“Seeing the Infinite in Torah” A Memorial to the Gaon Rabbi Shelomo Fisher (Author of Beit Yishai)

“Seeing the Infinite in Torah” A Memorial to the Gaon Rabbi Shelomo Fisher (Author of Beit Yishai)

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Rabbi Shelomo Yehonathan Yehudah Fisher was born in Jerusalem in 1932 to Rabbi Aharon and Devorah Fisher. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Shelomo Fisher (1852-1932), Rabbi of Karlsburg, Siebenbürgen. Rabbi Shelomo Fisher the Elder, an Oberlander, was a disciple of Rabbi Abraham Samuel Benjamin Schreiber of Pressburg (Ketav Sofer) and of Rabbi Isaac Dov (Seligmann Baer) Bamberger (Würzberger Rav). When Rabbi Fisher assumed the rabbinate of Karlsburg in 1891, it was a Status Quo community. Eventually, he prevailed…

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Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified

Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified

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There had been one practice throughout the Jewish world concerning the Haftara of Vayishlach until the print revolution. The book of Ovadia is the Haftara listed in every Haftara list, including the one in the Rambam’s Seder HaTefillos in the Mishneh Torah, MS Ginsburg Moscow of the Machzor Vitry, Etz Chaim (written in London on the eve of the Edict of Expulsion), Abudarham, and the list of Rabbi Shmuel Hanagid, cited in the Sefer HaEshkol. It is also the Haftara…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Taanis

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Taanis

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Taanis this week. Earlier today I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was for me to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this masechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. A nice amount of the conversation was devoted to discussing if Rashi on Taanis is by Rashi or not. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here and…

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How Dare You Translate Kabbalah!

How Dare You Translate Kabbalah!

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Avinoam Fraenkel’s new book, Shomer Emunim: The Introduction to Kabbalah (Urim Publications, 2021), is a full facing page translation and expansive commentary on Shomer Emunim by R. Yosef Ergas, together with an extensive Kabbalah Overview systematically explaining key concepts of Lurianic Kabbalah in the context of a revolutionary framework of scientific understanding (see here). His previous two-volume Nefesh HaTzimtzum (Urim Publications, 2015), is a full facing page translation and expansive commentary on Nefesh HaChaim together with all related writings by…

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Dr. Samuel Vita Della Volta (1772-1853): An Underappreciated Bibliophile and his Medical “Diploma”tic Journey

Dr. Samuel Vita Della Volta (1772-1853): An Underappreciated Bibliophile and his Medical “Diploma”tic Journey

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I came upon the name Samuel Vita Della Volta through my usual historical pathway, the world of Jewish medical history, and my continued quest for medical diplomas of Jewish physicians from the premodern era. While the lion’s share of the diplomas I have identified come from the University of Padua, there are some extant Jewish diplomas from other Italian universities, including Siena, Rome, and Ferrara. One of two Jewish diplomas I have procured from the University of Ferrara is that…

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Shiur Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber in Brooklyn, 11/1/21 & 11/3/21

Shiur Announcement: Rabbi Yechiel Goldhaber in Brooklyn, 11/1/21 & 11/3/21

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R’ Yechiel Goldhaber will be visiting the United States for a few weeks. The readership of the Seforim Blog is invited to a lecture by the noted author, Rav Yechiel Goldhaber whose respected research and scholarship is well-known to Seforim Blog readers. He will be giving a shiur tomorrow night, Monday, 11/1, at 7:30 PM. The address is at: Rabbi Rabinowitz 1454 54th Street This shiur will be in Yiddish Wednesday night, 11/3, he will be giving a shiur in…

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Rosh Hashana 23b – The Missing Map – Were We Deprived of a Map Drawn by Rashi?

Rosh Hashana 23b – The Missing Map – Were We Deprived of a Map Drawn by Rashi?

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The Mishnah on Rosh Hashana 22b discusses the signal fires which were lit to inform the residents of Bavel of the Kiddush HaChodesh in Yerushalayim. מַתְנִי׳: בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיוּ מַשִּׂיאִין מַשּׂוּאוֹת….. MISHNAH: Initially, after the court sanctified the new month they would light torches on the mountaintops, from one peak to another, to signal to the community in Babylonia that the month had been sanctified. The Mishnah continues וּמֵאַיִן הָיוּ מַשִּׂיאִין מַשּׂוּאוֹת? And from which mountains would they light the torches?…

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Interview with Rabbi Moshe Maimon About his Edition of R. Avraham b. HaRambam’s Peirush on Chumash

Interview with Rabbi Moshe Maimon About his Edition of R. Avraham b. HaRambam’s Peirush on Chumash

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Last year I wrote: The second volume of R. Avraham b. HaRambam’s peirush on Chumash Shemot was released (832 pp.). This new edition was edited by Rabbi Moshe Maimon and was published in a beautiful edition by Machon Aleh Zayis. Last year, Rabbi Maimon published the first volume (678 pp.) I hope to publish very shortly, on the Seforim Blog, an interview with the author where he describes in greater depth his work on R. Avraham b. HaRambam, and his…

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New book announcement: Chochmo Ba’goyim Taamin, By Rabbi Yonason Rosman

New book announcement: Chochmo Ba’goyim Taamin, By Rabbi Yonason Rosman

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I would like to announce a concise new work which deals with some topics that are sure to be of interest to many of the readers of the blog. The sefer is titled Chochmo Ba’goyim Taamin, written by Rabbi Yonason Rosman (182 pp.). The goal of the book is to deal with the famous issue of to what extent has Jewish thought and religion been influenced by foreign cultures? This new work explores the above question with its various controversial…

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Daf HaYomi: Seforim on Masseches Rosh Hashanah

Daf HaYomi: Seforim on Masseches Rosh Hashanah

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Rosh Hashanah this week. This past Monday evening I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this Messechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here or here. It’s only half an hour long. Many aspects could have been discussed at greater length but R….

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In Praise of the Soncino Talmud

In Praise of the Soncino Talmud

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Not long ago one of our local schools hosted a Giveaway day in its library, making many of the older seforim in its considerable collection free to a good home. As expected, the local citizenry plundered and pillaged, carrying off large numbers of books, many still in quite good condition. I was only able to attend towards the end, “after the last of the gleaners had gone.” Only a few scattered Siddurim and Chumashim were left, when I spotted a…

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Which Direction is North?, Geographical Mistakes, and our Woke Universities

Which Direction is North?, Geographical Mistakes, and our Woke Universities

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1. Numbers 34:15 states: “Two and a half tribes have taken their inheritance on the side of the Jordan by Jericho, to the front, eastward.” Rashi comments: קדמה מזרחה: אל פני העולם שהם במזרח, שרוח מזרחית קרויה פנים ומערביות קרויה אחור לפיכך דרום לימין וצפון לשמאל This passage is translated as follows in ArtScroll’s Sapirstein edition: To the Front, Eastward: This means to the front of the world, which is in the east, for the eastern direction is called “face”…

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Zafenat Pane’ah—A Further Example in the Titling of Hebrew Books

Zafenat Pane’ah—A Further Example in the Titling of Hebrew Books

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Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zafenat Pane’ah and he gave him Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, chief of On, for a wife. Thus Joseph emerged over the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:45). Zafenat: Zafenat Pane’ah. This name means decipherer of the cryptic (revealer of secrets). There is nothing similar to pane’ah in Scripture (Rashi). The titling of Hebrew books is a beguiling subject. It has been addressed in several works and I too have addressed the subject in a number of articles….

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Sukkah 4a “What’s Wrong with This Picture?”

Sukkah 4a “What’s Wrong with This Picture?”

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This post is is l’zecher nishmas my uncle and rebbe, Rabbi Sam Genauer ZT”L whose yahrtzeit is the second day of Av. Rabbi Genauer was a talmid of Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik at RIETS. מסכת סוכה ד׳ עמוד א׳ The maximum height of a Sukkah is twenty Amot. The Gemara discusses a situation where the Sukkah is slightly more than twenty Amot high and one builds a raised platform inside the Sukkah. היתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה ובנה בה איצטבא כנגד דופן…

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