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Category: Prayers

Wine, Women and Song – Part III

Wine, Women and Song – Part III

Wine, Women and Song: Some Remarks On Poetry and Grammar – Part III by Yitzhak of בין דין לדין The previous two parts: Part I, Part II. Lasciviousness Rambam In the first part of this essay, we have discussed the offenses of literature against grammar; a far more incendiary issue is the question of lasciviousness.  Judaism seems to have historically been somewhat ambivalent on the matter; it is an ineluctable fact that many of our most celebrated poets, particularly of…

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The Source for the Recitation of LeDovid

The Source for the Recitation of LeDovid

This post is a followup of an earlier post which discusses the origins of reciting le-dovid hashem ori from rosh hodesh Elul through Simchat Torah. In this post I show a few early sources for saying ledovid and somereasons why some did not say it. For Profesor Leiman’s lecture on thistopic see here. In my discussion of the various reasons given I deal with the various Balei Shem especially the two balei shem who share the same name, R. Eliyahu…

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Psalms on Rosh haShana

Psalms on Rosh haShana

Psalms on Rosh haShanaby: Eliezer Brodt What follows is a discourse, that is part of a forthcoming sefer, regarding the propriety of reciting Psalms on Rosh ha-Shana.  This discussion touches on the failure to recite hallel on Rosh ha-Shana which, in turn, leads the discussion to the status of simcha (happiness) on Rosh ha-Shana.  We then turn to the custom of reciting the entire Psalms(or, the converse, refraining from any Psalms). And, finally, I discuss generally the debate regarding reciting…

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Some Rosh ha-Shana Readings

Some Rosh ha-Shana Readings

For those interested in posts relating to Rosh ha-Shana, aside from the most recent post regarding gifting knives, we discuss some of the history and personalities relating to the controversy of blowing the shofar when Rosh ha-Shana falls on Saturday here and see this recent article as well. This post (in Hebrew) discusses the custom of refraining from meat on Rosh ha-Shana. The bulk of the commonly recited piyutim on Rosh ha-Shana are attributed to R. Eliezer ha-Kallir who is…

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Wine, Women & Song: Some Remarks on Poetry & Grammar – Part II

Wine, Women & Song: Some Remarks on Poetry & Grammar – Part II

Wine, Women and Song: Some Remarks on Poetry and Grammar – Part II By: Yitzhak of בין דין לדין [In addition to reiterating my thanks to Andy and Wolf2191 for their assistance and encouragement, I wish to thank Eliezer Brodt for a number of valuable suggestions, several of which have been incorporated into this part of the essay.] Great Men and Grammar In the first part of this essay, we discussed Ibn Ezra’s slashing attack on the alleged grammatical lapses…

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Elliott Horowitz — ‘The Howling Place of the Jews’

Elliott Horowitz — ‘The Howling Place of the Jews’

“The Howling Place of the Jews” in the Nineteenth Century: From William Wilde to Ahad Ha’am by Elliott Horowitz   In previous posts at the Seforim blog, Elliott Horowitz of Bar Ilan University, co-editor of Jewish Quarterly Review, and author of Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), has described Modern Amalekites [here], Isaiah Berlin on Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) and Saul Lieberman [here], Edmund Wilson, Hebrew, Christmas, and the Talmud [here], and Bugs Bunny…

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