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Category: Censorship & Bowdlerization

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

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a) In a recent post on the Seforim Blog, Rabbi Chaim Rapoport spoke of the extent to which some disciples of the late Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach have gone in order to disassociate their late mentor from the heter mechirah, a procedure that he defended robustly in his work Ma’adanei Eretz. To this end, a censored version of the original work was published (bearing the title Kitvei Ma’adanei Eretz), in which Rabbi Auerbach’s endorsement of the heter mechirah as a…

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Where’s Shai Agnon Revisited

Where’s Shai Agnon Revisited

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You may recall that in a prior post we noted that in the Reinetz edition of the Pirush Ba’al HaTurim al HaTorah is a victim of censorship. Specifically, Reinetz quotes a story about how quickly the Tur wrote his commentary on the Torah. In the early edition of Reinetz’s work, Shai Agnon is cited as the source while in later editions Agnon is removed. In the comments, however, some took issue with the need to cite to Agnon as Agnon…

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Chaim Rapoport – From Ma’adanei Eretz to Kitvei Ma’adanei Eretz (5704-5767)

Chaim Rapoport – From Ma’adanei Eretz to Kitvei Ma’adanei Eretz (5704-5767)

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(London, England) As Rabbi Eliezer Brodt has recently noted in a post at the Seforim blog the advent of the sabbatical year has been blessed with a plethora of new books and pamphlets related to the laws of shemitah. Prominent amongst these is a publication entitled Kitvei Ma’adanei Eretz on Masechet Shevi’it, from the writings of the world renowned halachic authority, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910-1995), published by Zehav haAretz on the “eve of the shemitah year, 5768”. The sefer…

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Two Notes on Censorship and Plagiarism on the Ramban’s Commentary on the Torah

Two Notes on Censorship and Plagiarism on the Ramban’s Commentary on the Torah

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There are a significant number of seforim that are considered “classic” commentaries on the Torah, including, for example, Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Radak, Ralbag and Ramban, et.al. In this post, we shall discuss the Ramban’s commentary on the Torah, as it is also on important work in the history of Hebrew printing. The first edition, published between 1469-72, in Rome, was the first book published in that city (and the only one of the early works that positively identifies Rome as…

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Critique of the Oz VeHadar Edition of the Arukh HaShulhan

Critique of the Oz VeHadar Edition of the Arukh HaShulhan

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In some of the recent posts we have discussed various new publications of Rabbi Yehiel Mihel Epstein, author of Arukh HaShulhan. Recently, Makhon Oz VeHadar reprinted the Arukh HaShulhan, and that reprint has been the subject of some harsh criticisms. The critique points to two major problems. First, this edition includes the Piskei Mishnah Berurah which, in the reviewer’s mind, unconscionable. His reasoning is as the Arukh HaShulhan is a “piskei” work in its own right, there is no need…

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Rabbi Michael J. Broyde on “The Missing Sections of the Arukh HaShulhan: The Search for the Complete Text”

Rabbi Michael J. Broyde on “The Missing Sections of the Arukh HaShulhan: The Search for the Complete Text”

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‘s short post about the Arukh HaShulhan.Three Missing Sections of the Arukh HaShulhan: The Search for the Complete Text Rabbi Michael J. Broyde Anyone who regularly learns the Arukh HaShulhan knows that his restatement of the Shulhan Arukh is incomplete in three places, and perhaps in three different manners. Firstly, he is missing some sections on mitzvot hateyulot ba’aretz. For example, Yoreh Deah 331 and 332 are missing and Rabbi Epstein explains himself that these matters are (1) not practiced…

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Printing of the Arukh HaShulhan: The Missing Line About Rabbi Epstein’s Daughter

Printing of the Arukh HaShulhan: The Missing Line About Rabbi Epstein’s Daughter

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In the prior post, R. Brodt discussed the new work of R. Yechiel Michal Epstein. R. Epstein is most famous for his Arukh HaShulhan a comprehensive halakhic work. Although the work itself is very well-known there is one point about the work that is not as well known. Today, the Arukh HaShulhan is sold as a set, a set which covers most of Shulhan Arukh. However, when it was orignally published, R. Epstein did not put out all the volumes…

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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

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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…

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Uncensored Books (Dr. Marc B. Shapiro)

Uncensored Books (Dr. Marc B. Shapiro)

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Dan Rabinowitz has provided many examples of censorship in seforim (examples which I look forward to using – with acknowledgment of course – in my own forthcoming book on the subject). What I would like to call attention to are two examples where the publishers would have certainly censored these texts had they known who was being discussed. Presumably, what I mention now has already been pointed out to them and will be excised if the books are reprinted. 1….

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Two New Books – Two Further Examples of Censorship

Two New Books – Two Further Examples of Censorship

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Once again we have two new incidents of censorship in the Hebrew book world. R. Eliezer Waldenberg, who recently passed away, is well-known for his teshuvot “Tzitz Eliezer,” and also authored another work – which has recently been reprinted. This book, Hilkhot HaMedinah, originally published in 1952, deals with issues affecting the Jewish state. The book is three volumes in one and includes topics such as the renewal of semikha (Rabbinic ordination), the question of drafting men and women (he…

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A Bizarre Case of Censoring the Besamim Rosh

A Bizarre Case of Censoring the Besamim Rosh

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In the majority of cases of self-censorship it is fairly easy to surmise why something has been removed. Most typically, it is due to the current writer or publishers either fear of offending their audience or their own ideological sensibilities. Thus, commonly statements, approbations and the like which at the time seemed innocuous, today some may take offense for ideological reasons and thus some people remove them. This, of course, is not to say this justifies such practices but instead…

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

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

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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,…

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An Example of Women & Learning Removed from the Bavli?

An Example of Women & Learning Removed from the Bavli?

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There is what appears at first glance to be a technical passage (although some may find it of interest on its own) in the Talmud dealing with the issue of which types of impurity bars one from Torah study. The Talmud states “הזבים והמצורעים ובעולי נדות קורין בתורה ושונין מדרש הלכות והגדות ובעלי קרי אסור בכולן” “A zav, a metzorah, boli niddot, are permitted to read from the Torah, study Midrash, Laws, and ‘agadot, however a ba’al keri can study…

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Hatikvah, Shir HaMa’alot, & Censorship

Hatikvah, Shir HaMa’alot, & Censorship

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There is a rather interesting teshuva which appears in R. Avrohom Weinfeld’s Lev Avrohom. In it he discusses whether one can recite Shir HaMa’alot to the tune of Hatikvah. He first explains that this question involves the question of whether a tune from an impure source is appropriate to use. He begins by discussing the two well-known teshuvot (the Teshuvot haBakh and the Krach shel Romi) dealing with using non-Jewish tunes for Jewish songs. However, without getting into all of…

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