[1] אגב, שם צויין כי הזכויות שייכות למכון עוז והדר, אבל אין פרט זה מענייננו. [2] אין מן הצורך לומר שאת הפתרון של ראשי תיבות אלו לא ימצא המעיין בשום ספר המפענח ראשי תיבות. [3] עתה ראיתי כי גם בספר ברכת החמה לר”צ כהן, בני ברק, תשס”ט, עמ’ שיז, מובאים דברים אלו בשם “ר’ שמעיה, תלמיד רש”י, בפירושו שעל ‘יוצר לפרשת החודש’ בעריכת הרה”ג אהרן אייזנבאך שליט”א, מירושלים”. אין לדעת אם הכוונה לספר שנדפס או שעתיד להדפס. לא הצלחתי להשיג…
Rabbi Elli Fischer is a freelance translator living in Modiin, Israel. He maintains the “On the Contrary:Judasim with Comments Enabled ” blog. This is his second contribution to the Seforim blog. Given the thousands of haggadot that have been published over the years, and the dozens of new ones published each year, it is not easy for any single haggadah to separate itself from the others on the market. As a result, some new haggadot provide unique commentary, others contain…
First, a quick note regarding Prof. Haym Soloveitchik’s apparent position that anonymous critiques are inappropriate. It appears that his position overlooks at least one example of just that. As Dan Rabinowitz has pointed out in a prior post, R. Shmuel Aboab authored an ethical work which critiqued some of the perceived laxity of the day but did so anonymously. Turning to the new online journal Quntres: An Online Journal for the History, Culture, and Art of the Jewish Book. This…
& Ish Sefer Solomon Ibn Aderet, Ma’amar al Yishma’el, Bezalel Naor ed., Spring Valley, NY, 2008, 178 pp. Bezalel Naor, Mitsvat Hashem Barah, Spring Valley, NY, 2008, 220 pp. R. Bezalel Naor, who has published a host of translations and explanations of R. Kook’s writings, as well as Post Sabbatian Sabbatianisms, discussing Sabbatean works, has published two works in a single volume. The first, Ma’amar al Yishma’el, is a critical edition of R. Solomon Ibn Aderet’s (Rashba) discussion of Islam….
Y. Meiselman, Ha-Noten Sheleg, Be-Inyanei ha-Sheleg veha-Kerach be-Halacha, Holon, 2001, 266 pp.With winter approaching, a review of a work devoted to the topic of snow is particularly appropriate. While everyone is familiar with R. Zevin’s discussion of the halachik use of snow in his Le-Or ha-Halacha, R. Zevin only took his discussion so far. Today, we now have a work that is entirely devoted to snow and halacha. This book, which is on Orach Hayyim and volumes on the other…
Me’achsanya Shel ha-Torah, Rabbi Moshe Hubner, ed., New York, 2008, 297 pp. As mentioned in the past, there is an austounding amount of seforim being published. One genre, that is bursting at the seams, is sefarim on Chumash. There are seforim printed from famous people; some are still with us, while others have been gone for many years. These seforim focus on all kinds of topics: mussar, machashavah, pshat, kabbalah, d’rush, and halachah. In truth, it is virtually impossible to…
Rabbi Elli Fischer is a freelance translator living in Modiin, Israel. He maintains the “On the Contrary: Judasim with Comments Enabled ” blog. This is his first contribution to the TraditionOnline Seforim blog. I was recently given the opportunity to preview The Koren Sacks Siddur. This work, due to be released in 2009, is the first major bilingual Orthodox synagogue prayer book to be released since the ArtScroll Siddur in 1984. It goes without saying that this siddur will present…
This is the first post in what I hope to be a series on various attitudes towards studying history. The prism through which we will examine this issue is that of the many works written by gedolim discussing history. The subject of this post is a new edition of the classic work Koreh Hadoros (KH) by R. Dovid Conforte (printed recently by Ahavat Sholom). After discussing the actual sefer and its author, I will conclude with a few comments about…
Yaakov S. Spiegel, Amudim be-Tolodot Sefer ha-Ivri Haghot u-Maghim (Chapters in the History of the Jewish Book Scholars and their Annotations), Ramat Gan, 20052, 689 pp. In 1996, Bar Ilan Press published Amudim be-Toldot Sefer ha-Ivri Haghot u-Maghim from Professor Yaakov S. Spiegel. Shortly thereafter, this edition sold out due to its popularity. A few years later Amudim be-Toldot Sefer ha-Ivri Kitevah ve-haTakah (volume two) was published. More recently, Amudim be-Toldot Sefer ha-Ivri Haghot u-Maghim was reprinted with over seventy…
In a recent post, Dr. Leiman noted that Rabbi Dr. Dovid Tzvi Hoffmann’s commentary on Shemot is being translated into Hebrew and printed in the near future. While the volume on Shemot will be published, a commentary of one of R. Hoffmann’s student on Koheles has recently been translated and printed. Indeed, there are two editions of the same commentary that have been recently been printed. The fact that someone who has been ignored for a while then merits to…
Rabbi Prof. Aryeh A. Frimer is the Ethel and David Resnick Professor of Active Oxygen Chemistry at Bar Ilan University. He has lectured and published widely on various aspects of “Women and Halakha.” Among his many articles, Rabbi Frimer is the author of “Women and Minyan,” Tradition, 23:4 (Summer 1988): 54-77, available online here; “Women’s ‘Megilla’ Reading,” in Ora Wiskind Elper, ed., Traditions and Celebrations for the Bat Mitzvah (Urim Publications: Jerusalem, 2003), 281-304, available online here (PDF); “Guarding the…
Professor Daniel Sperber, Modes of Decision – Methods and Approaches for Proper Halakhic Decision Making, Jerusalem, Reuven Mass, 2008, 207 pages; Hebrew. פר’ דניאל שפרבר, נתיבות פסיקה ‘כלים וגישה לפוסק ההלכה’ ירושלים, תשסח, ראובן מס, 207 עמודים Last week a new book from Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber arrived in stores, Netivot Pesikah. This is his third book which he authored in less than a year (see here and here for reviews on them). Before I begin I must say at…
Tiferes Yosef, Sefer Shemos, R. Yosef Engel, ed. Friedman, Mochon Ohavei Torah, Monsey, NY, 595 pages, 2007. [845. 426.6152] About four years ago I noticed in the seforim store a sefer called תפראת יוסף. It caught my attention immediately because it said מאוצרות הגאון ר’ יוסף ענגיל זצ”ל and I am a big חסיד of R. Engel as I am sure many are. I purchased the sefer after looking at it for a few minutes being satisfied with what I…
Kuntress Ha-Teshuvot He-Hadash, A Bibliographic Thesaurus of Responsa Literature published from ca. 1470-2000, ed. Shmuel Glick, vol. II, Jerusalem & Ramat-Gan, 2007, , 11, 483, . I have briefly mentioned previously the bibliography on the Teshuva seforim, Kuntress Ha-Teshuvot He-Hadash (“KTH”). The second of four volumes has been published and I wanted to provide a more in-depth review of this work. KTH is an update of Boaz Cohen’s earlier bibliography, Kuntres Ha-Teshuvot, of Teshuvos seforim. In truth, however, this is…
Beis Havaad, Le’arechat Kitvei Rabboseinu, ed. Yoel Hakoton and Eliyahu Soloveitchik, (Jerusalem, 2003); 272 pp. Beis Havaad is a collection of articles based on a series of lectures that were delivered in Yerushalayim dealing with many aspects of the proper way seforim should be published. Beis Havaad was originally intended to be a journal but, to date, no other issue has appeared. With its focus on books, it is only proper that a review of this book should appear at…