Browsed by
Category: Rabbinic Biography & Personalities

Eliezer Brodt: Review of Halikhot Shlomo, by R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Eliezer Brodt: Review of Halikhot Shlomo, by R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Comments 0 Comment

There is a well known joke which claims that some gedolim have actually been “writing from their graves.” The most famous person to be “guilty” of this charge is R. Moshe Sofer (Hatam Sofer) as he printed nothing in his lifetime and yet we have volumes and volumes of his Torah on literally every area and – to this day – they continue to be published. Obviously, all of this material has come to light through his own notes and…

Read More Read More

Marc B. Shapiro: Obituary for R. Yosef Buxbaum zt”l

Marc B. Shapiro: Obituary for R. Yosef Buxbaum zt”l

Comments 0 Comment

The Torah world lost a very important figure earlier this month, with the passing of R. Yosef Buxbaum at age 62. In fact, I can’t think of anyone, in the entire history of Torah publishing, who achieved as much as he. There is a lot that can be said about Rabbi Buxbaum, but for the purposes of the Seforim blog his relevant achievement is the founding, and directing for many years, of Machon Yerushalayim. While at one time Mossad ha-Rav…

Read More Read More

R. Avraham ben haGra: A Victim of Plagiarism?

R. Avraham ben haGra: A Victim of Plagiarism?

Comments 0 Comment

In several previous posts at the Seforim blog, I have discussed instances of plagiarism and, in this post, I would like to mention one of the more famous instances of plagiarism within Jewish literature. To be clear, the issues of plagiarism under discussion lack any ambiguity, these discussed are limited to when the entire book is republished with the only difference being the authors name at the beginning. One of the smaller and lesser known Midrashim is one titled Midrash…

Read More Read More

New Book on R. Saul Wahl, King of Poland for a Day

New Book on R. Saul Wahl, King of Poland for a Day

Comments 0 Comment

Dr. Neil Rosenstein, who has already published some rather important works on Jewish genealogy generally, as well as on R. Elijah Gaon of Vilna, has published a new book, devoted to R. Saul (Wahl) Katzenellenbogen. His earlier two-volume landmark work, The Unbroken Chain: Biographical Sketches and Genealogy of Illustrious Jewish Families from the 15th-20th Century, lists in great detail, the descendants of R. Saul (Wahl) Katzenellenbogen. R. Saul is best known for the legend that he became king for a…

Read More Read More

Barukh Dayan Ha-Emet. Rabbi Prof. Mordechai (ben Shamshon) Breuer (1921-2007)

Barukh Dayan Ha-Emet. Rabbi Prof. Mordechai (ben Shamshon) Breuer (1921-2007)

Comments 15 comments

Barukh Dayan Ha-Emet. Rabbi Prof. Mordechai (ben Shamshon) Breuer (also here), scion of the prominent German rabbinical family and world expert on Tanakh and on the Aleppo Codex, has passed away in Yerushalayim. (He was a cousin to the noted Jewish Historian, who shares his same name.) An appreciation to Rabbi Breuer and his work appeared in the Orthodox Forum volume, Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations (Jason Aronson, 1996), a project of Yeshiva University. He…

Read More Read More

Adam Mintz — Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin: A Forgotten American Posek

Adam Mintz — Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin: A Forgotten American Posek

Comments 7 comments

is a visiting professor of Jewish History at Queens College and the immediate past president of the New York Board of Rabbis. He lectures widely on a variety of topics in Jewish History and his weekly streaming video entitled “This Week in Jewish History” is featured on the internet at www.rayimahuvim.org. Rabbi Mintz served in the pulpit rabbinate for over twenty years and is one of the founders of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He…

Read More Read More

Eliezer Brodt: A Censored Work by a Student of R. Hayyim of Volozhin: The Case of Menuchah u-Kedushah

Eliezer Brodt: A Censored Work by a Student of R. Hayyim of Volozhin: The Case of Menuchah u-Kedushah

Comments 0 Comment

A few years ago (c2000) a fascinating sefer was reprinted called Menuchah u-Kedushah. The sefer was written by R. Yisrael Isserl from Ponevezh. Not much is known about the author except that he was a talmid of R. Hayyim of Volozhin. It’s clear from the sefer that he was a very special person and a big talmid hakham. The haskamot that he received from the R. Naftali Zevi Yehudah Berlin (Neziv), R. Bezalel HaKohen and R. Avraham Eisenstadt, author of…

Read More Read More

Hillel Noach Magid Steinschneider’s Ir Vilna

Hillel Noach Magid Steinschneider’s Ir Vilna

Comments 0 Comment

As for Steinschneider’s own work, it was not until 2003 Magnes published the second volume of this work (and included a nice introduction both about Steinschnider and his work). In part, the reason Steinschneider was unable to publish the second volume, was because people were hesitant to purchase just one volume of a multi-volume work. I have heard people make the same comment about the second volume, namely, they don’t only want the second of two volumes. But, now this…

Read More Read More

Marc B. Shapiro: “Mi-Yosef ad Yosef Lo Kam ke-Yosef”

Marc B. Shapiro: “Mi-Yosef ad Yosef Lo Kam ke-Yosef”

Comments 0 Comment

Seforim blog contributor Dr. Marc B. Shapiro, professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton, has just published a review essay (“Mi-Yosef ad Yosef Lo Kam ke-Yosef”) in English of the following three books Hayyav, Mishnato u-Mahalkhav ha-Politiyim shel ha-Rav Ovadiah Yosef by Zvi Aloush and Yossi Elituv (Ben Porat Yosef: Or Yehudah, 2004); Maran Ovadiah Yosef: Ha-Biographyah by Nitzan Chen and Anshil Pepper (Jerusalem, 2004); Mi-Maran ad Maran: Mishnato ha-Hilkhatit shel ha-Rav Ovadiah Yosef by Binyamin Lau, (Tel…

Read More Read More

The Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam: A Jewish Convert

The Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam: A Jewish Convert

Comments 6 comments

Converts have been involved with seforim in many capacities. But, there is one book which was actually authored by a convert – Zera Yitzhak, Amsterdam 1789. This book is on Pirkei Avot and was written by R. Yitzhak (b. Avraham) Graanboom. R. Yitzhak was born in Sweden a non-Jew. His father Jacob moved his family to Amsterdam in 1749. At age 69, after moving to Amsterdam, Jacob and his wife Leah converted to Judaism. At the time, Jacob took the…

Read More Read More

Another Case of Historical Censorship at Volozhin or Simply Poor Research?

Another Case of Historical Censorship at Volozhin or Simply Poor Research?

Comments 0 Comment

One of the more important sources for the history relating to the famed Volozhin Yeshiva is Moshe Shmuel v’Doro, by R. Moshe Shmuel Shapiro (Shmukler), which is is full of important material on this yeshiva and the related personalities. R. Schapiro also published a monograph on the founder of the Yeshiva, R. Chaim of Volozhin. This work, Toldot Rabbenu Chaim Volozhin, was first published in 1909 in Vilna, republished a year later in Vilna and then published twice in Israel,…

Read More Read More

Chofetz Hayyim His Death, the New York Times and Research Tools

Chofetz Hayyim His Death, the New York Times and Research Tools

Comments 0 Comment

I have gotten multiple emails (and now S. has posted it on English Hebraica) in the past couple of days regarding an obituary which appeared in the New York Times for the Chofetz Hayyim. The email explains that after hearing someone mentioning the Times covered the Chofetz Hayyim’s death the person couldn’t believe it and decided to investigate the matter. He then went to the New York Public Library and poured over microfiche to finally locate the story on the…

Read More Read More

The Hatam Sofer’s Humor

The Hatam Sofer’s Humor

Comments 0 Comment

For Nachi and Matt and their love of noses. I heard the following from Dr. Leiman. In the Hatam Sofer’s yeshiva in Pressburg, it was the custom for all to wear hats while learning. This included fairly young boys. One day a ba’al ha’bus (a community member not part of the Yeshiva) came in and saw a young boy learning. As he was a youngster, his hat was a bit oversized. The ba’al ha’bus went over to him and said…

Read More Read More

Jews, Beards and Portraits

Jews, Beards and Portraits

Comments 0 Comment

“If men be judged wise by their beards and their girth, Then goats would be the wisest creatures on Earth.” With the High Holidays approaching one of the more interesting attributes which takes a more prominent position is that of shaving or facial hair. Of course, prior to any Shabbat or Yom Tov, one is supposed to shave and take a haircut. Yet, for the High Holidays, there is a special emphasis on facial hair. One of the attributes that…

Read More Read More

Bedatz Bans HaGaon

Bedatz Bans HaGaon

Comments 26 comments

As discussed previously, there are some, mainly Hassidim, who had strong objections to R. Eliach’s biography HaGaon. Now it appears that Bedatz of Jerusalem has also issued a ban on the work (thanks to all those who sent this to me). The ban is reproduced on the side. The ban itself contains some interesting language. Specifically, the ban claims that the sources relied upon by Eliach were “maskilik.” You will recall that all Eliach did was reproduce many of the…

Read More Read More