Browsed by
Genre: Response & Rejoinder

Reply from Haym Soloveitchik to the JQR Interview with Robert Brody

Reply from Haym Soloveitchik to the JQR Interview with Robert Brody

Reply from Haym Soloveitchik to the JQR Interview with Robert Brody By Haym Soloveitchik Editor’s Note: As a recap of a recent exchange between two scholars on a nuanced debate within medieval Jewish history (see the first footnote), we present this final note by Professor Haym Soloveitchik. Part One Dr. Robert Brody advances no new arguments against my thesis in his recent interview at the blog of the Jewish Quarterly Review (https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/blog/jewish-quarterly-review/jqr-contributor-conversation-robert-brody-origins-talmud-study). I have addressed all his points in my…

Read More Read More

Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post

Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post

Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post A few months back we featured a fascinating two-part post about newly discovered documents from Rav Herzog’s Archive. One of the discoveries of the post was a document about Meir Kahane written to President Chaim Herzog by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in the summer of 1984 which was surprisingly supportive of Kahane. A careful examination of the document by the family of Rabbi Soloveitchik reached the opposite conclusion. This letter is a crude…

Read More Read More

A Letter Concerning Prof. Marc Shapiro’s book “Changing the Immutable”

A Letter Concerning Prof. Marc Shapiro’s book “Changing the Immutable”

A Letter Concerning Prof. Marc Shapiro’s book Changing the Immutable By Eli Meyer Cohen כבוד… אחדשה”ט, ברצוני להעיר כמה הערות בנוגע למש”כ מרק שפירא אודות הדברים המובאים בפי’ ר’ יהודה החסיד. שלדעת גדולי פוסקי הדור ההוא הגר”מ פיינשטיין, הגרש”ז אויערבאך, הגרי”ש אלישיב והגרי”י ווייס בעל מנחת יצחק ז”ל, נדפסו שם דברי כפירה  והיות שיודע אני שבטח כבודו יערוך ביקורת כללית על ספרו, חושבני שדברים אלו יהיו לתועלת עבודתו. ראשית אציג רקע היסטורי לסיפור. הדבר קרה בשנת תשל”ו, כפי שמפורש בשני…

Read More Read More

There is No Bracha on an Eclipse

There is No Bracha on an Eclipse

There is No Bracha on an Eclipse By Rabbi Michael J. Broyde Rabbi Michael Broyde is a law professor at Emory University School of Law and the Projects Director in its Center for the Study of Law and Religion.  His most recent Torah sefer is entitled “A Concise Code of Jewish Law For Converts”.  This letter was written to someone after a shiur on why there is no bracha on seeing a solar eclipse. 1.      You are correct that I…

Read More Read More

A Final Note Regarding Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer’s Position on Opening a Refrigerator on Shabbat

A Final Note Regarding Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer’s Position on Opening a Refrigerator on Shabbat

A Final Note Regarding Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer’s Position on Opening a Refrigerator on Shabbat  By Yaacov Sasson The purpose of this note is to establish conclusively that Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer, the Dayan of Brisk, never permitted opening a refrigerator on Shabbat when the light inside will go on. I was deeply disappointed to read Rabbi Michael Broyde’s response[1] to my “Note Regarding Rav Simcha Zelig Reguer’s Position on Opening a Refrigerator on Shabbat.”[2] In short, R. Broyde has…

Read More Read More

ArtScroll’s Response and My Comments

ArtScroll’s Response and My Comments

 ArtScroll’s Response and My Comments by Marc B. Shapiro  My recent post here was more popular than my typical post. I base this statement on the fact that I received more emails from readers than usual and the post was picked up by a variety of different websites. The part dealing with the censorship of Rashbam was translated into Hebrew here (with one of the commenters calling for a herem to be placed on ArtScroll)[ and see also here. ArtScroll has now issued its response….

Read More Read More

image_pdfimage_print