The Seforim Blog – Page 135 – All about Seforim – New and Old, and Jewish Bibliography

Shemot Hakhamim & Its Ommissions

October 15, 2009 admin Comments 1 comment

על ספר שמות חכמים, קיצור תולדות רבותינו הראשונים, אברהם מאיר וייס, בני ברק, תשס”טמאתעקביא שמש Abstract: A new book, a history of Rabbis and their books from the Geonic and Rishonim periods, Shemot Hakhamim, Kitzur Toldot Rabotenu ha-Rishonim, while attempting to be comprehensive falls short on that account. In particular, the failure of the author to use “academic” works diminishes the value of this book. While A. Shamesh is willing to cede that attempting to read the entire corpus of…

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Eliezer Brodt: Corrections and Clarifications

October 12, 2009 admin Comments 1 comment

Corrections and Clarifications on Two Editions of R. Chaim Berlin’s Responsa: An Egregious Example of Censorship by: Eliezer Brodt From time to time I get feed back about some of my previous posts some good some bad – aside from the standard criticism of poor grammar, editing or transliterating, all of which are my fault entirely. The blog does not have a full time editor (its all on a volunteer basis), and the goal of the editors,…

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Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

October 6, 2009 admin Comments 7 comments

Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship By: Eliezer BrodtA recent book, Mi-pehem, (Bnei Brak,2008), collects interviews that were conducted with various Gedolim. One interview was conducted with Rebbetzin Ginsburg the daughter of R. Yechezel Levenstein. In the course of this interview she described the Simchat Torah celebration at the Mir in Europe:אבל שמחת תורה בישיבה היה משהומיוחד. הנשים עמדו בפינת בית המדרש מאחורי מחיצה, ומחכות בהתרגשות לתחילתההקפות! (מפיהם, עמ’ 199). According to this interview, women in the Mir were behind the…

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Joshua Berman: What Orthodoxy Can Gain From Academic Biblical Studies

September 29, 2009 admin Comments 0 Comment

What Orthodoxy Can Gain From Academic Biblical Studies: The Torah as Political Theory[1] by: Joshua BermanJoshua Berman is a lecturer in Tanakh at Bar-Ilan University and an Associate Fellow at the Shalem Center. He is the author of Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought (Oxford University Press, 2008) which was the National Jewish Book Award Finalist in Scholarship for 2008. In ways that were astonishingly new and counter-intuitive, in ways that served the purposes of…

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Yom Kippur Reading

September 25, 2009 admin Comments 0 Comment

First, we have Eliezer’s post discussing Teffilah Zakah, then we have his review of R. Yedidyah Weil’s Levushi Badim and its implications for Yom Kippur, Prof. Frimmer’s discussion about Sperber’s use of various leincies on Yom Kippur and whether they have broader application, Marc Shapiro’s discussion about the R. Soloveitchik Machzor (its towards the end of the post), a discussion about candles on Yom Kippur, the censorship of the statement that the Besamim Rosh is worthy of being burnt even…

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Kadesheinu beMitsvotekha – The Function of the Mitsva

September 24, 2009 admin Comments 49 comments

Kadesheinu beMitsvotekha – The Function of the Mitsva[1]By Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer* *Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer is the Ethel and David Resnick Professor of Active Oxygen Chemistry at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel; email: frimea@mail.biu.ac.il. He has lectured and published widely on various aspects of “Women and Halakha;” see: http://bermanshul.org/frimer/. Abstract: The mitsva reflects one of the most pivotal concepts of Judaism. It sanctifies those who answer its calling, and the Jew and Judaism is unique and “chosen” because…

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