Jewish Holidays – Page 3 – The Seforim Blog

Pesach and Haggadah Themed Posts 2020

April 7, 2020 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 4 comments

Here’s a roundup of Pesach and Haggadah-themed posts at the Seforim Blog. Illustrations and the Haggadah I. Racy Title Pages Update II 12.01.2005. Discusses the title page of the Prague Haggadah of 1526. This particular Haggadah used an illustration of a nude woman in the Haggadah’s quotation of Ezekiel 16:7 (“I cause you to increase, even as the growth of the field. And you did increase and grow up, and you became beautiful: you breasts grew, and your hair has…

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Mysteries of the Magical Fifth Passover Cup (II): The Great Disappearing Act

March 29, 2020 Leor Jacobi Comments 22 comments

Years ago, as a Yeshiva Bochur, a Rabbi explained to me that, according to the GRA, the Cup of Elijah at the Passover Seder is really the Fifth Cup mentioned in the Talmud which there is a doubt about Thus, it is Elijah’s cup because when he returns to herald the redemption, every Talmudic tequ will be solved. I found that the elusive Fifth Cup is not actually mentioned in the Talmud as we have it, but by most of…

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The History behind the Ashkenazi/Sephardi divide concerning lighting Chanukah candles

December 23, 2019 Zachary Rothblatt Comments 9 comments

Zachary Rothblatt learned in Kerem B’Yavneh, Ner Yisroel, and will be receiving Semicha soon from RIETS. He is finishing a graduate degree in Bible and Talmud at the Bernard Revel Graduate School for Jewish Studies. He is a Judaic studies teacher at the Idea School in Tenafly, New Jersey. One of the most famous halachic debates of Chanukah is the debate concerning how many sets of candles a family should light. Ashkenazim believe, with some variances, that each family member…

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Musings on the Piyut היום הרת עולם

September 27, 2019 Joseph Wertzberger Comments 4 comments

The following post is based in part on a lecture by Rabbi Ben Greenfield, newly installed Rabbi of the Greenpoint Shul, and several of its key ideas are his. * * * The poem היום הרת עולם is a very early piyut by an unknown author, appearing in writing as early as Siddur Rav Amram Ga’on, and is very widely recited after each of the sets of Tekiyot during the Shemonei Esrei of Mussaf on Rosh Hashana. The poem is…

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Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber shiurim this week

September 16, 2019 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 5 comments

You are cordially invited to the following shiurim/lectures by the noted author, Rav Yechiel Goldhaber, whose respected research and scholarship is well-known. 1. The next shiur will take place Monday, September 16th, 8 PM at Lakewood Courtyard Simcha Room 8:00 pm Yiddish/English. 2. Tuesday, September 17th the shiur will take place in Monsey at 20 Forshay Rd at בית המדרש אור החיים פארשעי At 12:30 it will be in Yiddish and 8:30 it will be in English. 3. Wednesday September…

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Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber lectures tomorrow night, 9/9/19, & Wednesday, 9/11/19

September 8, 2019 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 6 comments

You are cordially invited to the following shiurim/lectures by the noted author, Rav Yechiel Goldhaber, whose respected research and scholarship is well-known. The first shiur will take place Monday, September 9th, 7:30 PM at 1454 54th Street, Brooklyn, NY. Rabbi Goldhaber’s speech will be delivered in Yiddish. The subject of this shiur is “The Mesorah of the Esrogim”. Rabbi Goldhaber will present the subject matter in a comprehensive, detailed yet clear manner, aided by drawings, pictures and photographs. This lecture…

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Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old) – updated

June 4, 2019 Eliezer Brodt Comments 5 comments

Originally posted May 24, 2012 – Updated June 3, 2019 In this post I intend to start a list towards a more complete bibliography to the various seforim (new and old) and articles related to Shavuos (including many links). I hope to update it in the future. When learning the Halachos of Shavuos, one is struck how the Tur does not mention anything special for Shavuos except for instructions related to davening and Keriyas Hatorah. The only custom he mentions…

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Purim Roundup 2019

March 21, 2019 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 0 Comment

For a collection of posts on Purim see here. These deal with topics as diverse as Jewish humor and parodies, a series on the the origins of hamantaschen (and here and here), banging at the mention of Haman’s name, piyutim for Purim, mishcholot manot, identifying the personalities of Megliat Ester in secular sources, how to approach the story of Ester with children by the late Elliot Horowitz, as well as a couple posts regarding his book on Jewish violence and…

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Simchas Torah & a Lost Minhag of the Gra

September 28, 2018 Eliezer Brodt Comments 1 comment

Chol HaMoed Succos is the Yarzheit of the Vilna Gaon (for an earlier post on the Gra see here and here). In this post I hope to show a source for a “forgotten” Minhag of the Gra. In 1921 the great bibliographer (and much more) Yitzchak Rivkind described a strange custom he saw during the time he learned in Volozhin (after it was reopened and headed by R’ Rephael Shapiro), in an article about Minhag HaGra. On Simchas Torah they…

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Kol Nidrei, Choirs, and Beethoven: The Eternity of the Jewish Musical Tradition

September 18, 2018 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 3 comments

On April 23, 1902, the cornerstone to the Taharat Ha-Kodesh synagogue was laid, and on Rosh Ha-Shana the next year, September 7, 1903, the synagogue was officially opened. The synagogue building was on one of Vilna’s largest boulevards and constructed in a neo-Moorish architectural style, capped with a blue cupola that was visible for blocks. There was a recessed entry with three large arches and two columns. The interior housed an impressive ark, located in a semi-circular apse and covered…

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New Book Announcement: Ginzei Chag HaSuccos

September 6, 2018 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

אסופת גנזים מתורתם של ראשונים בענייני חג הסוכות היוצאים לאור לראשונה מכתבי-יד עם מבואות, ביאורים והערות, עיונים ומפתחות, מהדיר: ר’ יעקב ישראל סטל, שע עמודים A new work by Rabbi Yakov Stahl was just printed. Rabbi Stahl’s work is familiar to many of the readers of the blog; for reviews of some of his earlier works see here, here and here. This volume is very similar in style to Kovetz Al Yad; it’s a collection of material by Rishonim all…

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Tracing the History of Shavuos Night Learning

May 17, 2018 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

This article will trace some of the earliest sources for the Minhag observed by many to stay up learning Torah throughout the entire night of Shavuos. At the outset I would like to note that the focus of this article will be not be about the exact seder that was learned i.e. Tikun Lel Shavuos. Different versions of this article originally appeared in the Kulmos Supplement of Mishpacha in 2014 and then in English in 2015. I returned to all…

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Passover with Apostates: A Concert in Spain and a Seder in the Middle of the Ocean by Elie Wiesel (1957)

March 30, 2018 Eliezer Wiesel Comments 1 comment

Forverts (22 April 1957) [Yiddish] [Translated into English by Shaul Seidler-Feller (2018)] If someone says to you that Passover is the festival of redemption not only of a nation but of each individual, believe him; If someone explains to you that a Jew remains a Jew deep at heart, despite the masks he is often forced to wear, do not doubt him; If someone tells you that, no matter what a Jew does, he will remain a living legacy of…

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The Origins of Hamentashen from the Evidence of Jewish Literature: A Historical-Culinary Survey Revisited (yet again)

February 27, 2018 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

Eleven years ago I wrote about the origins of Hamentashen in Jewish Literature (here). A year later I revisited the topic (here). Two years ago, I rewrote parts of it for Hebrew Kulmos magazine with some new important material. See here for previous posts on Purim and here for a Purim Round up. ויאכלו את המן: מנהג אכילת אזני המן, מקורותיו והטעמים השונים שניתנו לו מאת: אליעזר יהודה בראדט מה לנו עם אזניו של המן, ומדוע אנו מהדרים לאכלם כשהם…

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Torah Reading for Zochor and Parah

February 23, 2018 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

קריאת פרשת זכור ופרשת פרה דאורייתא* מאת אליעזר יהודה בראדט ר’ אברהם גומבינר בעל ‘מגן אברהם’ נפטר בצום גדליה שנת תמ”ג ולא זכה לראות חיבורו ‘נר ישראל’, הפירוש המונומנטלי לשלחן ערוך אורח חיים, יוצא לאור בדפוס. כמה שנים לאחר מכן, בשנת תנ”ב, נדפס החיבור יחד עם ‘טורי זהב’ בדיהרן פארט ע”י המדפיס המפורסם ר’ שבתי בס בעל ‘שפתחי חכמים’. תיכף לאחר הדפסתו זכה שנכתבו ונדפסו כמה קיצורים ממנו, ביניהם גם ר’ נתן איגר בחיבורו ‘גן נטע’, פראג תנ”ה. גם זכה…

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