Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

Women, Simchat Torah, and Censorship

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…

Read More Read More

Joshua Berman: What Orthodoxy Can Gain From Academic Biblical Studies

Joshua Berman: What Orthodoxy Can Gain From Academic Biblical Studies

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…

Read More Read More

Yom Kippur Reading

Yom Kippur Reading

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…

Read More Read More

Kadesheinu beMitsvotekha – The Function of the Mitsva

Kadesheinu beMitsvotekha – The Function of the Mitsva

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…

Read More Read More

The Source for the Recitation of LeDovid

The Source for the Recitation of LeDovid

Comments 0 Comment

This post is a followup of an earlier post which discusses the origins of reciting le-dovid hashem ori from rosh hodesh Elul through Simchat Torah. In this post I show a few early sources for saying ledovid and somereasons why some did not say it. For Profesor Leiman’s lecture on thistopic see here. In my discussion of the various reasons given I deal with the various Balei Shem especially the two balei shem who share the same name, R. Eliyahu…

Read More Read More

Psalms on Rosh haShana

Psalms on Rosh haShana

Comments 0 Comment

Psalms on Rosh haShanaby: Eliezer Brodt What follows is a discourse, that is part of a forthcoming sefer, regarding the propriety of reciting Psalms on Rosh ha-Shana.  This discussion touches on the failure to recite hallel on Rosh ha-Shana which, in turn, leads the discussion to the status of simcha (happiness) on Rosh ha-Shana.  We then turn to the custom of reciting the entire Psalms(or, the converse, refraining from any Psalms). And, finally, I discuss generally the debate regarding reciting…

Read More Read More