Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag

Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag

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The Physical and Spiritual Light of Yom Kippur:Reinstating a Lost Minhag to Enhance the Spirituality of Today’s Synagogue by: Rabbis Aaron Goldscheider & Barry Kornblau* Introduction “Or Zarua la’tzadik – Light is sown for the righteous.” Each year, we begin our Yom Kippur prayers with these repeated, resounding words which Aruch Hashulchan tells us refer to “great matters that are beyond explanation.” If there is one evening of the entire Jewish year when we most seek the great, inexplicable light…

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Two Links of Note

Two Links of Note

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First, just about the entire volume in memory of Dov Rappel is available for free online here. This includes articles by, inter alia, Moshe Halmish, Yosef Tabory, and Stefan Rief. Second, there is a new site which is attempting to compile a complete bibliography of books related to Jewish genealogy here. The site is run by a collector of Jewish genealogy books and hopefully he will be able to satisfy his goal.

History of Eruvin Controversies

History of Eruvin Controversies

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Eruv Online has an excellent series on the history of eruvin controversies. Specifically, the series traces the history over the use of 16 amot to define a reshut haRabbim. The discussion is enlightening in that it would appear that much of what some rely upon today has long been rejected. Furthermore, it is amazing to see how unaware many are of the history of the long-running eruv controversy when wading into the discussion.Additionally, a discussion regarding the Gra’s (and his…

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Machnesi Rachamim – Praying to Angels

Machnesi Rachamim – Praying to Angels

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For those interested in the topic of the permissibility of praying to angels and the controversy surrounding this topic see the post on Machnesi Rachamim and Plagiarism which has been updated a bit and now includes some interesting scans. One scan in particular, the title page, is a case of a very elaborate and somewhat unique illustrated title page. In the next couple of days I hope to return to this topic and debunk a popular explanation regarding a well-known…

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The Custom of Refraining from Meat on Rosh HaShana

The Custom of Refraining from Meat on Rosh HaShana

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What follows is a post from the Seforim blog’s frequent and erudite contributor, R. Eliezer Brodt. This post is an excerpt of a chapter from his upcoming book on the halachos and minhagim of Rosh HaShana. The post below deals with the statement, whose source is from R. Yosef Karo’s maggid, (known as Mishna), to refrain from eating meat on Rosh HaShana. This statement appears to be contrary to an (actual) Mishna in Chulin. R. Brodt hopes to have this…

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