Announcing The Publication of Eliezer Brodt's Bein Kesah L'Asurby Eliezer Brodt This post is not a review of a sefer as one can not review ones own sefer. Rather it is a simple announcement and book description. Last year I posted a chapter from my sefer about the minhaghim of Rosh Hasnaha. I was hoping to complete that work this year but as the material grew I realized that would not be possible. Around Pesach time I decided that I would…
Lag Ba-Omer and Upsherins in Recent Jewish literature: Revisionist History and Borrowing and PlagiarismBy Eliezer Brodt In this post I would like to touch upon some of the topics relating to Lag Ba-Omer through a discussion of the latest volume of R. Tuviah Freund’s Moadim le-Simcha. By way of introduction, in the past few years, the field minhaghim, specifically the research and investigation of sources and reasons for custom has expanded exponentially. To be sure, from early rishonim and onwards…
Initial Bibliography of Important Haggadah Literatureby Eliezer Brodt All are aware of the proliferation of Haggadahs. Every year more and more are published thus making it difficult to know which versions are worthwhile. Thus, in this post I intend to focus on a listing a small bibliographical list of seforim relating to the Haggadah that are, in my mind, some of the most important ones. In light of the fact I am going to select a few Haggadahs from the…
The Origins of Hamentashen in Jewish Literature: A Historical-Culinary Survey Revisited* By Eliezer Brodt I. Introduction As Jews, most of our holidays have special foods specific to them; and behind each culinary custom, lays enveiled the reasoning behind them. Shavuot brings with it a vast array of customary dairy delicacies – in some parts of the world, cheesecake is practically obligatory – not to mention different customs in regard to how and when to eat them. Rosh Hashanah in renowned…
Purim and Parodies by Eliezer Brodt Happiness During the Month of Adar and its Discontents More…(drag mouse) Next Tab Forward Page Bottom Toggle Bookmarks Close Tab Back Page top The month of Adar begins a time of joy, as the mishna says “mi shenechnas Adar marbim b’simcha.” Interestingly, it’s been noted here that this halacha is not codified by either the Rambam or Shulchan Orach. R. Yissachar Tamar in his classic work on Yerushalmi, Ali Tamar, notes that some have…
The Customs Associated with Joy on Chanukah and Their More Obscure Sourcesby: Eliezer Brodt In previous posts we have discussed some of the customs relating to Chanukah, in this post I wanted to address those customs connected to Simcha (joy) and do so by highlighting some rather unknown sources. Amongst the topics I will discuss are eating a seudah, dairy products, sefuganiot, playing cards and dreidel. 1. Seudah R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (1512-85) writes in the introduction to his classic work…
