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פורים בגבעת שאול – דיוקה של שמועה

פורים בגבעת שאול – דיוקה של שמועה

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silhof@neto.bezeqint.net ירושלים היא כיום העיר היחידה הידועה בבירור כמוקפת חומה מימות יהושע בן נון שקריאת המגילה נעשית בה ביום ט”ו לחודש אדר. עם היציאה מן החומות ובניית השכונות החדשות סביב העיר הישנה, התעוררה השאלה עד להיכן מתפשטת ירושלים – אם להחשיבה כחלק בלתי נפרד ממנה אם מדין “סמוך ונראה”. דיון זה עדיין לא נפשט בשכונותיה הרחוקות יותר של ירושלים – כשבחוד חנית הויכוח עומדת לה שכונת רמות הנעשית בכל שנה ושנה אגודות אגודות. קונטרסים וספרים ללא מספר נדפסו בענין. באחד…

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The Ethics of the Case of Amalek: An Alternative Reading of the Biblical Data and the Jewish Tradition

The Ethics of the Case of Amalek: An Alternative Reading of the Biblical Data and the Jewish Tradition

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This study of Amalek deals with seven questions. 1. Is the battle against Amalek primarily ethnic or ethical? 2. What is the difference in reading the biblical data starting with Exodus and Deuteronomy or starting with I Samuel 15? 3. What is the evidence that the Bible already seeks ethical justification for punishing Amalek? 4. How does post-biblical literature in general and rabbinic literature in particular further the transformation of Amalek into an ethical category? 5. How is the “Sennacherib…

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Mishloach Manot of Rabbis and Scholars

Mishloach Manot of Rabbis and Scholars

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the Seforim Blog is happy to present the following. Mishloach Manot of Rabbis and Scholars By Tovia Preschel Rabbis, scholars and writers used to send on Purim—in addition to the traditional Mishloah Manot—spiritual food to their dear ones: a song, a study, even an entire book, they had written. In this article only a few of such “manot” (“portions”, “gifts”) can be mentioned. Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, the author of Lekha Dodi—wrote a commentary on the Book of Esther and sent…

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Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger and Warder Cresson

Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger and Warder Cresson

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Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger (1798 –1871) was a German rabbi and author, and one of the great leaders of Orthodox Judaism. He was born at Karlsruhe and died in Altona. He studied under Rabbi Abraham Bing in Würzburg, where he also attended the university. Because of his well-known greatness as a Torah scholar, questions were sent to him from across the globe. The following question relates to a story that occurred in Jerusalem. According to Jewish Law, there is a list…

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Some Notes on Censorship of Hebrew Books

Some Notes on Censorship of Hebrew Books

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Habent sua fata libelli (Books have their fate) One of the tragedies of the Inquisition and the Expulsions – both from Spain and Portugal– which has received very little attention is the destruction and loss of Hebrew manuscripts and books. Since the printing of Hebrew books in Spain began many years before the Expulsion, this loss involved printed books as well as manuscripts. Indeed, due to these losses, since only fragments survive of some of the earliest examples of Hebrew…

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A Third Way: Iyyun Tunisai as a Traditional Critical Method of Talmud Study

A Third Way: Iyyun Tunisai as a Traditional Critical Method of Talmud Study

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The following is an excerpt from an article with the above title by Joseph Ringel. The full article, including the footnotes detailing the source materials, and the appendix, have been published in the Fall 2013 issue of Tradition (46:3), and is available for purchase at http://www.traditiononline.org/. In recent years, scholars have taken a renewed interest in elucidating the specific methods used to study Jewish texts in yeshivas, both past and present. For example, Daniel Boyarin elucidated the classical late medieval/early…

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The Jewish Reaction to the Livorno Earthquake of January 27, 1742

The Jewish Reaction to the Livorno Earthquake of January 27, 1742

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On January 27, 1742 (כב’ שבט תק”ב) an earthquake shook Livorno, Italy to its core. All through the preceding months rumbling shuddered throughout the city. Pasqual R. Pedini, a recognized cleric at the time, elucidated in a letter beginning with the incipient rumblings of Jan. 16 carrying on until 27th a vivid depiction of the earthquake’s manifestation and impact (The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, London 1809; VIII p. 568, “An Account of the Earthquakes Felt in…

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TU BISHVAT: TREE AND THOU

TU BISHVAT: TREE AND THOU

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Rabbi Alan Zelenetz, M.Phil. has been professionally involved in Jewish education, academia, and independent scholarship for more than twenty-five years, including leadership positions as principal of Torah and General Studies of Yeshivah of Flatbush Middle Division and Director of Curriculum Development of Teachers College Innovations, Columbia University. DYNAMIC GREEN From their cosmic vantage point in outer space, NASA satellites orbiting our planet beam down real-time streaming video of Earth’s surface. They reveal that 75% of our world is “a relatively…

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The Identity and Meaning of Chashmonai

The Identity and Meaning of Chashmonai

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(MFirstatty@aol.com) The name Chashmonai appears many times in the Babylonian Talmud, but usually the references are vague. The references are either to beit Chashmonai, malkhut Chashmonai, malkhut beit Chashmonai, malkhei beit Chashmonai, or beit dino shel Chashmonai. One time (at Megillah 11a) the reference is to an individual named Chashmonai, but neither his father nor his sons are named. The term Chashmonai (with the spelling חשמוניי) appears two times in the Jerusalem Talmud, once in the second chapter of Taanit…

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The Nazir in New York

The Nazir in New York

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ב”ה The Nazir in New York Josh Rosenfeld I. Mishnat ha-Nazir הוצאת נזר דוד שע”י מכון אריאל ירושלים, 2005 קכ’+36 עמודים הראל כהן וידידיה כהן, עורכים A few years ago, during his daily shiur, R. Herschel Schachter related that he and his wife had met someone called ‘the Nazir’ during a trip to Israel. R. Schachter quoted the Nazir’s regarding the difficulty Moshe had with the division of the land in the matter the daughters of Zelophehad and the Talmudic…

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Christian M. Rutishauser on Being Drawn to the Rav

Christian M. Rutishauser on Being Drawn to the Rav

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Christian M. Rutishauser’s The Human Condition in the Thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik has just been published by Ktav (having earlier appeared in German). Quite apart from Rutishauser’s scholarship, the book is noteworthy in that Rutishauser is a prominent Jesuit priest (see here; for those who don’t know, the University of Scranton is also Jesuit). The Seforim Blog is happy to present the introduction to the book where Rutishauser explains what led him to the Rav. A Catholic Glimpse…

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R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Kitniyot, R. Judah Mintz, and More

R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Kitniyot, R. Judah Mintz, and More

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1. The last post dealt with R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and I pick up with him here. Before moving forward, I have to thank R. Moshe Maimon who sent me a PDF of the essay attributed to R. Zevin which I discussed in the last post. It comes from the hebrewbooks.org hard drive that was released some time ago. You can see it here. I also thank R. Eliezer Brodt who pointed out that both R. Zvi Pesah Frank and…

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Soloveitchick’s Act of Selfless Heroism, 1785

Soloveitchick’s Act of Selfless Heroism, 1785

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Michael K. Silber is the Cardinal Franz Koenig Senior Lecturer in Austrian Studies in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at Hebrew U. He has taught at Harvard, Stanford and the Central European University and during the 2013-2014 academic year, he is the Jacob Perlow Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at Yale. He also serves as the Chair of the Board of the Central Archives of the Jewish People, Jerusalem. His researches focus on the Jews of Central…

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מנהג אמירת ‘שלש-עשרה מידות’ בהוצאת ספר תורה בימים נוראים ובשלש רגלים ובפרט כשחל בשבת

מנהג אמירת ‘שלש-עשרה מידות’ בהוצאת ספר תורה בימים נוראים ובשלש רגלים ובפרט כשחל בשבת

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אישית . בליל יום הכיפורים תשס”ה, שבאותה שנה חל בשבת, שמעתי באזני מפי הגרי”ש אלישיב זצוק”ל, שענה לשואל אחד שאין לאמרם בשבת, אע”פ שהשואל הסתייע מלוח ארץ ישראל לרי”מ טוקצ’ינסקי שיש לאומרם. אחר כך סיפר השואל לנוכחים שמפרסמים פסקים בשם הרב שאינם נכונים כלל וכלל. לשאלת השואל היה המשך מעניין: ויהי ערב ויהי בוקר. בתפילת שחרית לא נכח הגרי”ש בבית הכנסת, ובהוצאת ספר תורה פתח החזן באמירת ‘שלש-עשרה מידות’. קם אחד המתפללים וגער בו בקול: ‘אתמול קבע הרב שליט”א שאין…

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