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Bein hashemashot: A Reevaluation of the Texts Part III
This is the third of four posts, from a draft of a forthcoming monograph by Dr. William Gewirtz that addresses the period of bein hashemashot, the most fundamental area of dispute in the area of zemanim. What is proposed is an astronomically accurate hybrid position between the diametrically opposed conceptual views of the geonim and Rabbeinu Tam. That position justifies, to varying degrees, the practice of countless generations of European Jewry that started Shabbat well after sunset on Friday evening….
A Final Word to Chaim Rapoport
& Samuel Heilman While we hoped our last posting would be our last word on this subject, since the Seforim Blog has posted Rapoport’s rejoinder simultaneously (a courtesy never offered to us), we want to add a brief postscript, which we have been assured by the blog moderators will be the last posting on our book. We are happy Rapoport checked the Paris directory and found the listing of the Engineer Schneerson. Why he failed to note this listing (which…
More on The Rebbe
You might have noticed, and might have even been actively following the very-current and lively-debate about the recent volume by Samuel Heilman & Menachem Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010) at the Seforim blog, which began with a review essay (“The Afterlife of Scholarship: A Critical Exploration of Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman’s Presentation of the Rebbe’s Life”) by frequent contributor to the Seforim blog, Chaim Rapoport, available here, which…
R. Chaim Vital and his Unknown Work Sefer ha-Pe'ulot
ספר הפעולות רבי חיים ויטאל, תש”ע, תלט עמודים כולל מבוא ומפתחותA few years back, in a post at the Seforim blog discussing the history of plant known as baladur, I mentioned a sefer, Refuah Ma’asiyot le-Rav Chaim Vital. At the time, I only briefly touched upon this work. What follows is a more detailed discussion of the recently published edition as well as the history and substance of the work. The author is R. Chaim Vital, the most famous student…
Response and Rejoinder to Chaim Rapoport’s The Afterlife of Scholarship
’s Presentation of the Rebbe’s Life,” the Seforim blog (14 June 2010), available here, of Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010), available here, the editors of the Seforim blog are proud to present a response by Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman (submitted on Tuesday, 22 June 2010), available here (PDF) with a rejoinder by Chaim Rapoport (submitted on Tuesday, 29 June 2010), available here (PDF).
Some More Assorted Comments, part 1
1. Following my last post, a number of people have corresponded with me about the issue of anti-Semitism and how it it sometimes self-inflicted because of Jewish actions that cause a hillul ha-Shem, meaning that we can’t always claim ידינו לא שפכו את הדם הזה. As many readers know, R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg already pointed out that some anti-Semitism arises for precisely this reason. He was not the first. R. Israel Moses Hazan (Kerakh shel Romi, p. 4a), speaks of…
Upcoming Events
For those in the Washington, D.C. area next Tuesday, there will be a talk at the Library of Congress at noon. The flyer appears below.
Chaim Rapoport Review
who is a frequent contributor to the Seforim blog (see here for his earlier essays at the Seforim blog). We believe that Chaim Rapoport, “The Afterlife of Scholarship: A Critical Exploration of Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman’s Presentation of the Rebbe’s Life,” the Seforim blog (14 June 2010), available here (http://seforimblog.com/2010/06/chaim-rapoport-review.html) greatly contributes to the growing study of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement during the latter half of the twentieth century. The Afterlife of Scholarship: A Critical Exploration of Samuel Heilman and…
Shavuah HaSefer: A Recommended Reading List III
Book week just began in Eretz Yisroel. As I wrote in previous years, in Israel, around Shavous time (some times right before some times right after), there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer-book week. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the country in stores, malls and special venues rented out for the sale. There are places where strictly “frum” seforim are sold and other places have most of the secular publishing houses….
Censorship in the Sefer Chofetz Chaim?
Sale: Databases of Hebrew Books
As in past years, in honor of Shavua ha-Sefer, there is a 30% sale on electronic databases of Hebrew books, including Otzar ha-Chochmah ver. 8, Otzrot ha-Torah ver. 6, Bar Ilan Responsa Project ver. 18 and DBS ver. 15. All of which have been upgraded this year, some siginficantly. 30% Sale will be ending on June 13. Purchases can be made in installments. For more information please contact Moshie Flohr at (732) 363-4941 or (917) 456-7855. Shipping, via USPS, is…
Censorship: The Autobiography of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, ADeReT
There are a handful of rabbinic autobiographies, R. Yehuda Areyeh of Modena, Hayyei Yehudah, R. Yaakov Emden, Megillat Sefer, and a few others. One of the more recent rabbinic autobiographies is that of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, otherwise known as Aderet. This work, was first published in the journal, Ha-Peles edited by Aderet’s nephew, Eliyahu Akiva Rabinowitz. Only a portion of the autobiography appears in Ha-Peles. However, the editor did give us the title of this work for posterity. Although…
Review: Bekurim with the Gra’s Commentary
One of the most famous gedolim who lived in the past few hundred years was R. Eliyahu of Vilna, the Vilna goan, or Gra. Gra was known for his expertise in all areas of Torah literature including all of Tanach, Bavli, Yerushlami and the rest of Chazal. Additionally, he was an expert in dikduk, Kabbalah and Halacha. Gra did not print anything in his lifetime; however, shortly after his death, his works began to be printed and have been and…
A Woman's Place Is In The Home
The Sons of Korah declare:כָּל-כְּבוּדָּה בַת-מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה; מִמִּשְׁבְּצוֹת זָהָב לְבוּשָׁהּ. [And see here for various nineteenth and twentieth century references to our titular aphorism, and see this essay.] But is the verse indeed a normative injunction toward modesty, for women in general, or at least Jewish women in particular, as it is commonly understood? And if so, exactly what standard of behavior is being enjoined? Cultural Norms – Twelfth Century Egypt, Twentieth Century Jerusalem and Twenty First Century Kabul Rambam’s…