David Glasner — Responses to Comments and Elaborations
David Glasner, an economist at the Federal Trade Commission, is a great-grandson of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner, the topic of his recent post, “The Saga of Publishing the Works of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner: The Issue of Inclusion of Zionism and Rav Kook,” at the Seforim blog. This is his second contribution to the Seforim blog.I thank all those who have responded to my posting of February 15. I have for the most part not engaged in a back and…
A Response to Dr. Shapiro: A Defense of the Torah Temimah
(of the Ishim v’Shitot blog) I read with interest Dr. Shapiro’s recent post questioning the accuracy of R’ Baruch Epstein’s tale concerning his dialogue with the Netziv’s first wife, Rayna Batya. Dr. Shapiro points to several discrepancies in R. Epstein’s account and based on those discrepancies posits that R’ Baruch deliberately contrived the story in order to call attention to the plight of women in his time. I would like, however, to present a more prosaic but equally plausible interpretation…
Marc B. Shapiro – Clarifications of Previous Posts
[The footnote numbers reflects the fact this is a continuation of this earlier post.] 1. I was asked to expand a bit on how I know that R. Barukh Epstein’s story with Rayna Batya is contrived. In this story we see her great love of Torah study and her difficulty in accepting a woman’s role in Judaism. Certainly, she must have been a very special woman, and I assume that she was, for a woman, quite learned. When Mekor Barukh…
Where’s Shai Agnon Revisited
You may recall that in a prior post we noted that in the Reinetz edition of the Pirush Ba’al HaTurim al HaTorah is a victim of censorship. Specifically, Reinetz quotes a story about how quickly the Tur wrote his commentary on the Torah. In the early edition of Reinetz’s work, Shai Agnon is cited as the source while in later editions Agnon is removed. In the comments, however, some took issue with the need to cite to Agnon as Agnon…
Aryeh Leibowitz – Response to Professor Menachem Kellner
To the editors of the Seforim blog: In Professor Menachem Kellner’s spirited and scholarly post (“Who is the Person Whom Rambam Says Can be ‘Consecrated as the Holy of Holies’?”) at the Seforim blog, he argues that my inclusion of Rambam’s hilkhot Shemittah ve-Yovel passage is “based on a demonstrable misunderstanding of the Rambam,” and that this passage, understood properly, is not germane to the issue I am addressing. In this short response, I would like to address the cogency…
Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations on Previous Posts
holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Scranton. He is a frequent contributor to the Seforim blog and his most recent posts are “Forgery and the Halakhic Process” and “Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2.” The post below was written as part of “Forgery and the Halakhic Process, part 2,” which the baale ha-blog have split up for the convenience of the readers of the Seforim blog. As such, the footnotes…
Elliott Horowitz responds to David Kaufmann on Bugs Bunny
has written a letter to The Forward, available below to readers of the Seforim blog. (It has not yet appeared in The Forward.) As noted in the letter below, Prof. Elliott Horowitz has written two articles on the very question that Kaufmann discusses. See his “Odd Couples: The Eagle and the Hare, the Lion and the Unicorn” Jewish Studies Quarterly 11:3 (August 2004): 243-258, and “The People of the Image,” The New Republic 223:13 (September 25, 2000): 41-49. This is…
Prof. Marc B. Shapiro response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport
‘s response to Rabbi Zev Leff (see original review), Prof. Marc B. Shapiro has shared with the Seforim blog his original response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport from several years ago.ועש”ק פרשת בא תשס”ד לכבוד ידידי אהובי הרה”ג החסיד המפואר, איש חמודות ונדיב לב, אוצר בלום לתורה ולחכמה, מוה”ר חיים ראפפורט שליט”א, אב”ד דק”ק אילפורד יע”א אחדשה”ט באהבה נאמנה תחילה אני מודה למע”כ על טירחתו לכתוב לי ולהעיר על דבריי הפעוטים . . . וכעת אבא לעיקר הנידן במכתבו, וטרם אתייחס…
Rabbi Chaim Rapoport on Prof. Marc B. Shapiro and Rabbi Zev Leff
Marc B. Shapiro — Response to Rabbi Zev Leff
Rabbi Zev Leff (of Moshav Matityahu) reviewed my book, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised, in the most recent issue of Jewish Action [see review]. I don’t feel that he gave the readers a correct sense of what the book is about. To rectify that, I can only ask people to read for themselves and determine if his portrayal is accurate. For now, I would like to challenge him on the specific points he makes. 1. He…
Tussle Over Horowitz’s Book
As I mentioned before, Elliott Horowitz wrote an excellent book on Purim and its connection with violence. But, as some are wont to do, instead of reading a book objectively they come into a book with all sorts of preconceived notions. This was typified by Hillel Halkin’s review of Horowitz’s book. In the June 2006 issue of Commentary Magazine, Halkin reviewed Horowitz’s book. I did not bother to mention this, solely because it was painfully obvious Halkin did not read…
Plagiarism II (Talmudic Terminology): An Update by Marc Shapiro
In 1988, Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rabinowich published a book titled Talmudic Terminology. However, as was noted in brief by Dr. Marc Shapiro, this was plagiarized from Moses Mielziner’s Introduction to the Talmud, first published in 1894. This omission, however, has been corrected in Rabinowich’s reprints of his Talmudic Terminology where the title now reads that Rabinowich’s work is “adapted” from Mielziner’s. While this would appear to be the end of the matter it is not. Dr. Shapiro has investigated this…
Update- Temple Service on Yom Kippur
Amshinover has a very nice post on the piyyutim connected to the temple service on Yom Kippur.