The Date of the Exodus: A Guide to the Orthodox Perplexed [1] by Mitchell First A pdf of this post can be downloaded here, or viewed here. The Exodus is arguably the fundamental event of our religion. The Sabbath is premised upon it, as are many of the other commandments and holidays. Yet if one would ask a typical observant Jew “in what century did this Exodus occur?,” most would respond with a puzzled look. The purpose of this article…
תפילת בית המדרש, התיאטרון הרומי וישיבת הקרנות דוד סג”ל מלבורן, אוסטרליה אף שלתפילה צורות הבעה ושמות שונים[1], הרי עיקר התפילה הוא אחד, והוא מוגדר ע”י הרמב”ם[2] כך: “… חיוב מצווה זו /התפילה/ כך הוא, שיהא אדם מתחנן ומתפלל בכל יום ומגיד שבחו של הקדוש ברוך הוא ואחר כך שואל צרכיו שהוא צריך להם בבקשה ובתחנה ואחר כך נותן שבח והודיה לה’ על הטובה שהשפיע לו, כל אחד לפי כחו”. עיקרון זה מופיע בדברי הרמב”ם גם במקום אחר[3], בו הוא כותב:…
A few years ago I began fundraising to print seforim of Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi. I am happy to announce that finally two volumes were just printed volume one is being sold in stores now and volume two will be released to be sold in stores before Shavos. In earlier posts I have put up some chapters of these new works. In one post I described Rabbi Shmuel Askenazi as follows: One of the hidden giants of the seforim world both…
Using a Colophon to Find a Shidduch by Eli Genauer There has been much talk lately about the so called Shidduch crisis. Various initiatives have been proposed to address this problem, all of which are well meaning and well thought out. Many might be surprised to learn that an interesting approach was suggested by a 12 year old girl in the town of Frankfurt on Oder way back in 1699. This approach was based on a Pasuk in Yirmiyahu which…
The Origin of Ta‘anit Esther By Mitchell First Introduction The origin of this fast has always been a mystery. A fast on the 13th of Adar is not mentioned in the Megillah. Nor is such a fast mentioned in Tannaitic or Amoraic literature. Megillat Ta‘anit, compiled in the first century C.E., includes the 13th of Adar as a day upon which Jews were prohibited from fasting. A widespread view today is that the fast arose as a post-Talmudic custom intended…
New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 3 Marc B. Shapiro Continued from here. As I have dealt in this post with Maimonides and the Genesis story, it is as good a time as any to mention what I believe it to be an error that is repeated very often. I saw it most recently in Nathan Aviezer’s article “When Torah and Science Collide” (Tradition, Fall 2009). He writes as follows: Did God create the universe? Seemingly a…