tells us that one of the leading members of the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam named his dog after R. Emden’s father, as a way of showing how he despised him. This matter greatly upset R. Emden, and all he can write is:[5]

‘שהיה מגדל כלב וקורא לו שם כו
‘הוא גידל כלב וקרא שמו כו

We thus don’t know what exactly he called the dog. Azriel Shohet writes that he called it “Hakham Zvi,”[6] but that is not in the text, and he could have just as easily called the dog simply “Zvi” or some other form of the name.

Regarding dogs, the Shulhan Arukh, Even ha-Ezer 22:18, states:

אלמנה אסורה לגדל כלב מפני החשד

“A widow is forbidden to raise a dog, because of suspicion [people will suspect her of bestiality].”

As far as I can tell, there is agreement among the aharonim that this law also applies to a divorced woman, but there is no consensus about a single woman. There also seems to be agreement that there is no problem with a female dog.

Despite the fact that this halakhah is found in the Shulhan Arukh, there is no question that it is ignored in the Modern Orthodox world, either because people don’t know about it or because they find it far-fetched or even offensive. The Taz, Even ha-Ezer 22:10, brings a limud zekhut for ignoring this law from Tosafot, Bava Metzia 71a, s.v. lo, who understood the matter as being in the realm of humra, but that there is no actual prohibition as Jews are not suspected of bestiality:

לא תרבי כלבא: משום לזות שפתים בעלמא לפי שהולך אחריה שלא נחשדו ישראל על הזכור ועל הבהמה וגם אין אסור להתייחד

(The Taz’s words should be examined in the Machon Yerushalayim or Rosh Pinah editions which are corrected based on manuscripts.)

R. Isaac Lampronte (1679-1756) testifies that in eighteenth-century Italy theShulhan Arukh‘s ruling was ignored and the rabbis did not protest.[7]

אלמנה לא תגדל כלב בתוך ביתה . . . והאידנא לא ראיתי מוחים באלמנה מלגדל כלב אולי דעתה לא נחשדו ישראל על כך

In general, dogs don’t come out looking too well in rabbinic literature, something which must be distressing for all of us dog lovers. In a future post I will give examples of what I am talking about. However, there are a few positive things said about dogs as well. For example, Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot ch. 11 (no. 187), tells us that the dogs were rewarded for not whetting their tongues against the Israelites (Ex. 11:7):

שזכו לעבד עורות מצואתן לכתוב בהן ספר תורה תפילין ומזוזות

In this same section of Yalkut Shimoni there is the following passage about dogs, but I don’t think you can regard it as saying anything positive about them:

כת’ לכלב תשליכון אותו (שמות כב, ל) ללמדך שהכלב מכובד מן הגוי שהרי טריפה לכלב ונבילה לגוי

Let me make one final point about dogs. In Louis Jacob’s autobiography, Helping With Inquiries, pp. 54-55, he writes:

Before leaving my account of the Gateshead Kolel, I feel it would be incomplete unless I said something more about Rabbi Dessler, one of the most remarkable men I have ever met. Until he became the spiritual guide of the Ponievezh Yeshivah in B’nai B’rak, near Tel Aviv, Rabbi Dessler was the moving spirit behind the Kolel and his wise counsel was sought by its members even when he had moved to Israel. He was physically small and had a full but neatly trimmed beard until he went to Ponievezh, when he allowed it to grow long. He had studied in his youth at the famed Musar School in Kelm, presided over by the foremost disciple of Reb Israel Salanter, R. Simhah Züssel. He married the daughter of Reb Nahum Zeev, son of Reb Simhah Züssel. Reb Nahum Zeev was also an outstanding Musar teacher. He earned his living as a merchant in Koenigsberg, where he dressed and conducted his life in Western style. His wife and daughters dressed in the latest fashion. He even had a dog. Rabbi Dessler told us of the occasion when a Polish rabbi, in Koenigsberg to consult a physician, was invited by Reb Nahum Zeev to be a guest in his home. Witnessing the Western style in which the home was conducted, the rabbi was careful to eat very little, suspecting that the food was not completely kosher. Late at night, the Polish rabbi was awakened from his sleep by the sound of bitter weeping from a nearby room. Thinking someone needed help, the rabbi went on tiptoe to the room from which the sobs were coming only to hear the “Westernised gentleman” sobbing his heart out as he chanted the verse from Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanity; all is vanity.” Needless to say, after this experience, the rabbi had no further qualms about eating at Reb Nahum Zeev’s table.[8]

I cite this passage because it reports that that R. Ziv had a dog, and this information must have come from R. Dessler.

R. Ziv was a very great man and there is a lot more that can be said about him. R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg reports that when he lived in Germany, not only did he dress in a modern fashion, but he also trimmed his beard and shook the hands of women. R. Yosef Yozel Horowitz of Novardok was very upset about these things and asked the young R. Weinberg, at this time serving as a rabbi in Pilwishki, to rebuke R. Ziv. R. Ziv told R. Weinberg, “What does he want from a Jew in Germany? I am just a simple Jew and I do not wish to cause ahillul ha-Shem. I behave like the other German Orthodox Jews.”[9] R. Weinberg added that all of R. Ziv’s actions were infused with Mussar ideals, and when he had a question, he traveled to the Hafetz Hayyim to consult with him.[10]

2. In my last post here I gave an example where the people who put together Mesorat Moshe from R. Mordechai Tendler’s notes did not understand what was being discussed. Here is another example from Mesorat Moshe, vol. 3, p. 343, no. 1.

It begins by saying that R. Moshe Feinstein receive a letter from רב מורינו. The editor explains that this refers to Jacob Rosenheim. When I read this I immediately knew it was a mistake. This volume of Mesorat Moshe covers Tevet 5735-Tevet 5736, and Rosenheim died ten years prior to this, in 1965.

Leaving this aside, the editors were led to think that the story concerned Rosenheim as he was given the honorary title “Morenu ha-Rav” by the Agudat Israel organization.[11] Yet even if he was alive at the time of the story, no one would have referred to him as “Rabbi Morenu.” In fact, he was not a rabbi even though subsequent to his death and continuing until now he is constantly given this title,[12] much like today every askan or writer associated with the Agudah is referred to as “Rabbi”. (R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg commented that for the Agudah every rabbi who joins them is treated like a great gaon,[13] to which we can add that every askan is treated like a rabbi. For the haredi critics of the Agudah, it is not only that the askanim are treated like rabbis, but that they are often treated like gedolim. A recurring theme in haredi criticism of the Agudah, since the beginning and continuing until today, is that many of the important decisions taken by Agudat Israel in the past century were made by the askanim without consultation with the Torah leaders who are supposed to be in charge.[14])

Although I knew that Mesorat Moshe could not be referring to Rosenheim, I had no idea who רב מורינו was, and assumed that there was some problem in the transcription. It never occurred to me that מורינו here was actually a name. I have to thank R. Mordechai Berger who pointed out to me that the letter is referring to R. Zev Moreno (Morejno in Polish), who served as rabbi in Lodz until 1973 when he came to New York. R. Moreno has a Wikipedia page devoted to him here.

Even after leaving Lodz, R. Moreno continued to be regarded as the chief rabbi not only of this city but of the entire country of Poland. R. Moshe Feinstein even ruled that in all matters dealing with religious life in Poland, such as appointing rabbis or shochetim, R. Morenu had to give his approval. See here and here. When R. Menahem Joskowitz arrived in Warsaw in 1989 and started functioning as the Chief Rabbi of Poland, this caused a big dispute with R. Morenu who travelled to Warsaw to confront the new rabbi. See here.

R. Morenu was clearly somewhat of a character, as only such a person would have written letters to President Ephraim Katzir, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan with the following “genius” suggestions, in which great rabbis are placed in the highest political offices as figureheads, while the politicians do all the real work: The president of the State of Israel should be the Satmar Rebbe, three vice presidents (a position that Israel does not even have) should be R. Moshe Feinstein, the Gerrer Rebbe, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who will serve together with Katzir. R. Zvi Yehudah Kook should be appointed prime minister, while the real work of the prime minister’s office should be conducted by Begin. The foreign minister should be R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv while Dayan carries out the actual duties of the foreign ministry. You can read all about his political suggestionshere.

R. Berger also called my attention to another source relevant to my last post where I discussed R. Abraham Sofer. In 2018 Minhagei Yeshivat Torah va-Da’at (Torah Vodaath)[15] was published. On p. 23 n. 45, the following story about Sofer appears. Particularly interesting is the report that the Satmar Rebbe told the young man who refused to allow Sofer to get an Aliyah and publicly embarrassed him to ask Sofer for forgiveness.

פעם נכנס לישיבת ביהמ”ד עליון תלמיד חכם נכבד נכד החת”ס, אשר מחמת דוחק הפרנסה עבד במוסד של קאנסרבטיבים. כאשר כבדו הגבאי בעליה, קפץ אחד מתלמידי הישיבה ועלה במקומו לס”ת, והוכיח את החכם הנכבד האיך יכול הוא לעבוד אצל פוקרים בעוד שסבו נלחם במסי”נ נגד הניאולוגים, וביישו ברבים עד שההוא יצא מביהמ”ד מבוייש. כאשר סיפרו זאת להרב ראובן גרוזובסקי זצ”ל, אמר שהוא בבחינת הלכה ואין מורין כן, וכשסיפור זה הגיע לאזניו של האדמו”ר מסאטמאר זצ”ל הגיב שהבחור עשה כהוגן, אך משום כבודו של החת”ס שהוא זקנו של הלה .הורה לבקש ממנו מחילה.

3. Since so many have recently discussed rabbinic responses to epidemics, let me add the following. In years past there were two understandings of how diseases were spread. One is known as the Miasma Theory, and I can do no better than to quote the opening lines of the Wikipedia entry on the topic: “The miasma theory (also called the miasmatic theory) is an obsolete medical theory that held diseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or the Black Death—were caused by a miasma (μίασμα, ancient Greek: ‘pollution’), a noxious form of ‘bad air’, also known as night air. The theory held that the origin of epidemics was due to a miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter.”

The other theory is Germ Theory, which in non-scientific language must be regarded as a fact. Germ theory explains the spread of disease as coming about through the spread of living organisms. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, both the Miasma Theory and Germ Theory (in earlier versions) found supporters in the scientific community.

In an article published in 1851,[16] Joseph Loewy claims that the amora Samuel accepted the Miasma Theory. He calls attention to Bava Metzia 107b: “And the Lord shall take away from thee all sickness (Deut. 7:15). . . . Samuel said: This refers to the wind. Samuel follows his views, for he said: All [illness] is caused by the wind.”

Loewy also cites Ta’anit 21b:

Once Samuel was informed that pestilence was raging amongst the inhabitants of Be Hozae, and he ordained a fast. The people said to him: surely [Be Hozae] is a long distance away from here. He replied: Would then a crossing prevent it from spreading?

4. In my last post I discussed letters from R. Hayyim Ozer Grodzinski and R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg to R. Isaac Unna that were sold by two auction houses. I mentioned how these letters came from the Unna archive at Bar Ilan University which had disappeared. A third auction house has also gotten into the act, and on June 30, 2020 the following letter from R. Grodzinksi to R. Unna is being auctioned. See here.

I refer to this letter in Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy, p. 126 n. 69.

Obviously, the person who acquired the Unna archive has decided to unload it, and as mentioned in my last post, Bar-Ilan University could not care less that documents that it agreed to watch over are now being sold at public auctions. In the previous post I showed how the Bar-Ilan manuscript numbers are clearly visible on the letters that were sold. Take a look at the letter above from R. Hayyim Ozer to R. Unna. There is no manuscript number visible. Yet this is how the letter really looks (ignore my handwriting at the top of the page).

The manuscript number appears right above the name “Grodzienski,” but has been removed from the image used by the auction house (yet presumably is still found on the actual letter).

Excursus

The general practice is to transliterate יעבץ in שאילת יעבץ as Ya’avetz. Yet in I Chron. 4:9-10, the Bible mentions a righteous man named יעְבּץ, and his name is spelled with a sheva under the ע and a dagesh in the ב. When speaking of R. Jacob Emden, יעבץ stands for יעקב בן צבי. Yet in the introduction to שאילת יעבץ, R. Emden tells us that the title also alludes to the righteous man named יעבץ in I Chron. 4:9-10, as both of their births came with pain. On the title page of his responsa, in giving the publication date, R. Emden also cites I Chron. 4:10 with the name of יעבץ.

I assume, therefore, that R. Emden intended us to pronounce the word in the title as Ya’betz. This is also grammatically correct, as there is a sheva under the ע. Regarding the title, also note that the word is written as יעבץ and not יעב”ץ.

In the introduction to שאילת יעבץ, R. Emden mentions that the mother of Othniel ben Kenaz named him Ya’betz because of her painful childbirth. It is true, as Jacob J. Schacter points out, that there is nothing in Chronicles “to support Emden’s assertion that Yavez and Athniel were the same person.” See Schacter, “Rabbi Jacob Emden: Life and Major Works” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1988), p. 70 n. 18. However, when R. Emden writes

קראתי בשם ספרי זה שאילת יעבץ, נסמך הכתוב בד”ה שאמו של עתניאל בן קנז קראתו יעבץ לאמר כי ילדה בעוצב

he has in mind Temurah 16a: “A tanna taught: Othniel is the same as Ya’betz. . . . He was called Othniel because God answered him, and Ya’betz because he counselled and fostered Torah in Israel.”

In I Chron. 2:55 it mentions “the families of scribes that dwelt at יעבץ.” Does this city have anything to do with the person Ya’betz mentioned in I Chron. 4:9-10? We have no evidence, but Radak, I Chron. 2:55, suggests that perhaps Ya’betz built the city and it was named after him. Rashi, ibid., connects יעבץ with the city אבץ in Josh. 19:10.

There is another noteworthy point about the name יעבץ. We find the following in Derekh Eretz Zuta, ch. 1:

ט’ נכנסו בחייהם בג”ע ואלו הן חנוך בן ירד ואליהו ומשיח ואליעזר עבד אברהם וחירם מלך צור ועבד מלך הכושי ויעבץ בנו של רבי יהודה הנשיא ובתיה בת פרעה וסרח בת אשר ויש אומרים אף ר’ יהושע בן לוי

This is a list of those who entered Paradise during their lifetimes. A few of the names are not what we would expect and need to be explained. There is also a textual issue, as another version has R. Joshua ben Levi replacing Hiram of Tyre rather than being added. Why Hiram should be on the list in the first place is something I can take up on another occasion. For now, I just want to note that the son of R. Judah ha-Nasi (other versions read בן בנו) was also named Ya’betz, and that he is reported to have entered Paradise alive.

There is another version that lists Ya’betz separately from the son of R. Judah ha-Nasi. See R. Matityahu Strashun, Mivhar Ketavim, pp. 90-91. Alfa Beita de-Ben Sira (Warsaw, 1927), p. 23, has both עבדו של רבי יהודה and Ya’betz.

The Jerusalem Talmud, Hagigah 2:1, refers to an amora named Ya’betz. For a list of post-talmudic figures named יעבץ, see R. Zev Aharon Teller in Beit Va’ad le-Hakhamim (Tishrei 5769), p. 504 n. 88. See also Asher Weiser, “Ya’betz,” Sinai 78 (1975), pp. 6-8. Masoretic scholars know of Ya’betz ben Shlomo. See e.g., Shlomo Zalman Havlin, Masoret Torah she-Be’al Peh (Jerusalem, 2012), p. 611.

For others who referred to themselves as יעבץ, including Judah Leib Gordon, see Saul Chajes, Otzar Beduyei ha-Shem (Vienna, 1933), pp. 162-163.

A very important figure called יעבץ is R. Emden’s contemporary, R. Jacob Ibn Tzur (Abensur; 1673-1753) of Fez, author of the responsa work Mishpat u-Tzedakah be-Ya’akov. For generations, all Moroccan Jews knew R. Ibn Tzur, who was also a poet, yet he is pretty much unknown in the Ashkenazic world. Menachem Elon recalls how he learned about R. Ibn Tzur. He was doing research on a topic and יעבץ was mentioned, but he could see that it did not refer to R. Emden. He investigated the matter and learned that there was another great halakhic authority who also is known as יעבץ. He writes:

גאון מופלג זה, שיותר ויותר התודעתי לתורתו ולאישיותו, היה זמן ניכר בבחינת נעלם בעולם התורה והישיבות הגדולות שבפולין, ליטא ואשכנז, וכמעט לא היה ידוע בין החוקרים, ומאד חוששני שכך הוא הדבר, עד עיצומם של ימים אלה

See Elon, “Yihudah shel Halakhah ve-Hevrah be-Yahadut Tzafon Afrika mi-le-Ahar Gerush Sefarad ve-Ad Yamenu,” in Moshe Bar-Yuda, ed., Halakhah u-Fetihut: Hakhmei Morocco ke-Foskim le-Dorenu (Tel Aviv, 1985), p. 24.

After R. Emden, the most famous יעבץ is R. Joseph Jabez of Spain, author of Or ha-Hayyim among other works. His name is often written as Yavetz or even Yaavetz, but I don’t know how he himself pronounced the first three letters. The one thing I can say is that he did not pronounce the final letter of his name as “tz”, as that is an Ashkenazic (inauthentic) pronunciation which never would have been heard in Spain and won’t even be heard today among Sephardim who have had a traditional Sephardic upbringing. See R. Benzion Cohen, Sefat Emet (Jerusalem, 1997), pp. 114ff. This explains why, for instance, in Hebrew Barcelona is written as ברצלונה and Safed is written as צפת.

With regard to צפת, the modern pronunciation is Tzefat. However, R. Meir Mazuz notes that the correct pronunciation is indeed Safed (using “s” for צ and the accent on the first syllable), and this is in line with the Arabic pronunciation. See his introduction to R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, He’lem Davar (Bnei Brak, 2006), p. 27. See also R. Jacob Saphir, Even Sapir (Lyck, 1866), p. 1a. In previous generations, this is how the Sephardim in Eretz Yisrael would pronounce it. See R. Elijah Hazan, Ta’alumot Lev, vol. 3, no. 19 (p. 38b). In the page on Otzar HaChochma the vowels are not clear, but you can see them clearly here.

R. Ovadiah Bartenura, in a letter sent from Eretz Yisrael, refers to the city as ספיתה. It should be vocalized as סׇפֵיתׇה as this is how the locals pronounced it, non-Jews and Jews alike. See Avraham Yaari, Iggerot Eretz Yisrael(Ramat-Gan, n.d.), p. 151.

It is true that there is a city צְפֵת (Tzefat) mentioned in Judges 1:17, yet this is a city in the south and has nothing to do with the northern city of Safed we all know so well. צְפֵת is never again mentioned in the Bible, which is understandable as Judges 1:17 tells us that the city was destroyed and its name was changed to Hormah.

As for the original pronunciation of צפת, R. Mazuz does not note that R. Elazar Kalir indeed pronounced the name of the city as Tzefat. Look at the first two lines below, which come from Kalir’s kinah איכה ישבה חבצלת השרון (from the Goldschmidt edition of Kinot, p. 50).

As you can see, the final word צפת can only be read as צְפַת. It thus seems that the pronunciation as Safed only dates from the medieval period. See Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v Safed: “Between the talmudic period and the Crusades the history of Safed is not known. The town reappears in 1140 under the name Saphet.”

* * * * * *

[1] Tza’ar Ba’alei Hayyim be-Halakhah ve-Aggadah, p. 514 n. 1171
[2] This was called to my attention by Yonatan Emett. R. Rapoport mistakenly refers to R. Shimon Eider as the recipient of R. Moshe’s responsum instead of R. Pinchas Bodner. He also refers to R. Eider as shlita, even though he passed away in 2007.
[3] From the various quotations, you can see that there are different ways people have transliterated the first word of R. Moshe’s responsa, אגרות. There is a dagesh in the gimel perhaps because of a nun that dropped off. Regarding the word, see R. Solomon Judah Rapoport, Toldot Rabbenu Natan Ish Romi (Warsaw, 1913), p. 24; R. Matityahu Strashun, Mivhar Ketavim (Jerusalem, 1969), p. 82 n. 9.
[4] See Excursus regarding the word יעבץ.
[5] Megilat Sefer, ed. Bombach (Jerusalem, 2012), pp. 41, 64.
[6] Im Hilufei Tekufot (Jerusalem, 1960), p. 104.
[7] Pahad Yitzhak, s.v. almanah.
[8] The same story, with slight variations, is found in Kitvei ha-Saba ve-Talmidav mi-Kelm, vol. 2, p. 649.
[9] That German Orthodox Jews shook hands with women is mentioned by R. Solomon Carlebach, who states that he also does so if the woman puts her hand out and to not shake it would embarrass her. See Meir Hildesheimer, et al., eds. Le-David Tzvi (Berlin, 1914), p. 218 (Hebrew section).
[10] From an unpublished letter of R. Weinberg.
[11] At the beginning of the Hebrew section of the Festschrift fuer Jacob Rosenheim (Frankfurt, 1931), the Agudah declaration is printed.

[12] For R. Zvi Yehudah Kook, the “original sin,” as it were, of Agudat Israel is precisely that it was founded by a layperson (Rosenheim), and R. Zvi Yehudah contrasts this to Mizrachi which was founded by a great Torah scholar, R. Isaac Jacob Reines. See Be-Ma’arakhah ha-Tziburit (Jerusalem, 1986), p. 76. In his eulogy for Rosenheim, R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, Li-Frakim (2016 edition), p.  607, also refers to him as the founder of Agudat Israel. Yet it is more correct to say that Rosenheim was the major force in the founding of Agudat Israel, as he cannot be identified as the organization’s sole founder.
[13] “Scholars and Friends: Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg and Professor Samuel Atlas,” Torah u-Madda Journal 7 (1997), p. 111.
[14] See here for a recent example of the Agudah rabbinic leadership responding to such a claim (regarding synagogue closures and coronavirus). See here regarding Yaakov Litzman serving as minister in the current Israeli government, which was never approved by the rabbinic leadership of Yahadut ha-Torah. See also here.

In R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg’s letter to R. Moshe Soloveitchik, dated Oct. 20, 1949, and published here for the first time, R. Weinberg writes (ellipsis in original):

.וצדק הרבי ממונקאטש ז”ל שאמר לי כי עתידה האגודה להעביר את מרכז היהדות מביה”מ לאולם האספות ושם ימחאו הרבנים מחיאות כף לנאומים והאדמורי”ם יתכבדו באמירת ברכות . . . חכם עדיף מנביא

[15] On its hundredth anniversary in 2019, Torah Vodaath put out a beautifully produced book, America’s Yeshiva: Celebrating a Century of Torah Leadership in America. The pictures are wonderful and the story of the yeshiva’s beginning and growth are told in an honest way. Also noteworthy is that the yeshiva has a website with a lot of historical information, including most of the high school yearbooks that were produced. See here. Just going through the yearbooks, looking at the pictures, and reading the entries on each of the graduating students makes history come alive. The following yearbooks are missing from the website: 1944, 1947, 1948, 1951, If anyone has these yearbooks, please reach out to the yeshiva so they can be uploaded. The last yearbook on the website is 1978, which I assume means that the students did not publish any more yearbooks.

I do have two comments about the Torah Vodaath website and book. On the website herethere are biographies of the roshei yeshiva. However, there is no biography for R. Dovid Leibowitz, even though the book, pp. 150-152, devotes three pages to him, as well as mentioning him elsewhere. I hope that the omission from the website is not an intentional slight because of the dispute between R. Leibowitz and R. Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz that led to R. Leibowitz leaving Torah Vodaath and founding his own yeshiva. See Moshe D. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in America (Westport, CT, 1996), p. 129.

While I think the book as a whole is great, there is a real blemish on p. 630 when the newest rosh yeshiva is discussed. I think most will understand why this is a terrible bizayon ha-Torah (a double bizayon ha-Torah, i.e., omitting mention of grandfather and father).

We are grateful that in 2018, just as Torah Vodaath began to mark its milestone centennial year, the Yeshiva welcomed Rav Yitzchok Lichtenstein, a descendant of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik and a grandson through marriage of Rav Reuven Grozovsky, to lead the Yeshiva. Rav Lichtenstein was a talmid of Rav Dovid Soloveitchik in Yerushalayim.

On p. 628 the other rosh yeshiva, R. Yosef Savitsky, is introduced as follows: “Rav Yosef Savitsky was raised in Boston by his father Rav Mordechai, a highly-respected Rav.”

If R. Lichtenstein had distanced himself from his family, I could understand the omissions (not that it would be right, but I could understand it). Yet not only has R. Lichtenstein not done so, but he himself has contributed to the legacy of his grandfather, with his most popular contribution undoubtedly this edition of R. Soloveitchik’s insights on the Haggadah.

[16] “Toldot Shmuel,” Kokhvei Yitzhak 15 (1851), p. 31.




In Memoriam: Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm z”l

In Memoriam: Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm z”l

by David Berger

In the early modern period, we find reference in the works of Jews in the Islamic orbit to the ideal of a hakham shalem—expert in both Torah and the various forms of wisdom. If we wish to be yet more ambitious, we can imagine an individual who supplements these already daunting characteristics with a constellation of exceptional personal qualities.

Rabbi Norman Lamm came remarkably close to meeting this extraordinary standard. He was a major thinker who articulated and embodied an ideal of interaction between Torah in its purest sense and world civilization and culture. He contributed to the academic study of Jewish thought. He composed works that inspired Jews to renewed and enhanced observance of mitzvot. He delivered shiurim to classroom audiences and to packed auditoriums, and he published a book of hiddushei Torah. He was an orator of almost transcendent talent; no one in the Jewish world—certainly in the Orthodox world–after Rav Soloveitchik came close. He radiated atzilut (which I would translate inadequately as an aristocratic demeanor) while maintaining genuine concern for virtually everyone he knew; he is said to have responded personally to every letter he received, and he sent congratulatory notes to friends and acquaintances upon reading a review or even a letter to the editor of which he approved. He stood at the helm of a religious movement, leading its central, indispensable institution, founding the Orthodox Forum, the Orthodox Caucus, and the Torah u-Madda Project, serving as the first editor of Tradition, and initiating GPATS, the primary expression of Modern Orthodoxy’s commitment to genuinely advanced Talmud study for women.

Several years after Gerson D. Cohen left Columbia to become Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary—and well before his tragic, debilitating illness– he told me, “I am out of commission as a scholar.” Cohen was a brilliant, driven figure of stunning intellectual breadth and vibrant energy. I often thought of this comment when contemplating the remarkable productivity of Norman Lamm as he led a much larger, far more complex institution, and I shook my head in wonderment.

My one opportunity to characterize an aspect of Rabbi Lamm’s multifaceted accomplishments came when I was invited to write the Foreword to the Deuteronomy volume of his Derashot Ledorot, a series made possible by my wife Pearl, who was then Dean of Yeshiva University’s libraries. She spearheaded an initiative—in consultation with Rabbi Lamm– to place the treasure trove of his typewritten sermons in a digitally accessible data base, which continues to register triple-digit hits on a weekly basis, available here.

In that Foreword, I wrote about my reaction to his sermons, noting among other things his linguistic brilliance. My favorite example was his striking reformulation in a sermon about the drug culture of the late 1960’s of a classic line by Marx. “Opium,” said Rabbi Lamm, “is the religion of the masses.”

I conclude with the following passage from that Foreword recording two memorable incidents unrelated to the published sermons:

One [of these incidents] left me with an enduring impression of Rabbi Lamm’s extraordinary sermonic instinct, and the other revealed a sharp, quick, and agile mind that supplemented the deep and serious intellect expressed in his scholarly and philosophical works.

In March of 1987, Yeshiva University held “A Centennial Event Honoring the Establishment of the Yeshiva University Archives.” Because the archives contain major collections relating to the Holocaust, particularly the records of Orthodox organizations like Vaad Hatzalah and Rescue Children, the program was entitled, “Zachor: Written and Oral History,” and Prof. Geoffrey Hartman of Yale, who directed a video archive of Holocaust-related testimonies, was invited to address the gathering. Rabbi Lamm’s role was to provide a brief introduction to the event. He was by no means the principal speaker, and he could have fulfilled his obligation with a routine comment or two requiring barely a moment of thought or preparation. His introduction was indeed brief, but it was more memorable than anything said by the distinguished visitor.

I wondered, said Rabbi Lamm, why the director of an oral archive would be invited to speak at the launching of an archive of written materials. But then, he continued, I realized that when the Torah speaks of the requirement to remember Amalek, the quintessential precursor of the Nazi murderers, it introduces the divine commandment as follows: “Write this as a remembrance in a book, and place it in the ears of Joshua” (Exodus 17:14). Remembering Amalek requires both a written and an oral archive.

The second episode emerged in the wake of a position that Rabbi Lamm took on a controversial issue that need not detain us here. A prominent rabbi in the Traditionalist Orthodox community responded in a public address with the assertion that Rabbi Lamm was a sone’ Hashem, a hater of God. The editor of the Yiddish newspaper The Algemeiner Journal asked the purported God-hater for his reaction. Rabbi Lamm replied with a single, brief quotation from the Talmud: “Those who are shamed and do not shame in return, who hear their disgrace and do not respond…—of them Scripture declares, “All who love Him shall be like the sun rising in strength” (Judges 5:31).

We have suffered the loss of a unique leader whose legacy will remain with us in virtually every nook and cranny of our Jewish lives.




An “Artscroll”™ Illustration in the Vilna Shas-Masechet Shabbat 98b

An “Artscroll” ™ Illustration in the Vilna ShasMasechet Shabbat 98b

By Eli Genauer

לזכר נשמת אבי מורי ר׳ יעקב קאפל בר׳ משה יהודה הלוי גענויער ז״ל. היארצייט שלו י״ד סיון.

For those studying Daf Yomi this week, there is a unique diagram that appears on Shabbat 98b. In the Vilna Shas one can see a closeup “picture” of one of the boards of the Mishkan (“קרש“) which would make Artscroll proud.[1] While one might be familiar with diagrams that appear in the Talmud, those diagrams illustrate comments in the rishonim, mainly Rashi. Most of these are called out specifically by Rashi: “kazeh” “like this.” Artscroll, however, includes their own illustrations beyond those from any of the rishonim. Yet, they were not the first publishers of the Talmud to do so. Indeed, this diagram on page 98b is a much earlier example of a publisher electing to incorporate their own diagrams into the text.

Diagrams in Printed Editions of the Talmud

The use of diagrams is attested to in numerous manuscripts. These diagrams appear in Rashi, Tosefot and even were used by the Geonim.

When manuscripts gave way to printing in the late 1400’s and early 1500’s, those diagrams were excluded in the early printed editions of the Shas. When Daniel Bomberg published the first complete edition of the Shas in the early 1500s, he did not include the actual diagrams, but instead left a space for the book’s owner to pencil in the relevant diagrams (how they would know what the diagram looked like is left unanswered).

Finally starting with 1697, (the Berman Shas of Frankfurt on der Oder) did diagrams start to reappear in the empty spaces (mostly in Eruvin and Sukkah).

What was the source of those diagrams in the Berman Shas and in ones that were printed soon after in the early 1700’s? There were three sources, the Maharshal, Maharsha, and Mahram of Lublin.

This is the Shaar Blatt from the Frankfurt on der Oder 1697 edition:

The Maharshal is the key point person when it comes to diagrams. He had the 2nd edition of the Bomberg Shas (printed circa 1528) and made his notations there. He recognized the importance of the Shas being printed but also the dangers that lay in the fact that if there was a mistake, it would find its way into thousands of hands. He lived at a time when there were still manuscripts around, and he made his corrections based on those manuscripts and also his own logic. Since he had the status of an Adam Gadol, his own logic carried much weight. Originally, he did not set out to write a book with his corrections. Like the Ba’ch, he just made the corrections in his own Gemara. After he died though, his sons printed Sefarim which reflected his notes.[2] Therefore, if in the late 1600’s or early 1700’s you were printing a Shas, and you looked at a previous edition and in Rashi it said “Kazeh” and there was a space, you would look at the Chochmas Shlomo. If he had added a diagram, you would place that diagram in the empty space and feel comfortable that it had good Yichus. There were times that there wasn’t an empty space that the Chochmas Shlomo shows a diagram, and in that case, the printers usually added it.

The 1715 Amsterdam Edition of the Talmud

A complete edition of the Talmud was first published in Amsterdam in the 1640s by Immanuel Benveniste. In the 17th and 18th centuries Amsterdam was counted among the most important cities for the printing of Hebrew books and there were many well-known publishers that followed Benveniste and they printed many important works yet none of them attempted to reprinting the Talmud. Only some sixty years later did Amsterdam see a Talmud come off its presses. This one, that began in 1714, was never completed.

R. Judah Aryeh Loeb ben Joseph Samuel of Cracow appealed to Samuel ben Solomon Marsheses and Raphael ben Joshua de Palasios prominent members of the Amsterdam Sephardic community and asked them to print a new edition of the Talmud. Neither had ever published a book. In 1710, Loeb unsuccessfully sought to publish an edition of the Talmud in Frankurt. Now, in Amsterdam he sought to try again. Marcheses and Palasios formed a printing house specifically to print a “fine and accurate edition,” in an environment that “the workers would not be hurried so that they could work with care, reducing errors, and under the supervision of … the dayyan of the Ashkenaz Rabbinic Court of Amsterdam who would help establish the correct text.”[3] An emissary was sent to visit various Jewish communities to collect subscribers and reduce the burden of the significant printing costs. Relevant to diagrams, the emissary came bearing a gift, the Amsterdam 1710 edition of R. Jacob ben Samuel Bunim Koppelman of Brisk’s (1555-94) Omek Halakahah (first printed in 1510), a book that includes many diagrams to explain difficult passages of the Talmud.[4]

The first volume, Berakhot, was published in 1714[5] and the editors note the sources for their text and likely for the diagrams as well.

  1. Chochmas Shlomo

  2. Chochmas Manoach

  3. Chidushei Halachos of the Maharsha

  4. Maharam Lublin

  5. Sifrei Hashas of Yosef Shmuel ben Zvi – seemingly these were concentrated on Zeraim, Kodshim and Taharos

The volume on Meseches Shabbos was published in 1715 and the top 4 appear in the Hakdamah:

The Source and Purpose of the Diagram in Shabbos 98b

The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat on Daf 98a and b deals with the laws of carrying and discussing some of the details of the boards (“קרשים“) which made up the walls of the Mishkan.[6] These board were comprised of a complex system designed to keep each board straight and provide sufficient support for the entire structure of the Mishkan. Indeed, if one examines modern editions of the Talmud, there is an illustration that appears on the page. But where did it come from and more importantly what is its purpose? As we will show, the first edition to incorporate this diagram was the 1715 Amsterdam edition of the Talmud.

This is how it appears in the 1715 edition.

This image was reprinted in the Vilna Shas in a slightly clearer format although with the same detail and is a bit easier to analyze.

 

The picture primarily shows that there were three rods (“בריחים”) that connected one board to the next. The rods on the top and bottom went through outer rings, but the rod in the middle went through the width of the board.( “עובי הקרש“) It also shows the sockets on the bottom (“אדנים“) and the grooves (“ידות“) inserted in them which provided stability to the boards as they stood.

As discussed above, manuscripts of Gemarot though generally do not contain pictures, and a check on the invaluable website “Hachi Garsinan” shows that no manuscript of these pages has a picture to illustrate what a board looked like.[7] One might expect Rashi in his description of some of the statements of the Gemara to state his opinion and then write “כזה” (“ like this” ) Then we could expect to find an illustration in any of the number of Rashi manuscripts we have, and we could expect that this illustration (or an empty space for it) would appear in subsequent printed editions. Here we have none.[8]

The most relevant Rashi appears to his comments regarding how the boards stood miraculously.[9] But It does not discuss the fact that the middle rod went through the thickness of the board, but rather the miraculous nature of how the rod bent as it turned the corner. Another potential relevant Rashi explains the statement “the Sages taught, the bottoms of the beams (kerashim) were grooved and the sockets were hollow.” This deals with a completely different aspect of the beams which is how they were shaped on the bottom (and only according to Rabbi Nechemya). Thus, it is unsurprising that the manuscripts of Rashi do not include this diagram.

It was only in the 1715 edition does this illustration first appear. Yet, in the case of the picture of the keresh on Shabbos 98b, we do not find this picture in any of the sources identified by the Amsterdam publishers, not the Maharshal, Chochmas Manoach, Chidushei Halachos of Maharsha, or in Maharam Lublin.

First, we must identify what the diagram is attempting to illustrate. Rather than the more common form of diagrams, this one is not an illustration tied to one of the rishonim, rather it is illustrating two statements of the Gemara, one in the middle of the Daf and one at the very bottom. This, despite the fact that the diagram appears close to Rashi’s commentary on the page, seemingly tying it to his commentary.

Instead, the illustration is the independent product of the Amsterdam publishers and intended to elucidate the text of the Gemara, what did the board system look like. The Mesivta edition of Oz Vehadar also understands that this picture illustrates the words והבריח התיכון בתוך הקרשים. They indicate that Tziyur 6 which except for the detail on the bottom looks very similar to the one in the Vilna Shas, illustrates that statement.

In truth, the main part of the picture showing the middle rod going through the width of the board is not at all aligned with a comment of Rashi. Understanding that it just tries to give a picture of the “קרש” will make it easier to understand for people who study this page. This illustration is designed to explicate the text of the Talmud itself and was the entirely the idea of the publishers of the Amsterdam Talmud.

Why did the editors of the Amsterdam 1715 Shas insert a picture like this? Perhaps they were inspired by diagrams that appeared in a book called Omek Halacha by Jacob ben Simcha Bunim Koppelman which had just been reprinted in Amsterdam in 1710 and was even used in the fundraising campaign for this edition of the Talmud.[10] It has a picture of the grooves that fit into the sockets that is associated with the second aspect of this picture.

Yet, the Amsterdam publishers did not reprint the Omek Halakha’s crude diagram. Like the text and the other aspects of this edition, they included a much clearer and more detailed diagram that is infinitely more helpful in understanding the complicated text. Adding such a picture to a Daf of Gemara was a revolutionary act at that time and once added, it became part of Tzurat HaDaf that we have until today.

[1] As a matter of fact, there is a picture of the “קרש” in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, page 457, similar to the picture of the “קרש” in the Vilna Shas
[2] See Yaakov Spiegel, Amudim be-Toldot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri: Hagahot u-Magihim (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan Univeristy Press, 2005), 312-17.
[3] Marvin J. Heller, Printing the Talmud: Complete Editions, Tractates, and Other Works and the Associated Presses from the Mid-17th Century through the 18th Century (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 75.
[4] Koppelman published another illustrated book, Ohel Yaakov. See Marvin Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus, Volume 2, (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 724-25.
[5] For additional information on this edition see Heller, Printing the Talmud, 74-89.
[6] The categories of work employed to build the Mishkan formed the basis for the Melachot of Shabbat. In this case, the boards of the Mishkan were transported from one location to another giving rise to issues relating to the domains created thereby.
[7]
https://fjms.genizah.org/
[8] The manuscripts I checked on the KTIV website of the National Library of Israel were ones known as Parma 2097, Vatican 138, and Paris 324. All have no diagram in this entire Perek despite containing other diagrams of Rashi in other Perakim. (The two other manuscripts I checked of the total five that were available did not have diagrams in other Perakim either). The general website address for KTIV is https://web.nli.org.il/sites/nlis/en/manuscript
[9] In the book רש״י ,חייו ופירושיו“,כרך ב׳, הוצאת הקדש רוח יעקב, תשנ״ז” page 497, the author Rav Rephael Halpren states that there are 101 diagrams in Rashi included in the Vilna Shas, 51 of them in Masechet Eruvin. He then proceeds to enumerate all of them, including this one on Shabbat 98b. From the positioning of it on the page it certainly does look that way.
[10] Jacob ben Simcha Bunim Koppelman (1555–1594) was a talmudic scholar distinguished for his broad erudition and interest in secular sciences. Early in his life he embarked upon mathematical and astronomical studies, in addition to intensive occupation with traditional Jewish learning. He is the author of Omek Halakhah (Cracow, 1593). In it he elucidates the laws appertaining to Kilayim, Eruvin, etc., with the aid of diagrams and models. See here on Jacob ben Simcha Bunim Koppelman. 

This is it as it appears in the first edition (Cracow 1593):

https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=45068&st=&pgnum=39