The Seforim Blog – Page 151 – All about Seforim – New and Old, and Jewish Bibliography

Nancy Sinkoff — Benjamin Franklin and the Virtues of Mussar

March 25, 2008 admin Comments 0 Comment

In response to the recent article by Jay Michaelson in The Forward reviewing two recent works of Mussar – the “New Kabbalah” – Rutgers University professor Nancy Sinkoff has written a letter to The Forward, available below to readers of the Seforim blog. (It has not yet appeared in The Forward.) Related to the letter below, is Prof. Nancy Sinkoff, “Benjamin Franklin in Jewish Eastern Europe: Cultural Appropriation in the Age of the Enlightenment,” Journal of the History of Ideas…

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New Auction Catalog

March 23, 2008 admin Comments 6 comments

Kestenbaum & Co.’s latest auction catalog for its auction on April 3, 2008, is available online. The auction includes a collection of important bibliography catalogs including, Koheleth David, the catalog of R. David Oppenheimer’s books that eventually went to the Bodleian Libary; Ohel Avraham, catalog of R. Avraham Merzbacher, this catalog was complied by R. Raphael Nathan Nata Rabinowich the author of Dikdukei Soferim; Likutei Shoshanim, the catalog of R. Mattisyahu Straschun’s library (this library in part went to YIVO…

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The Origins of Hamentashen in Jewish Literature (Revisited)

March 18, 2008 admin Comments 0 Comment

The Origins of Hamentashen in Jewish Literature: A Historical-Culinary Survey Revisited* By Eliezer Brodt I. Introduction As Jews, most of our holidays have special foods specific to them; and behind each culinary custom, lays enveiled the reasoning behind them. Shavuot brings with it a vast array of customary dairy delicacies – in some parts of the world, cheesecake is practically obligatory – not to mention different customs in regard to how and when to eat them. Rosh Hashanah in renowned…

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Purim and Parodies

March 17, 2008 admin Comments 60 comments

Purim and Parodies by Eliezer Brodt Happiness During the Month of Adar and its Discontents More…(drag mouse) Next Tab Forward Page Bottom Toggle Bookmarks Close Tab Back Page top The month of Adar begins a time of joy, as the mishna says “mi shenechnas Adar marbim b’simcha.” Interestingly, it’s been noted here that this halacha is not codified by either the Rambam or Shulchan Orach. R. Yissachar Tamar in his classic work on Yerushalmi, Ali Tamar, notes that some have…

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Elliott Horowitz — “Between Hebron and Jerusalem”

March 16, 2008 admin Comments 0 Comment

In a previous post at the Seforim blog, Dan Rabinowitz offered his review of Elliott Horowitz (of Bar-Ilan University and co-editor of Jewish Quarterly Review), Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton University Press, 2006) — available here — and this past shabbat at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Horowitz delivered a lecture entitled “Was the Massacre at Mercaz Ha-Rav Committed by Amalekites?” For those who missed this lecture (myself included), you…

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mikhtav berakha from Rav Avraham Shapira to Rav Yitzchak Dadon’s Atchalta Hee

March 11, 2008 admin Comments 0 Comment

As mentioned at the Michtavim blog, forty-year-old Rav Yitzchak Dadon, shlita, was the first to shoot at the terrorist following the massacre last week at Yeshivat Mercaz Ha-Rav in Jerusalem. Rav Dadon studied for many years at Yeshivat Mercaz Ha-Rav and is the author of over a half-dozen seforim, including the very-celebrated and landmark two-volume set, Atchalta Hee (2005 and 2007), on the relationship between Zionism of religious leaders from the Ashkenaz and Sefaradic communities to Zionism and the establishment…

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