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Contributor: Ezra Brand

From Print to Pixel: Digital Editions of the Talmud Bavli

From Print to Pixel: Digital Editions of the Talmud Bavli

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher who resides in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, and has studied in the Talmud Department of Bar-Ilan University. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Substack blog. His most recent major work is a “Guide to Online Resources for Scholarly Jewish Study and Research”. He…

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“Milta De’Bedichuta”: Some Playful Parodies of the Talmud in the Modern Period

“Milta De’Bedichuta”: Some Playful Parodies of the Talmud in the Modern Period

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6-Mar-23 Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached…

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“Ha’Rotzeh Lichanek, Hitaleh B’Ilan Gadol”: Notes on some Literary forgeries of Jewish works in the the Late Modern Period (1756-1965)

“Ha’Rotzeh Lichanek, Hitaleh B’Ilan Gadol”: Notes on some Literary forgeries of Jewish works in the the Late Modern Period (1756-1965)

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached at…

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Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part III

Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part III

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached at…

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Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part II

Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part II

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached at…

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Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part I

Guide and Review of Online Resources – 2022 – Part I

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached at…

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Towards Decoding Ha-Yeriah Ha-Gedolah (The Great Parchment), A Cryptic 14th Century Italian Kabbalistic Text

Towards Decoding Ha-Yeriah Ha-Gedolah (The Great Parchment), A Cryptic 14th Century Italian Kabbalistic Text

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in NYC. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History. His main research focus is currently 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah, and he is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. His previous contributions to the Seforim Blog can be found here, and a selection of his academic research can be found here. He can be reached at ezrabrand-at-gmail.com; any and all…

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Book review: Asaf Yedidya, Criticized Criticism – Orthodox Alternatives to Wissenschaft des Judentums 1873 – 1956

Book review: Asaf Yedidya, Criticized Criticism – Orthodox Alternatives to Wissenschaft des Judentums 1873 – 1956

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Criticized Criticism is a book which I think would greatly interest any reader of the Seforim Blog. It deals with the history of the Orthodox “alternatives” to secular Jewish Studies, as well as many important issues that religious Jewish Studies scholars face. In this, it fills a definitely felt lack in Jewish historiography. It follows a trend of recent works devoted to the history of specific aspects of Jewish Studies. The book is especially important since we do not yet…

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Talmudic Humor and Its Discontents

Talmudic Humor and Its Discontents

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In honor of Purim, I’d like to discuss a few aspects of humor in the Talmud . But first, a short overview of topic of Jewish humor in general. A lot has been written about Jewish humor . A very good overview of Jewish humor, in general, is that of Avner Ziv in the second edition of Encyclopedia Judaica, under the entry “Humor” . However, most of the piece is about Jewish humor from the eighteenth century and on, with…

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A Review of “Alo Na’aleh”

A Review of “Alo Na’aleh”

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The opinion of R’ Yoel Teitelbaum, better known as the Satmar Rebbe, opposing the State of Israel has recently received a resurgence of interest. With the shifting to the right of the Orthodox Jewish world in general, as well as attempts by some Israeli politicians to end Chareidi draft exemptions in particular, many Chareidim are now feeling sympathetic to the Satmar opinion. In any discussion online about Israel drafting Chareidim or cutting funding to yeshivas, there will always be one…

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Was Avraham a Lamdan?

Was Avraham a Lamdan?

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I would like to thank Eliezer Brodt for reviewing this article and discussing it with me, and my father for editing this article. Some time ago there was a discussion in cyberspace regarding whether the Avos kept all of the mitzvos. The discussion was started when a video on Youtube made fun of the idea, and a response to the video was published on the Hirhurim blog (here), as well as counter-response (here). I’d like to discuss some of the…

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Satmar From As Seen By An Insider: A Review of the New English Biography of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe

Satmar From As Seen By An Insider: A Review of the New English Biography of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe

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I recently bought the new biography of the Satmar Rebbe, called “The Rebbe. The Extraordinary Life & Worldview of Rabbeinu Yoel Teitelbaum. The Satmar Rebbe זי”ע”, by Rabbi Dovid Meisels (Canada 2011, distributed by Israel Book Shop). Rabbi Meisels is related to Rabbi Teitelbaum, and a staunch Satmar chossid, so you can be sure that the views espoused in the book are Satmar’s true opinions. I also recently bought Solomon Poll’s classic study if chassidim in Williamsburg in the 1950’s,…

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תורת הצורה והחומר וההעדר: ספרים המדברים בהשמטות הרמב”ם ובכללים להסבירם

תורת הצורה והחומר וההעדר: ספרים המדברים בהשמטות הרמב”ם ובכללים להסבירם

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ידוע הוא לכל יודע ספר המשנה תורה שאחת מהמידות שהמשנה תורה נדרש בה היא ההשמטה ממנו. כמעט כל מפרשי הרמב”ם הניחו כיסוד שהרמב”ם כוון לכלול בספרו כל התורה שבעל פה (כמו שהזכיר הרמב”ם בהקדמתו למשנה תורה), ואם יש דין חסר ממנו יש דברים בגו . אמנם גם לאחר שהוכרה ההשמטה בהרבה מקרים קשה לדעת מה ללמוד מזה; אם להחמיר או להקל, לטמא או לטהר, לפסול או להכשיר (ולעתים קרובות נחלקו בזה המפרשים), אבל הכל מודים שניתן ללמוד מכל השמטה. א….

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