Moshe Idel — Kabbalistic Manuscripts in the Vatican Library

Moshe Idel — Kabbalistic Manuscripts in the Vatican Library

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Professor Moshe Idel is Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought, Department of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Senior Researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute. This post at the Seforim blog by Prof. Moshe Idel, about Kabbalah manuscripts kept in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Library), is an expansion of remarks delivered at the February 2009 symposium hosted at the National Library of Israel, in Jerusalem, to honor the publication of the catalog by Benjamin Richler, ed., Hebrew Manuscripts in the…

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Tu be-Shevat Sabbatianism

Tu be-Shevat Sabbatianism

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See here for our earlier post discussing the potential linkage between Tu be-Shevat (or Tu B’Shevat)customs and Sabbatianism. See here, here, and here for other customs that may have similar likages. And, finally, see here for a collection of articles on Sabbatianism generally.

R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

R. Flensberg, Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs

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R. Flensberg , Donkeys, Antelopes and Frogs Recently, a book, Aggadata de-Ve Rav, Machon Limud Aggadah, Ashdod, 2010, pp. 50, 176, 56, collecting various works attempting to explain the difficult and, on their face, rather odd stories (aggadot) that appear in Baba Batra (73a-74) many of which involve odd animals do odd things.  In addition to these passages, there is another odd passage in Bechorot (7b) which also involves an animal, a donkey also engaging in odd behavior. This passage…

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Review: Or Hayyim Commentary

Review: Or Hayyim Commentary

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ביקורת ספרים: אור החיים על חומש בראשית – הוצאת מוסד הרב קוק[1]מאת: רב צעירביריד הוצאת מוסד הרב קוק בחודש ניסן האחרון ראיתי שיצא לאור חומש עם פירוש אור החיים בצורה ערוכה ומהודרת. עד לחודש ניסן יצא לאור הפירוש לחומשים בראשית, שמות, ויקרא. מכיוון שתכננתי להתחיל ללמוד את פירוש אור החיים לקראת תחילת ספר בראשית השנה, החלטתי לרכוש את הספרים מתוך תקווה שעד ליריד בניסן הבא יצאו שני החלקים האחרונים (שמאז יצאו לאור, ונעיר עליהם בקצרה בהמשך).פירוש אור החיים בהוצאה זו…

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Woe Is Unto Whom?

Woe Is Unto Whom?

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Woe Is Unto Whom?  Christian Censorship of a Sugya in Berachos 3a  (or What Was Bothering the Censor II) By: David Zilberberg  I.        A Censored Text in Berachos 3a The Vilna Edition of Berachos 3a states as follows: אמר רב יצחק בר שמואל משמי’ דרב ג’ משמרות הוי הלילה ועל כל משמר ומשמר יושב הקב”ה ושואג כארי ואומר אוי לבנים שבעונותיהם החרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגליתים לבין אומות העולם The identical statement is cited by R. Yose in…

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What Was Bothering the Censor?

What Was Bothering the Censor?

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WHAT WAS BOTHERING THE CENSOR? by Eli Genauer The invention of the printing press in the 15th century was a great boon for Torah study. Manuscripts which had to be laboriously copied one by one could now be set to type and hundreds could be produced at one time. One of the earliest Jewish treasures to be set to print was the Talmud. Scattered volumes of it were printed in the late 15th century and early sixteenth century, but the…

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