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Category: Aggadah & Talmudic Narrative

R. Hayyim Hirschensohn, Can One Kill an Am Ha’aretz on Shabbat? Physical Punishments and Lots More

R. Hayyim Hirschensohn, Can One Kill an Am Ha’aretz on Shabbat? Physical Punishments and Lots More

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R. Hayyim Hirschensohn, Can One Kill an Am Ha’aretz on Shabbat? Physical Punishments and Lots More by Marc B. Shapiro 1. In many earlier posts I have discussed R. Hayyim Hirschensohn, so let me pick up with him again.[1] In the Encyclopaedia Judaica’s article on R. Hirschensohn it tells us that he wrote a book Ateret Hakhamim published in 1874. Many people have been interested to see this book which was published when he was only seventeen years old. If you look at library catalogs you will…

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Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri

Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri

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The Seforim Blog thanks Ivor Jacobs for sending us this unpublished article by his father. Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri by Louis Jacobs Many of the mediaeval Jewish teachers, partly in defence of the Talmud against attack by the Karaites, partly because of their own rationalistic stance, engaged in what Marc Saperstein in a fine study [1] has called ‘decoding the Rabbis’. That is to say, passages, especially in the Talmudic Aggadah, which seemed to them offensive to reason…

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Talmudic Humor and Its Discontents

Talmudic Humor and Its Discontents

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Talmudic Humor and Its Discontents by Ezra Brand In honor of Purim, I’d like to discuss a few aspects of humor in the Talmud[1]. But first, a short overview of topic of Jewish humor in general. A lot has been written about Jewish humor[2]. A very good overview of Jewish humor, in general, is that of Avner Ziv in the second edition of Encyclopedia Judaica, under the entry “Humor”[3]. However, most of the piece is about Jewish humor from the…

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Answers to Quiz Questions and Other Comments, part 2

Answers to Quiz Questions and Other Comments, part 2

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Answers to Quiz Questions and Other Comments, part 2   by Marc B. Shapiro 1. In my previous post, in discussing the words in Ecclesiastes 2:8 עשיתי לי שרים ושרות, I referred to the interpretation in Kohelet Rabbati. This very section of Kohelet Rabbati has an amazing comment, which as far as I know was never referred to in the dispute over Sara Hurwitz’ rabbinical ordination. Commenting on the words שדה ושדות, which appear in the same sentence as שרים…

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Was Avraham a Lamdan?

Was Avraham a Lamdan?

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Was Avraham a Lamdan?By Ezra Brand I would like to thank Eliezer Brodt for reviewing this article and discussing it with me, and my father for editing this article. Some time ago there was a discussion in cyberspace regarding whether the Avos kept all of the mitzvos. The discussion was started when a video on Youtube made fun of the idea, and a response to the video was published on the Hirhurim blog (here), as well as counter-response (here). I’d…

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How much Greek in “Greek Wisdom”? On the Meaning of Hokhmat Yevanit

How much Greek in “Greek Wisdom”? On the Meaning of Hokhmat Yevanit

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How much Greek in “Greek Wisdom”? On the Meaning of Hokhmat Yevanit by Eliyahu Krakowski       In the medieval controversies over the study of philosophy, one of the major points of contention was the Talmudic prohibition against hokhmat yevanit. Modern historians, who are generally well-disposed toward the Maimonidean proponents of philosophy (often at the expense of the anti-rationalists), nevertheless often assume that the anti-rationalists had the better of this particular argument. The Maimonidean defense of philosophy against the…

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