Article – Page 14 – The Seforim Blog

Should we celebrate birthdays or not? Is it better to ignore them?

December 18, 2019 Binyamin Wattenberg Comments 18 comments

This post was originally an answer posted on july 25 2016 on the French website techouvot.com (https://www.techouvot.com/feter_les_anniversaires-vp46393.html). The author agreed to have it translated into English but did not review the translation. The author, Rav Binyamin Wattenberg teaches Talmud in Neuilly sur Seine, France, among other talmudic activities (techouvot.com…) This subject is widely debated in our sefarim. Some are convinced that it is entirely a “non-Jewish” custom which is important…

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Keter Shem Tov: A Study in the Entitling of Books, Here Limited to One Title Only

December 16, 2019 Marvin J. Heller Comments 15 comments

Entitling, naming books is, a fascinating subject. Why did the author call his book what he/she did? Why that name and not another? Hebrew books frequently have names resounding in meaning, but providing little insight into the contents of the book. This article explores the subject, focusing on one title only, Keter Shem Tov. That book-name is taken from a verse “the crown of a good name (Keter Shem Tov)…

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For the Sake of Radin! The Sugar Magnate’s Missing Yarmulke and a Zionist Revision

December 8, 2019 Marc B. Shapiro Comments 5 comments

Israel Brodsky (1823-1888), built an empire on the sugar trade. After inheriting a substantial fortune, in 1843, he became a partner in a sugar refinery.[1] Eventually, he vertically integrated his business, and he controlled sugar beet lands, processing plants, refineries, marketing agencies, and warehouses throughout the Russian Empire. At its height, Brodsky controlled a quarter of all sugar production in the Empire and employed 10,000 people.[2] Brodsky sugar “was a…

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Further On A Forged Letter of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

December 4, 2019 Mosheh Lichtenstein Comments 53 comments

Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein is a co-Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion. He is a grandson of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. It was recently brought to my attention that various readers of the Seforim Blog have expressed skepticism regarding the determination that the letter found in President Chaim Herzog’s archives and supposedly written by my grandfather, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l (hereafter, “the Rav”), is a forgery. Moreover, some of the…

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A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbis Baruch ha-Levi Epstein and Aaron Walkin from the Yiddish Republic of Letters

November 27, 2019 Shaul Seidler-Feller Comments 27 comments

A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbis Baruch ha-Levi Epstein and Aaron Walkin from the Yiddish Republic of Letters Shaul Seidler-Feller Editor’s note: The present post is part two of a two-part essay. Part one can be found here. Second Letter Approximately eight and a half years after his column on the Hafets Hayyim appeared, Rabbi Aaron B. Shurin penned another essay, entitled “The Mistake of the Austrian Emperor”…

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Apostates and More, Part 1

November 22, 2019 Marc B. Shapiro Comments 26 comments

I am aware of two seforim found on both Otzar haHochma and Hebrewbooks.org which were written by men who later apostatized (there are probably more). There are also two seforim on Hebrewbooks.org which were written by someone afterhe apostatized. I realize that after this post appears it is possible that the books mentioned will be removed from Otzar haHochma and Hebrewbooks.org (as has happened in the past with problematic books…

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

November 5, 2019 Shnayer Leiman Comments 55 comments

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, tempestuous, cantankerous, chronically-ill, and incessantly…

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The Gaon’s Impact on the Interpretation of both Primary Sugyot in Zemanim

October 23, 2019 William Gewirtz Comments 13 comments

Unquestionably, almost all ḥiddushim in the understanding of the vast literature on zemanim have halakhic implications. My intent is not to influence what has become minhag Yisroel; my focus is on establishing more precise halakhic definitions and theoretical innovations in sugyot that are central to the study of zemanim. Competent poskim can implement any changes in halakhic practice, which they determine that these innovations support.[1] Two areas dominate the study…

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Musings on the Piyut היום הרת עולם

September 27, 2019 Joseph Wertzberger Comments 4 comments

The following post is based in part on a lecture by Rabbi Ben Greenfield, newly installed Rabbi of the Greenpoint Shul, and several of its key ideas are his. * * * The poem היום הרת עולם is a very early piyut by an unknown author, appearing in writing as early as Siddur Rav Amram Ga’on, and is very widely recited after each of the sets of Tekiyot during the…

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The Fish Motif on Early Hebrew Title-Pages and as Pressmarks

September 25, 2019 Marvin J. Heller Comments 25 comments

Fish are a symbol replete with meaning, among them, in Judaism, representing fertility and good luck, albeit that fish are not an image that, for most, quickly comes to mind when considering Jewish iconography. Created on the fifth day of creation, fish symbolize fruitfulness, and, as Dr. Joseph Lowin informs, the month of Adar on the Hebrew calendar (February-March, Pisces) is considered “a lucky month for the Jews (mazal dagim).”…

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A Newly Discovered Work of the Rambam?

September 12, 2019 Eli Genauer Comments 14 comments

I recently purchased a Chumash which was printed in Sulzbach in 1741 by Meshulam Zalman ben Aharon Fraenkel Marvin Heller succinctly sums up the history of Hebrew printing in Sulzbach as follows: “This small Bavarian community was for over two centuries the site of Hebrew presses that printed many important titles. Duke Christain-Augustus due to his interest in Kabbalah, permitted the opening of Hebrew print shops in the 1660’s. Sulzbach…

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A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen from the Yiddish Republic of Letters

September 9, 2019 Shaul Seidler-Feller Comments 37 comments

A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen from the Yiddish Republic of Letters Shaul Seidler-Feller Editor’s note: The present post is part one of a two-part essay. Part two can be found here. Introduction Beginning on January 20, 1906, Abraham (Abe) Cahan (1860–1951), the legendary founder and longtime editor of the Yiddish-language Forverts newspaper in New York, published a regular agony uncle column famously entitled A…

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Antoninus, R. Moses Kunitz, and Iggerot Malkhei Rabbanan

August 29, 2019 Marc B. Shapiro Comments 64 comments

Returning to our discussion of Antoninus, we now come to a figure we have often dealt with in previous posts, R. Moses Kunitz, who for some reason has become much more controversial in recent years than he was during his lifetime. In his biography of R. Judah ha-Nasi, found at the beginning of the Vilna Mishnayot, R. Kunitz writes as follows: (ומערה היתה פתוחה לפני בית רבי בעיר טבריא שהיתה…

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The Anonymous Author of Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna: An Antinomian or a Radical Maimonidean?

August 5, 2019 Bezalel Naor Comments 9 comments

Today, it is an accepted fact in scholarly circles that Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna form a single unit that postdates the main body of Zohar.[1] More than one reader has been scandalized by statements in Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna likening the Mishnah to a shifhah or maidservant.[2] Predictably, in response, there grew an apologetic literature that attempts to justify how such shocking statements are compatible with normative Halakhah.[3]…

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Don’t Oppress the Ger

July 29, 2019 Ben Zion Katz Comments 0 Comment

The Torah in Motion blog by Rabbi Jay Kelman[1] discusses the daily daf as well as the parashah of the week. When reviewing Baba Metzia 59, Rabbi Kelman mentioned that the Talmud stated that there were 36 or 46 places where the Torah commands not to oppress the stranger/convert[2] (ger), but that he was not aware of any list of the verses in question. This paper is an attempt to…

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