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New Auction Catalog

March 23, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 6 comments

Kestenbaum & Co.’s latest auction catalog for its auction on April 3, 2008, is available online. The auction includes a collection of important bibliography catalogs including, Koheleth David, the catalog of R. David Oppenheimer’s books that eventually went to the Bodleian Libary; Ohel Avraham, catalog of R. Avraham Merzbacher, this catalog was complied by R. Raphael Nathan Nata Rabinowich the author of Dikdukei Soferim; Likutei Shoshanim, the catalog of R. Mattisyahu Straschun’s library (this library in part went to YIVO…

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The Origins of Hamentashen in Jewish Literature (Revisited)

March 18, 2008 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

As Jews, most of our holidays have special foods specific to them; and behind each culinary custom, lays enveiled the reasoning behind them. Shavuot brings with it a vast array of customary dairy delicacies – in some parts of the world, cheesecake is practically obligatory – not to mention different customs in regard to how and when to eat them. Rosh Hashanah in renowned for the different fruits and vegetables eaten as physical embodiments symbolizing our tefillot; Chanukah has fried…

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Purim and Parodies

March 17, 2008 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

Happiness During the Month of Adar and its Discontents More…(drag mouse) Next Tab Forward Page Bottom Toggle Bookmarks Close Tab Back Page top The month of Adar begins a time of joy, as the mishna says “mi shenechnas Adar marbim b’simcha.” Interestingly, it’s been noted here that this halacha is not codified by either the Rambam or Shulchan Orach. R. Yissachar Tamar in his classic work on Yerushalmi, Ali Tamar, notes that some have suggested that this is the reason…

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Elliott Horowitz — “Between Hebron and Jerusalem”

March 16, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 0 Comment

offered his review of Elliott Horowitz (of Bar-Ilan University and co-editor of Jewish Quarterly Review), Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton University Press, 2006) — available here — and this past shabbat at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Horowitz delivered a lecture entitled “Was the Massacre at Mercaz Ha-Rav Committed by Amalekites?” For those who missed this lecture (myself included), you can read his “Between Hebron and Jerusalem,” posted at JewSchool.com,…

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mikhtav berakha from Rav Avraham Shapira to Rav Yitzchak Dadon’s Atchalta Hee

March 11, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 0 Comment

As mentioned at the Michtavim blog, forty-year-old Rav Yitzchak Dadon, shlita, was the first to shoot at the terrorist following the massacre last week at Yeshivat Mercaz Ha-Rav in Jerusalem. Rav Dadon studied for many years at Yeshivat Mercaz Ha-Rav and is the author of over a half-dozen seforim, including the very-celebrated and landmark two-volume set, Atchalta Hee (2005 and 2007), on the relationship between Zionism of religious leaders from the Ashkenaz and Sefaradic communities to Zionism and the establishment…

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Jordan S. Penkower – Some Notes Regarding the First & Second Rabbinic Bibles

March 5, 2008 Jordan S. Penkower Comments 24 comments

Dr. Jordan S. Penkower is an associate professor in the Bible Department at Bar Ilan University, and has written extensively on the development of the printed Hebrew Bible. This is his first contribution to the Seforim blog. In response to the post at the Seforim blog regarding the Pinner Talmud, a correction is in order regarding the first two Rabbinic Bibles (both now available online – see below). The post states In fact, this would not be the first time…

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David Glasner — Responses to Comments and Elaborations

March 2, 2008 David Glasner Comments 0 Comment

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…

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Shnayer Leiman – Some Notes on the Pinner Affair

February 25, 2008 Shnayer Leiman Comments 1 comment

Kudos to Dan Rabinowitz for his informative account of the Pinner affair and, more importantly, for reproducing the original texts of Pinner’s 1834 Hebrew prospectus and the Hatam Sofer’s 1835 retraction. The comments that follow are intended to add to Dan’s discussion. 1. “In his retraction the Hatam Sofer says the text [of his approbation to the Pinner translation] was published in a Hamburg newspaper.” It appears more likely that the Hatam Sofer’s words should be rendered: “I have already…

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Bibliography, Why It’s Important

February 22, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 0 Comment

In Professor Daniel Sperber’s latest book, Netivot Pesikah (Jerusalem, Reuven Mass, 2008), one of the areas he discusses the importance of having an awareness of is bibliography. As Eliezer Brodt noted in his review at the Seforim blog, Sperber provides examples where people have gone wrong due to their lack of bibliographical knowledge. Of course, long before Sperber, the importance of Jewish bibliography was already noted by R. Shabbatai Bass, most well-known for his super-commentary on Rashi, Siftei Hakahmim, but…

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The Hatam Sofer’s Retraction of his Approbation to the Pinner Talmud

February 19, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 0 Comment

Of late, translations of the talmud have become a popular topic. In the history of translations, the translation done by Dr. Efraim Pinner, is an important one for multiple reasons. Among other firsts, the Pinner translation was the first German translation of the talmud. Pinner envisioned a complete translation of the entire talmud but only one volume was produced, a translation meskhta Berachot. This edition contains multiple approbations, there is, however, one approbation does not appear in the book. (A…

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The Saga of Publishing the Works of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner

February 15, 2008 David Glasner Comments 0 Comment

David Glasner, an economist at the Federal Trade Commission, is a great-grandson of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner. This is his first contribution to the Seforim blog. Many readers of the Seforim blog may be interested, perhaps even pleased, to hear about the recent publication of a new volume containing a number of works of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner (1856-1924), chief rabbi (av beit din) of Klausenburg (1877-1923), one of the founding fathers of Mizrahi, author of Dor Revi’i on Hullin,…

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Review of Professor Daniel Sperber’s Netivot Pesikah

February 13, 2008 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

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…

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A Response to Dr. Shapiro: A Defense of the Torah Temimah

February 10, 2008 Y. Lander Comments 10 comments

(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…

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Ofeq Institute and the New (English) Version of the Messilat Yesharim

January 30, 2008 Eliezer Brodt Comments 0 Comment

The Messilat Yesharim, by R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato (Ramchal), is one of the foundational works of mussar. The Gra, among others, praise the Messilat Yesharim. As such, any addition to its oeuvre is important in its own right. The Ofeq Institute* has recently published an English translation of an alternative version of the Messilat Yesharim. This version is fundamentally different than the standard edition of Messilat Yesharim. The standard edition is divided into chapters based upon various character traits. The…

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Mayim Hayyim, the Baal Shem Tov, and R. Meir the son of R. Jacob Emden

January 29, 2008 Dan Rabinowitz Comments 2 comments

Sources contemporary to the Baal Shem Tov that attest to his deeds, or that even discuss him at all, are sparse. Although some secular sources, including tax records and other documents, have recently been unearthed by academic researchers, there is a paucity of Jewish texts. Most of the “historical” record regarding the Baal Shem Tov comes from a collection of stories, Shivhei Ha-Besht. That work, however, was collected much later and is less reliable than others when assessing the Baal…

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