Some Literary, Scholarly & Halachic Perspectives on Medieval Ash

Some Literary, Scholarly & Halachic Perspectives on Medieval Ash

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Some Literary, Scholarly & Halachic Perspectives onMedieval Ashkenazi Attitudes Toward Martyrdom by Yitzhak of בין דין לדין Prose George Eliot, in Daniel Deronda, depicts the ineffable, exquisite Mirah Lapidoth contemplating her recent abortive suicide attempt: She went on musingly– “I thought it was not wicked. Death and life are one before the Eternal. I know our fathers slew their children and then slew themselves, to keep their souls pure. I meant it so. (George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Chapter XVII) She…

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Jews, Drinking & Kiddush Clubs

Jews, Drinking & Kiddush Clubs

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The popular press, in this case Newsweek, does not always get Jewish practices correct. Newsweek just published a short piece on Jewish drinking and specifically mention “Kiddush clubs.” While the article makes it appear that this is a new problem, (and to be fair, it seems that is what they were erronously told by those they spoke with), in fact, as is almost always the case, ain hadash tachas ha-shemesh – there is nothing new under the sun. First, the…

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All New Posts are at a New Address

All New Posts are at a New Address

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All new posts for the Seforim blog appear at the new address www.seforim.traditiononline.org However, you can still access the old post on this site or, all the old posts, including comments, have been moved to the new site and are accessible there.

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

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More on Ma’adanei Eretz on Shevi’it Between the ‘Inner Family Circle‘ and the Published Word By Yitzchak Jakobovitz a) In a recent post on the Seforim Blog, Rabbi Chaim Rapoport spoke of the extent to which some disciples of the late Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach have gone in order to disassociate their late mentor from the heter mechirah, a procedure that he defended robustly in his work Ma’adanei Eretz. To this end, a censored version of the original work was…

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Meir Hildesheimer – Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Rapha

Meir Hildesheimer – Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Rapha

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On the recent occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888), Dr. Meir Hildesheimer of The Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Cathedra for the Research of the Torah im Derekh Eretz Movement (Bar-Ilan University), delivered a paper entitled “Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch,” at the Jüdisches Museum in Frankfurt (7 June 2008). The remarks below appear with the express permission of Dr. Hildesheimer. Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch by Meir…

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Bitul ha-Tamid: the History and Application

Bitul ha-Tamid: the History and Application

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Bitul ha-Tamid and Edgar Allan Poe* The Mishna in Tannit records that 5 bad events occurred on the 17th of Tamuz, one being the cessation of the daily sacrifice, the tamid.The Talmud Bavli offers the background to the other four events. When it comes to the cessation of the Tamid, all the Bavli does is state “Gemara.” It is left to the Yerushalmi to fully explain the story. The Yerushalmi, (Tannit, 4:5), records thatthe Jews to maintain the tamid worked…

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