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Contributor: Avi Grossman

Notes on the Book of Samuel, and the Eternal Sanctity of the Temple in Maimonidean Thought

Notes on the Book of Samuel, and the Eternal Sanctity of the Temple in Maimonidean Thought

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avrahambenyehuda.wordpress.com Rabbi Label Dulitz, who passed away last week, was an iconic figure at YUHSB. I was privileged to first meet him when I began my studies at the school in the fall of 1996. That year, Rabbi Dulitz was teaching Talmud to part of the tenth grade, but some of us lucky freshmen got to sit in his afternoon Navi class. His photographic memory of the Bible, Talmud, and Shakespeare has already been recounted by many; what struck me…

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Recent Notes On Hebrew Pronunciation

Recent Notes On Hebrew Pronunciation

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Many of the ideas discussed in this article were in my notebook for some time, and just as I was getting around to preparing them for publication, my prolific colleague Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein sent a copy of Professor Geoffrey Khan’s The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew to me. After reading it and briefly corresponding with the author, I concluded that it was time to release this article. Professor Khan invites the yeshiva world to read his book, available…

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Concerning Athei Merahiq, Nasog Ahor, and the Ravia Mugrash, and More

Concerning Athei Merahiq, Nasog Ahor, and the Ravia Mugrash, and More

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(The author would like to express his gratitude to those who supported the recent publication of his Haggadat Hapesah. Contact him at avrohom.grossman@gmail.com to obtain a copy. Parts of this post originally appeared here.) Recently, I was privileged to be part of a fun-yet-esoteric discussion on matters of Hebrew grammar. First, some background: there is a grammatical phenomenon in Biblical Hebrew known as “nasog ahor,” literally, “stepped back.” In certain words that are accented on the last syllable but have…

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana, Part 3

On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana, Part 3

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Some time ago, my first article appeared on the Seforim Blog (link). It felt good to join the club. In the comments section, readers took much more issue with the opinion of Rabbi Bar Hayim that I mentioned at the outset than they did with any of the arguments I myself was advancing, and it it even got a little personal, but along the way, I was able to refine some points I had always wanted to make, and I…

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 2

On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 2

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The Truth About The Beth Yosef’s Position A while ago I received this from a disputant (I have not edited any of his writing): In the Shulkhan Arukh (chapter 426 paragraph 3) it was ruled that one has to wait till seven days have passed, and the Rema did not override the halachik ruling of the Mechaber (the Shulkhan Arukh). Therefore this is the basic core law for Sepharadim and Ashkenasim alike. However, there is an Ashkenasi minhag to make…

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 1

On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 1

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Abstract Typical Jewish calendars list two particular z’manim for “the first time that one may begin to recite kiddush l’vana (or birkat hal’vana).” The first is referred to as minhag yerushalayim or minhag haperushim, or simply “the three-day minhag,” and the second time, to wait for seven days to pass from the start of the lunar month to recite the blessing, is attributed to the Shulhan Aruch. These two times are calculated as exactly either 72 hours or 168 hours…

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