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Category: Censorship & Bowdlerization

Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History?

Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History?

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Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History? Rabbi Shmuel Lesher  The Making of a Godol In his 2004 review of Rabbi Nosson Kamenetsky’s controversy-sparking Making of a Godol,[1] Professor Mordechai Breuer notes a marked change happening within haredi culture, specifically book culture: The contents of the traditional Haredi bookshelf have expanded and transformed beyond recognition in recent generations. Alongside … the rabbinic classics … the shelves are now filled with books of types our ancestors could not have imagined.[2] Breuer is…

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Rav Gorelick, the Rav, and Revision by Omission

Rav Gorelick, the Rav, and Revision by Omission

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Rav Gorelick, the Rav, and Revision by Omission By: Yaacov Sasson Many readers of the Seforim Blog no doubt remember Dr. Shapiro’s post from 2009, in which he documented a back-and-forth from the pages of the journal Or Yisrael, regarding whether Rav Yerucham Gorelick zt”l taught Gemara at Yeshiva University.[1] As a refresher, Or Yisrael (Num. 50, Tevet 5768, p. 39) published a summary of a shiur given by Rav Mordechai Leib Gorelick (son of Rav Yerucham), regarding the publication…

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To Censor or Not to Censor, that is the Question

To Censor or Not to Censor, that is the Question

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To Censor or Not to Censor:  Electricity on Yom Tov, Illustrations and Other Items of Interest at Legacy Judaica’s March 2020 Auction By:  Eliezer Brodt & Dan Rabinowitz Legacy Auction’s latest auction will take place on March 26, 2020.  Their catalog provides us the opportunity to discuss a few items of interest to bibliophiles. There are many examples of the phenomenon of censoring or declaring forgeries of teshuvot and other halakhic rulings especially when those rulings are contrary to contemporary…

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For the Sake of Radin! The Sugar Magnate’s Missing Yarmulke and a Zionist Revision

For the Sake of Radin! The Sugar Magnate’s Missing Yarmulke and a Zionist Revision

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For the Sake of Radin!  The Sugar Magnate’s Missing Yarmulke and a Zionist Revision Israel Brodsky (1823-1888), built an empire on the sugar trade. After inheriting a substantial fortune, in 1843, he became a partner in a sugar refinery.[1] Eventually, he vertically integrated his business, and he controlled sugar beet lands, processing plants, refineries, marketing agencies, and warehouses throughout the Russian Empire. At its height, Brodsky controlled a quarter of all sugar production in the Empire and employed 10,000 people.[2]…

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Another “Translation” by Artscroll, the Rogochover and the Radichkover

Another “Translation” by Artscroll, the Rogochover and the Radichkover

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Another “Translation” by Artscroll, the Rogochover and the Radichkover Marc B. Shapiro 1. As I discuss in Changing the Immutable, sometimes a choice of translation serves as a means of censorship. In other words, one does not need to delete a text. Simply mistranslating it will accomplish one’s goal. Jay Shapiro called my attention to an example of this in the recent ArtScroll translation of Sefer ha-Hinukh, no. 467.   In discussing the prohibition to gash one’s body as idol-worshippers so, Sefer ha-Hinukh states:…

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The Satmar Rebbe and a Censored Mishnah Berurah, and R. Baruch Rabinovich of Munkács

The Satmar Rebbe and a Censored Mishnah Berurah, and R. Baruch Rabinovich of Munkács

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The Satmar Rebbe and a Censored Mishnah Berurah, and R. Baruch Rabinovich of Munkács Marc B. Shapiro 1. In my recent interview in Der Veker, available here, I said that I hope to discuss how the Satmar Rebbe was mistaken in identifying a Zionist censorship in the Mishnah Berurah. In Ha-Maor, Elul 5716, p. 30, M. Abramson tells the following story that appears under the heading על זיוף המשנה ברורה. The Satmar Rebbe was away from home and asked his…

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