Browsed by
Contributor: Shnayer Leiman

A Footnote on What the Chasam Sofer Did Not Say

A Footnote on What the Chasam Sofer Did Not Say

Comments 24 comments

A Footnote on What the Chasam Sofer Did Not Say By Shnayer Leiman The Problem. I’m the proud owner of a copy of Rabbi Shimon Finkelman’s Rav Pam: The Life and Ideals of Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov HaKohen Pam (second edition, seventh impression, June 2023, ArtScroll History Series, Mesorah Publications, Rahway, N.J.). It is a magnificently written and produced biography of Rav Pam, a close friend of my father, who like Rav Pam was a disciple of both Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz and…

Read More Read More

Life After Death: The Afterlife of Tombstone Inscriptions in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna

Life After Death: The Afterlife of Tombstone Inscriptions in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna

Comments 12 comments

Life After Death: The Afterlife of Tombstone Inscriptions in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna By Shnayer Leiman The ultimate purpose of any Jewish cemetery is to provide a resting place, with dignity, for the Jewish dead. Jewish law and custom have played a major role in regulating almost every aspect of burial from the moment of death through the funeral itself, the period of mourning that follows the funeral, and – ultimately – the erection of a tombstone over the grave.[1] Once the tombstone is…

Read More Read More

The Paper Brigade’s Recording of Epitaphs in Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery: A Literary Analysis

The Paper Brigade’s Recording of Epitaphs in Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery: A Literary Analysis

Comments 1 comment

The Paper Brigade’s Recording of Epitaphs in Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery: A Literary Analysis Shnayer Leiman I. Introduction. Shortly after the Nazis captured Vilna on June 24, 1941, representatives from the “Special Detail of Reich-Administrator Alfred Rosenberg” (Einsatzstab des Reichleiter Alfred Rosenberg) arrived in Vilna. Their task was to loot the literary (and other) treasures of Vilna’s Jewish community, and to ship them to Frankfurt.[1] Under the aegis of Nazi “experts” in Jewish matters, a slave-labor unit consisting at times of some 40…

Read More Read More

A Desperate Plea for Help on Behalf of Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery

A Desperate Plea for Help on Behalf of Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery

Comments 1 comment

A Desperate Plea for Help on Behalf of Vilna’s Old Jewish Cemetery in 1919 By Shnayer Leiman Recently, a brief study was posted online on Meir Zelmanovich, the custodian of Vilna’s old Jewish cemetery, who died a martyr’s death in 1920.[1] Here, we wish to add Zelmanovich’s only published writing, a Yiddish letter that appeared in Vilna’s יידישע צייטונג [Yidishe Tsaytung], on Monday, December 15, 1919.[2] The letter will appear below both in the original Yiddish and in an annotated…

Read More Read More

Some Notes on Verifying the Authenticity of the Alleged Rav Yisrael Salanter Photographs

Some Notes on Verifying the Authenticity of the Alleged Rav Yisrael Salanter Photographs

Comments 14 comments

Some Notes on Verifying the Authenticity of the Alleged Rav Yisrael Salanter Photographs By Shnayer Leiman There are some who claim that the photographs of R. Yisrael Salanter’s sons can be  used for the likeness of their father, since we have testimony that the sons looked almost exactly like their father. Let us examine the evidence. 1. Aside from the 3 published photographs of R. Yisrael’s son R. Yitzchak (see “The Recently Published Photographs of R. Yisrael Salanter”), the only other extant sketch…

Read More Read More

The Recently Published Photographs of Rav Yisrael Salanter: Real or Imaginary?

The Recently Published Photographs of Rav Yisrael Salanter: Real or Imaginary?

Comments 31 comments

The Recently Published Photographs of Rav Yisrael Salanter: Real or Imaginary? By Shnayer Leiman As early as 2006, and continuing through 2022, a flurry of photographs, purporting to bear the likeness of Rav Yisrael Salanter, have either appeared in print or have been posted on the Internet (see below, section II). While the publication of these photos certainly attests to his abiding influence well into the 21st century, their authenticity seems less than certain, and demands investigation. At the very…

Read More Read More

In Praise of Ephemera: A Picture Postcard from Vilna Reveals its Secrets More than One Hundred Years after its Original Publication

In Praise of Ephemera: A Picture Postcard from Vilna Reveals its Secrets More than One Hundred Years after its Original Publication

Comments 28 comments

In Praise of Ephemera: A Picture Postcard from Vilna Reveals its Secrets More than One Hundred Years after its Original Publication* by Shnayer Leiman I belong to a small group of inveterate collectors of Jewish ephemera. We collect artifacts that many others consider of little or no significance, such as postage stamps; coins and medallions; old posters, broadsides, and newspaper clippings; outdated New Years cards; wine-stained Passover Haggadot; Jewish ornaments, objects (e.g., Chanukkah dreidels) and artwork of a previous generation;…

Read More Read More

Notice on the passing of R. Shlomo Biegeleisen

Notice on the passing of R. Shlomo Biegeleisen

Comments 30 comments

All אוהבי ספר join in mourning the passing of R. Shlomo Biegeleisen, זכרונו לברכה. One of the most knowledgeable Jewish bookdealers in recent Jewish history, he did not merely sell books. He proffered sound advice, introduced customers to each other, and – in general – provided a congenial setting for תלמידי חכמים, scholars, collectors, bibliophiles, and “ordinary” Jews to meet and exchange ideas. Many a חידוש and scholarly article resulted from a conversation that took place (or: was overheard) at…

Read More Read More

Response to the Recent Discussion Relating to the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy

Response to the Recent Discussion Relating to the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy

Comments 59 comments

Response to the Recent Discussion Relating to the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy By Shnayer Leiman Whatever else the world may require, it certainly doesn’t need more bans emanating from the Emden-Eibeschuetz controversy. No one is insulted and no apologies are necessary. All sober comments and criticisms are most welcome – איזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם. I try to learn from everyone. I’m also a card-carrying member of the class of כל אדם, and I am a teacher, and pray that – at least on occasion –…

Read More Read More

The Alleged Blindness of R. Jacob Joshua Falk During the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy

The Alleged Blindness of R. Jacob Joshua Falk During the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy

Comments 55 comments

The Alleged Blindness of R. Jacob Joshua Falk During the Emden-Eibeschuetz Controversy by Shnayer Leiman R. Jacob Emden’s animosity toward R. Jonathan Eibeschuetz throughout the Emden-Eibeschuetz controversy could easily be explained away on grounds that are not necessarily bound up with an accusation of heresy. Emden, who proudly depicted himself as “a zealot the son of a zealot,” would hardly pass for Mister Nice Guy. In his autobiography, and certainly in his polemical works, Emden often emerges as a misanthropic,…

Read More Read More

Dr. Shlomo Sprecher ז”ל: In Memoriam

Dr. Shlomo Sprecher ז”ל: In Memoriam

Comments 0 Comment

Dr. Shlomo Sprecher ז”ל: In Memoriam אין חכמת האדם מגעת אלא עד מקום שספריו מגיעין, ולכן ימכור אדם כל מה שיש לו ויקנה ספרים, כי דרך משל מי שאין לו ספרי התלמוד אי איפשר לו להיות בקי בו, וכמו כן מי שאין לו ספרי הרפואה א”א להיות בקי בה. דרכי התלמוד לר’ יצחק קנפאנטון A person’s wisdom reaches only as far as his library. Therefore, a person should sell everything he owns and acquire books. For example, one who doesn’t own a…

Read More Read More

A Note on the הסכמות of the חפץ חיים

A Note on the הסכמות of the חפץ חיים

Comments 0 Comment

A Note on the הסכמות  of the חפץ חיים By Shnayer Leiman All the comments to the previous posting (“A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten”) are deeply appreciated. It’s what makes the Seforim Blog required reading for anyone interested in serious scholarship. I cannot possibly address all the comments. The references in the notes to the essay address some of the issues raised. To Yisrael Dubitsky’s important  comments, one should add that privately owned copies of the two parts…

Read More Read More

A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

Comments 2 comments

A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten By Shnayer Z. Leiman             Not much appears to be known about R. Bezalel Alexandrov (circa 1850-1930). Born in Grodno, he would ultimately come under the influence of the teachings of R. Yisrael Salanter (1809-1883), largely through the efforts of R. Yitzchak Blazer, i.e., R. Itzel Peterburger (1837-1907). R. Bezalel considered R. Itzel to be his primary teacher, especially during the period they both resided in Kovno. R. Bezalel was a close…

Read More Read More

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited*

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited*

Comments 0 Comment

A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited* by Shnayer Leiman A. The Photograph.             Recently, I had occasion to publish the above photograph – a treasure that offers a glimpse of what the old Jewish cemetery of Vilna looked like in the inter-war period.[1] Indeed, it captures the oldest portion of the rabbinic section of the old Jewish cemetery. The purpose of this essay is to identify the persons buried here and – where possible…

Read More Read More

Lithuanian Government Announces Construction of a $25,000,000 Convention Center in the Center of Vilna’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

Lithuanian Government Announces Construction of a $25,000,000 Convention Center in the Center of Vilna’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

Comments 0 Comment

Lithuanian Government Announces Construction of a $25,000,000 Convention Center in the Center of Vilna’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery by Sid Leiman According to Russian statistics, Vilna had close to 200,000 inhabitants just prior to World War I, roughly forty percent of whom were Jewish, more than thirty percent were Polish, and about twenty percent were Russian and the rest consisted of small Lithuanian, Byelorussian, German and Tartar minorities.[1] In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was convened by the winning parties of…

Read More Read More

image_pdfimage_print