Dan Rabinowitz – Page 5 – The Seforim Blog

Book Launch of the Koren Rav Kook Siddur

December 29, 2017 admin Comments 0 Comment

Book Launch of the Koren Rav Kook Siddur Seforim Blog contributor Rabbi Bezalel Naor has just published a major work, the Koren Rav Kook Siddur. Culled from Rav Kook’s own commentary to the Siddur, Olat Re’iyah, and other writings of Rav Kook, as well as rich anecdotes transmitted by Rav Kook’s son and major disciples, The Koren Rav Kook Siddur speaks to the soul, while it connects us all to the sacred soil of the Holy Land. There will be a book launch on Sunday,…

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New Auction House – Genazym

December 21, 2017 admin Comments 0 Comment

New Auction House – Genazym by Dan Rabinowitz, Eliezer Brodt There is a new auction house, Genazym, that is holding its inaugural auction next week Monday, December 25th. The catalog is available here. The majority of the material are letters and other ephemera with a few dozen books. The books include a number with vellum bindings (71-75). Appreciation of bindings has been brought to fore with the recent wider availability of books from the Valmadonna collection after it was broken up;…

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New Book Announcement – נשמת הבית

November 29, 2017 admin Comments 0 Comment

New Book Announcement נשמת הבית, שאלות שנשאלו ליועצות ההלכה של מדרשת נשמת בנושאי היריון, לידה, הנקה ואמצעי מניעה בליווי הדרכה מעשית והסברים ונספחים רפואיים, 367 עמודים Nishmat Habayit is a collection of 63 she’elot uteshuvot on Pregnancy, Birth, Nursing, and Contraceptives. Each question has a short answer, as a yoetzet halacha would addresses the woman with the question, followed by a more extensive halachic discussion. The questions were selected from among tens of thousands in Nishmat’s Taharat Hamishpacha database. The…

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Lecture Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber

October 31, 2017 admin Comments 0 Comment

The readership of the Seforim Blog are invited to two lectures by the noted author, Rav Yechiel Goldhaber (link), whose respected research and scholarship is well-known to Seforim Blog readers. 1) The first shiur that will be taking place is this Thursday, November 2, 7:30 PM at 1454 54th Street, Brooklyn, NY. Rabbi Goldhaber’s speech will be delivered in Yiddish. The subject of this shiur is “Orthodox and Rabbinic Responses to the Balfour Declaration.” This lecture is dedicated לזכר נשמת…

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Interesting Legacy Judaica Auction lots

June 12, 2017 admin Comments 0 Comment

Legacy Judaica is holding an auction on June 13, 2017, and we wanted to highlight a few items of interest (for our previous post regarding the auction house and previous auctions see here. There are, of course, some old and rare books from the 16th and early 17th centuries (lots 1-7), and over forty manuscripts and a number of letters from rabbinical luminaries, R. Yosef Dov Solovetchik (Beis ha’Levi) (lot 198), R. Yitzhak Ze’ev Solovetchik (Brisker Rav) (lot 199), R….

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New book by Gabriel Wasserman on Karaite Judaism

September 26, 2016 admin Comments 2 comments

Royal Attire: On Karaite and Rabbanite Beliefs by Hakham Mordecai ben Nisan The Karaites are a Jewish group who have been important for centuries of Jewish history, wrote many writings, and are a still extant minority today. Yet most people never get to hear much about them, especially not in their own words. When people in a typical rabbinic beth midrash encounter them, it is often in statements such as that of the Mishna Berura (27:33), that wearing tefillin down…

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Everything is Illuminated: Mining the Art of Illustrated Haggadah Manuscripts for Meaning

April 21, 2016 admin Comments 4 comments

Everything is Illuminated: Mining the Art of Illustrated Haggadah Manuscripts for Meaning We have discussed haggadah illustrations in the past (see the links at the end of this post) and we wanted to expand and update upon that discussion for this year. In this post we focus on Hebrew illuminated haggadah manuscripts, and in the follow-up post will turn our attention to printed illustrated haggadot. While there is not as large of a body…

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Aaron the Jewish Bishop

April 12, 2016 admin Comments 0 Comment

Aaron the Jewish Bishop The exodus from Egypt was led by Moses and Aaron. Moses, however, does not appear in the Passover haggadah (with one exception that is likely a later interpolation).[1] Aaron does make two appearances in the hallel section. That said, in numerous illuminated haggadahs, from the medieval period to present, both appear in illustrated form. Additionally, in printed haggadot, most notably the 1609 Venice haggadah, one of the seminal illustrated haggadot, Moses and Aaron appear on the decorative border. Generally, conclusively…

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Upcoming Auction Review

April 10, 2016 admin Comments 0 Comment

Upcoming Auction Review: By Dan Rabinowitz and Eliezer Brodt In recent years a number of auction houses specializing in Hebrew books, manuscripts and ephemera have opened. In some instances, these have displaced and surpassed more well-established houses and certainly provide more opportunities for the collector. A new house, Legacy Auctions, is holding its first auction on April 13. One can view their complete catalog here [There is also a link to a PDF if one scrolls down here.] As we…

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Book Announcement: Gabriel Wasserman’s Haggadah

April 4, 2016 admin Comments 2 comments

Book Announcement: הגדה של פסח “אשירה ואשננה בחשיקות” מאת גבריאל וסרמן You may purchase a copy here. Every year, many haggadot are published, with various features, but almost all of them have the nearly identical Hebrew text. Yes, Ashkenazic haggadot have a few songs at the end that are not in most Sephardic haggadot, and some Sephardic haggadot may have a few kabbalistic passages that are not in Ashkenazic haggadot, but by and large the texts are well-nigh identical. In…

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Lecture Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber

March 29, 2016 admin Comments 1 comment

The readership of the Seforim Blog is invited to a shiur that will be taking place this Sunday April 3, at 7 PM. The shiur will be given by the noted scholar and author Rav Yechiel Goldhaber of Eretz Yisroel (link). He has authored many wonderful articles and works on a wide range of topics, notably Minhagei Kehilos about customs, Kunditon (link) about the Titanic, and the Cherem on Spain, and two volumes of Ginzei Yehuda, a collection of assorted…

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שמועות נדירות בעניני ספרים וסופרים

March 8, 2016 admin Comments 2 comments

שמועות נדירות בעניני ספרים וסופרים מפי מו“ר הג“ר שמרי‘ שולמאן שליט“א מח“ס באר שרים, אור לישרים, מריש בבירה, שומר הפתח, שומר מצוה ועוד זה לי עשר שנים שזכיתי ליצוק מים על ידי אחד המיוחד מזקני הגאונים בדורינו משיירי כנה”ג דור אחרון של גאוני רבני ליטא הגאון מוהר”ר שמריהו שולמאן שליט”א. מלבד גדלותו בתורה המשתקפת מכל דף ודף מעשרות ספריו, ונוסף על זה שכבר מנעוריו נודע הגאון כבעל זכרון מופלא שאינו מאבד טיפה, עוד הוא ממלא תפקיד חשוב כממשיך שרשרת לגדולי…

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The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay

February 14, 2016 admin Comments 0 Comment

The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: Review essay By Eliezer Brodt and Dan Rabinowitz The Writing on the Wall: A catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from the Valmadonna Trust Library, edited by Sharon Liberman Mintz, Shaul Seidler-Feller and David Wachtel, London-New York: 2015, 320 pp. Jews have been collecting books or manuscripts for centuries. A related category that is collected by fewer is ephemera, including broadsides, documents and letters of historical significance. Of late, a few annual auctions have included some of these…

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Shadal on Exodus by Daniel A. Klein (Kodesh Press) – New Book Announcement

December 14, 2015 admin Comments 1 comment

Order on Amazon or on the Kodesh Press website. Very rarely in the history of parshanut has one author written both a translation of the entire Torah text and a complete Torah commentary in Hebrew. Most likely, no one has accomplished this feat since Shadal (Samuel David Luzzatto, 1800-1865). Now, the second volume of his Pentateuco is available in a new, all-English version—Shadal on Exodus: Samuel David Luzzatto’s Interpretation of the Book of Shemot, translated and edited by Daniel A. Klein (New York: Kodesh Press, 2015). This edition is a double…

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Lunch and Learn with Rav Yechiel Goldhaber on Thursday 12/3/15 at 1:00 PM

December 2, 2015 admin Comments 0 Comment

The readership of the Seforim Blog is invited to a “Lunch and Learn” that will be taking place Thursday, December 3 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM. The shiur will be given by the noted scholar and author Rav Yechiel Goldhaber of Eretz Yisrael (link). He has written many wonderful articles and works on a wide range of topics most notably Minhagei Kehilos about customs, and Kunditon (link) about the Titanic, and the Cherem on Spain. The Shiur will take place…

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