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Category: Censorship & Bowdlerization

Some Notes on Censorship of Hebrew Books

Some Notes on Censorship of Hebrew Books

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Habent sua fata libelli (Books have their fate) One of the tragedies of the Inquisition and the Expulsions – both from Spain and Portugal– which has received very little attention is the destruction and loss of Hebrew manuscripts and books. Since the printing of Hebrew books in Spain began many years before the Expulsion, this loss involved printed books as well as manuscripts. Indeed, due to these losses, since only fragments survive of some of the earliest examples of Hebrew…

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Le-Tacen Olam (לתכן עולם): Establishing the Correct Text in Aleinu

Le-Tacen Olam (לתכן עולם): Establishing the Correct Text in Aleinu

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(mfirstatty@aol.com) The Jewish obligation of עולם תקון (=improving the world) is widely referred to and it is traditionally assumed that the Aleinu prayer is one of the texts upon which this obligation is based. This article will show that a very strong case can be made that the original version of Aleinu read עולם לתכן (=to establish the world under God’s sovereignty), and not עולם לתקן (=to perfect/improve the world under God’s sovereignty ). If so, the concept of עולם…

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What is wrong with Artscroll?

What is wrong with Artscroll?

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A better question would be is what is right? The latest work produced by Artscroll in the Milstein Series is Isaiah . Written by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, the general editor of Artsrtscroll himself, it is the inaugural volume of the interpretation of the Later Prophets. Firstly, one must praise Artscroll for a completely new typesetting of the Rashi, Radak, Metzuadas David and Metzudas Zion. But to what purpose? If was to give us a clear text, has not a clearly…

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The censorship of Rav Kook and other Hebrew books on Hebrew book databases

The censorship of Rav Kook and other Hebrew books on Hebrew book databases

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Today, censorship of Hebrew books takes place on many levels. Although previously the censorship of Hebrew books was driven in large part due to external concerns, today, most of the censorship takes place internally, by Jews for Jews. This censorship is generally driven by the false notion that Orthodox Judaism is and was monolithic. Of course, students of history know that this is entirely false; within the confines of Orthodoxy, there was diversity of opinion and practice (perhaps due to…

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Modesty and Piety: Improving on the Past

Modesty and Piety: Improving on the Past

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The well known “coat of arms” of the priestly Rapaport family first appeared as a colophon at the end of Avraham Menachem Rapa of Porto’s Mincha Belulah (Verona, 1594), fol. 207b, readily at HebrewBooks.org (here). Instead of a motto, a banner proclaimed the author’s name above and below the shield which featured a pair of hands raised in priestly benediction in the upper half, while below was depicted a crow (Rabe in German) on a branch, a reference to the…

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Censorship: The Autobiography of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, ADeReT

Censorship: The Autobiography of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, ADeReT

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There are a handful of rabbinic autobiographies, R. Yehuda Areyeh of Modena, Hayyei Yehudah, R. Yaakov Emden, Megillat Sefer, and a few others. One of the more recent rabbinic autobiographies is that of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, otherwise known as Aderet. This work, was first published in the journal, Ha-Peles edited by Aderet’s nephew, Eliyahu Akiva Rabinowitz. Only a portion of the autobiography appears in Ha-Peles. However, the editor did give us the title of this work for posterity. Although…

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Woe Is Unto Whom?

Woe Is Unto Whom?

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I. A Censored Text in Berachos 3a The Vilna Edition of Berachos 3a states as follows: אמר רב יצחק בר שמואל משמי’ דרב ג’ משמרות הוי הלילה ועל כל משמר ומשמר יושב הקב”ה ושואג כארי ואומר אוי לבנים שבעונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין אומות העולם The identical statement is cited by R. Yose in a Braisa that follows the above-cited section. The Braisa records the story of R. Yose’s visit to a ruin in Jerusalem to…

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What Was Bothering the Censor?

What Was Bothering the Censor?

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The invention of the printing press in the 15th century was a great boon for Torah study. Manuscripts which had to be laboriously copied one by one could now be set to type and hundreds could be produced at one time. One of the earliest Jewish treasures to be set to print was the Talmud. Scattered volumes of it were printed in the late 15th century and early sixteenth century, but the first complete set was printed from 1519-1523 in…

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Some Assorted Comments and a Selection from my Memoir. part 1

Some Assorted Comments and a Selection from my Memoir. part 1

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1. Fifty years ago R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg spoke about the fraudulence that was found in the Orthodox world. Unfortunately, matters have gotten much worse since his time. I am not referring to the phony pesakim in the names of great rabbis that appear plastered all over Jerusalem, and from there to the internet. Often the damage has been done before the news comes out that the supposed pesak was not actually approved by the rav, but was instead put…

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Eliezer Brodt: Corrections and Clarifications

Eliezer Brodt: Corrections and Clarifications

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From time to time I get feed back about some of my previous posts some good some bad – aside from the standard criticism of poor grammar, editing or transliterating, all of which are my fault entirely. The blog does not have a full time editor (its all on a volunteer basis), and the goal of the editors, in general, is to get out posts at high speed with good content (many of which could have been printed in journals)…

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Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

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A recent book, Mi-pehem, (Bnei Brak,2008), collects interviews that were conducted with various Gedolim. One interview was conducted with Rebbetzin Ginsburg the daughter of R. Yechezel Levenstein. In the course of this interview she described the Simchat Torah celebration at the Mir in Europe:אבל שמחת תורה בישיבה היה משהו מיוחד. הנשים עמדו בפינת בית המדרש מאחורי מחיצה, ומחכות בהתרגשות לתחילת ההקפות! (מפיהם, עמ’ 199). According to this interview, women in the Mir were behind the Mechetziah. But, I recall hearing…

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על ספר קידוש החמה לר’ יונה בר”י בוקסבוים

על ספר קידוש החמה לר’ יונה בר”י בוקסבוים

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[1] אגב, שם צויין כי הזכויות שייכות למכון עוז והדר, אבל אין פרט זה מענייננו. [2] אין מן הצורך לומר שאת הפתרון של ראשי תיבות אלו לא ימצא המעיין בשום ספר המפענח ראשי תיבות. [3] עתה ראיתי כי גם בספר ברכת החמה לר”צ כהן, בני ברק, תשס”ט, עמ’ שיז, מובאים דברים אלו בשם “ר’ שמעיה, תלמיד רש”י, בפירושו שעל ‘יוצר לפרשת החודש’ בעריכת הרה”ג אהרן אייזנבאך שליט”א, מירושלים”. אין לדעת אם הכוונה לספר שנדפס או שעתיד להדפס. לא הצלחתי להשיג…

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Two Editions of R. Chaim Berlin’s Responsa: An Egregious Example of Censorship

Two Editions of R. Chaim Berlin’s Responsa: An Egregious Example of Censorship

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R. Chaim Berlin, Sefer Nishmat Hayyim, She’elot u-Teshuvot, R. Ya’akov Kosovsky-Shachor ed., Beni-Brak, 2002, 412 pp. R. Chaim Berlin, Sefer Nishmat Hayyim, Mamorim u’Mechtavim, R. Ya’akov Kosovsky-Shachor ed., Beni-Brak, 2003, 424 pp. R. Chaim Berlin, Otzar Reb Hayyim Berlin, Shu”t Nishmat Hayyim, Jerusalem, 2008, 4 vol., 446, 462, 449, 298 pp. R. Chaim Berlin (1832-1912), the son of the R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (author of the Netziv), although well known until recently none of R. Chaim’s extensive torah has…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III

Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III

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This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Chaim Flom, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr David in Jerusalem. I first met Rabbi Flom thirty years ago when he became my teacher at the Hebrew Youth Academy of Essex County (now known as the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy; unfortunately, another one of my teachers from those years also passed away much too young, Rabbi Yaakov Appel). When he first started teaching he was known as Mr. Flom, because he…

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