This post is a followup of an earlier post which discusses the origins of reciting le-dovid hashem ori from rosh hodesh Elul through Simchat Torah. In this post I show a few early sources for saying ledovid and some reasons why some did not say it. For Profesor Leiman’s lecture on this topic see here. In my discussion of the various reasons given I deal with the various Balei Shem especially the two balei shem who share the same name,…
I. R. Nachman of Breslov’s Position on Knife GivingAs Erev Rosh Hashanah approaches, let me remind you of a popular trend some people, prior to Rosh Hashana, buy knives for their households, or as presents for others. Why all this enthusiasm? Some will explain that buying a new knife for Rosh Hashana is a popular segulah for livelihood. This segulah is so powerful that many wives insist that their husbands buy a new knife each approaching Rosh Hashana. This custom…
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…
One of the more interesting pioneers of the haskalah movement was R. Shelomo Zalman Hanau (Katz). Hanau’s works mainly concern grammar and, in that vein, corrections to the siddur. Hanau’s first book, Binyan Shelomo, Frankfort A.M., 1708 was published when he was 21. This book focuses on grammar, but, as we have already discussed, was important in the development of the Siddur. (Additionally, see S.’s recent post on Hanau here.) This book is now up for auction, however, I must…
Librarian – Valmadonna Trust Library (London, England) When I first walked into the library in May 1982 I was struck initially by the smell of leather, then by the rows upon rows of fine bindings in burgundies, browns, beiges and creams packed neatly and tastefully on elegant open wooden shelves. Looking more closely I began to identify groupings: 16th century Italian locations with exciting names like Riva di Trento, Sabbionetta and Ferrara; whole areas of early Venetian printers – Bomberg,…
In the history of the Hebrew book, the books, like the Jews themselves, have been subject to external persecution. Thus, some books and manuscripts have been totally lost. On the other hand there are a few examples of books or, as we shall soon demonstrate, technices that are are a product of external influences. Abraham Ibn Ezra had a very hard life. In his well-known formulation that appears at the beginning of his commentary to the Humash, he complains that…
In the upcoming Krias Hatorah in Parshat Shoftim and Parshat Ki Savo there are a number of instances where the meaning of a phrase changes completely based on the pronunciation of a single word – דם – with either a Komatz or Patah. Until recently, most Chumashim and Tikunim which generally followed the famous Yaakov Ben Hayyim 1525 edition of Mikraot Gedolot published in Venice that printed a seemingly inconsistent pattern in the pronunciation of the different occurrences of this…
[1] מאמר זה [מתוך ספרי בין כסה לעשור שי”ל לפני כמה חדשים] הוא מבוסס על חומר שאספתי בס”ד במשך השנים דרך לימודי, ובנוסף לכך השתמשתי בכמה סיכומים שונים שנערכו על נושא זה, הם: ר’ זאב וואלף לייטער, שו”ת בית דוד, ירושלים תשס, סי’ סד, ובמילואים לשם; ר’ ראובן מרגליות, נפש חיה, סי’ קנט, ס”ק יג; ר’ אהרן מגיד, בית אהרן, י, ערך ‘אפר פרה’, ניו-יורק תשלה, עמ’ תרפו-תרצ; הרב דוד אברהם מנדלבוים, פרדס יוסף החדש, פרשת חוקת, בני-ברק תשנו, עמ’…
We are delighted that the occasion of our son’s wedding (Uri Sprecher to Rivi Zand, 4 Kislev 5769) solved a 150-year-old bibliographic mystery. When we chose to provide our guests with the opportunity to engage in limmud Torah during the course of the wedding by reprinting and distributing “Tshuvah Be’Inyan Kriat HaKetubah,” we assumed that, just as the title page and the publisher’s introduction indicated, it represented an actual Halakhic Responsum issued in 1835 by the Chief Rabbi of Bialystok,…
Wine, Women and Song: Some Remarks on Poetry and Grammar – Part II By: Yitzhak of בין דין לדין [In addition to reiterating my thanks to Andy and Wolf2191 for their assistance and encouragement, I wish to thank Eliezer Brodt for a number of valuable suggestions, several of which have been incorporated into this part of the essay.]Great Men and Grammar In the first part of this essay, we discussed Ibn Ezra’s slashing attack on the alleged grammatical lapses of…
In previous posts at the Seforim blog, Elliott Horowitz of Bar Ilan University, co-editor of Jewish Quarterly Review, and author of Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), has described Modern Amalekites [here], Isaiah Berlin on Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) and Saul Lieberman [here], Edmund Wilson, Hebrew, Christmas, and the Talmud [here], and Bugs Bunny [here]. This is his fifth contribution to the Seforim blog. We hope that you enjoy. Late in the first…