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Contributor: Marc B. Shapiro

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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The Writings of R. Hayyim Dov Ber Gulevsky – Part I

The Writings of R. Hayyim Dov Ber Gulevsky – Part I

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In honor of Dan Rabinowitz, in appreciation of his commitment to the free and open exchange of ideas. In a previous post I mentioned the new writings of R. Kook and also the works of R. Hayyim Dov Ber Gulevsky. I would like to speak about both of them before returning to my discussions of Judaism and Christianity. Let me begin with R. Gulevsky, who obviously is not as well known as R. Kook, although he does have his own…

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Marc B. Shapiro: Thoughts on Confrontation & Sundry Matters Part I

Marc B. Shapiro: Thoughts on Confrontation & Sundry Matters Part I

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What follows is a continuation of this post.Some people are so set on showing the differences between Christianity and Judaism that in the process they end up distorting Judaism. Let me start with an example that for the last fifteen years must be considered a Jewish teaching. By Jewish teaching I mean a view that is taught in the observant community. This doesn’t mean that all or even most people will agree with it, anymore than they agree with the…

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Thoughts on Confrontation & Sundry Matters Part I

Thoughts on Confrontation & Sundry Matters Part I

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Rabbi Meir Soloveichik’s year-old essay, “No Friend in Jesus,” caused me to once again think about the Rav’s essay “Confrontation,” (available here) and how it should be understood. Before getting to that, let me note, for those who don’t know, that Soloveichik is emerging as one of the most interesting, if controversial writers, on interfaith matters. I don’t know if he picks the titles of his articles, but they are certainly catchy. In addition to “No Friend in Jesus,” I…

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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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Marc B. Shapiro: A Tale of Two Lost Archives

Marc B. Shapiro: A Tale of Two Lost Archives

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I have spent much of my professional life rummaging through collections of documents, mostly in well-kept archives, but sometimes also in hard-to-reach places in basements and attics. Fortunately, I have made some great discoveries in these places, but I will now tell you a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. It begins around fifteen years ago, when I was researching the life of R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg. With the strength that only someone in his twenties has, I traveled…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Rabbis and Communism

Marc B. Shapiro – Rabbis and Communism

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I had intended my newest post to be on the Rav’s famous essay “Confrontation,” but I recently received the latest issue of Tradition with Rabbi Yitzchak Blau’s article “Rabbinic Responses to Communism,” so let me make a few comments about it. First, I must say that it is a good read, like all of Blau’s writing, and I was impressed with the range of topics he attempts to tackle. My only suggestion for improvement would have been to examine the…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Clarifications of Previous Posts

Marc B. Shapiro – Clarifications of Previous Posts

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[The footnote numbers reflects the fact this is a continuation of this earlier post.] 1. I was asked to expand a bit on how I know that R. Barukh Epstein’s story with Rayna Batya is contrived. In this story we see her great love of Torah study and her difficulty in accepting a woman’s role in Judaism. Certainly, she must have been a very special woman, and I assume that she was, for a woman, quite learned. When Mekor Barukh…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 3

Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 3

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I thought that I had exhausted all I had to say about Rabbi Zvi Benjamin Auerbach’s edition of the Eshkol — see my first two posts at the Seforim blog, here and here [and elaborations] — but thanks to some helpful comments from readers, there is some more material that should be brought to the public’s attention. Even before looking at this, let me express my gratitude to Dan Rabinowitz who sent me this picture of a youthful Auerbach. In…

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

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

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holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Scranton. He is a frequent contributor to the Seforim blog and his most recent posts are “Forgery and the Halakhic Process” and “Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2.” The post below was written as part of “Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2,” which the baale ha-blog have split up for the convenience of the readers of the Seforim blog. As such, the footnotes…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2

Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2

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holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Scranton. He is the author of Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966 (London: Littman Library, 1999), The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised (London: Littman Library, 2003) and Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox (University of Scranton Press, 2006). Prof. Shapiro is a frequent contributor to the Seforim blog and his recent posts…

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Marc Shapiro: What Do Adon Olam and ס”ט Mean?

Marc Shapiro: What Do Adon Olam and ס”ט Mean?

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ס”ט 1. People often refer to me as a Modern Orthodox intellectual. There are actually quite a number of us out there. If you hear someone using words like “ontological,” “existential,” “mimetic,” and now, “tergiversation” you can assume he in in our club. Also, another telltale sign is that when we give divrei Torah you will hear us refer to Philo, the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha (if we are confident that we can pronounce the word properly ), Shadal, or Cassutto. Of…

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