On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts

On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts

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On the History of the Custom to Announce Upcoming Fasts in the Synagogue on the Shabbat Preceding the Fasts By Ezer Diena About the author: Ezer Diena teaches Science and Judaics at Bnei Akiva Schools of Toronto. After studying at Yeshivas Toras Moshe for two years, Ezer received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and B.Ed. from York University.  He then joined Beit Midrash Zichron Dov of Toronto, where he studied for two years while serving as Rabbinic Assistant at BAYT and…

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Rabbi Steinman and the Messiah, part 2

Rabbi Steinman and the Messiah, part 2

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Rabbi Steinman and the Messiah, part 2 Marc B. Shapiro Continued from here 1. R. Yehudah Herzl Henkin has a different perspective than what we have seen so far.[1] He rejects the notion that “waiting” for the Messiah means that one must believe that he can come at any second, for the Sages already said that the Messiah will not come at certain times. He writes:[2] ובעיקר הענין הרביתי בראיות מן הגמרא שחז”ל לא ציפו שהמשיח יבוא בכל עת Contrary to…

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Forthcoming Genazym Auction

Forthcoming Genazym Auction

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Genazym Auctions is holding an auction on December 8th and browsing the catalog (available here) one can view beautiful photos of various rare books and documents, and learn more about numerous works, events and people related to many different time periods of Jewish History from all walks of life. Just to highlight some of the items: The first lot is a complete set of the Hanau 1610 edition of the Arba’ah Turim, with an illustrated frontispiece. There are two very…

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Jacob’s Dream: Reproducing a Talismanic Illustrated Title Page

Jacob’s Dream: Reproducing a Talismanic Illustrated Title Page

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Jacob’s Dream: Reproducing a Talismanic Illustrated Title Page (Illustrations are from the following sources: the Edut Be Yosef, Rabot, Shivim Tekunei Zohar, and Yefeh Anaf are from the Gross Family Collection.  The Minhat Shai is from Dan Rabinowitz’s personal collection, and the rest are courtesy of the internet.) One of the earliest examples of Jewish art are the biblical paintings at the Dura Europos Synagogue, completed in 244-5 C.E. Among those images is that of Jacob’s dream. The importance of…

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Pandemic Bibliopenia: A Preliminary Report of Disease Eradication

Pandemic Bibliopenia: A Preliminary Report of Disease Eradication

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אין חכמת אדם מגעת אלא עד מקום שספריו מגיעין[1]1 ר‘ יצחק קנפנטון (ואין ספריו מגיעין בשעת המגיפה[2]) Pandemic Bibliopenia:[3] A Preliminary Report of Disease Eradication Rabbi Edward Reichman, MD The number of seforim written during, about or related to the Covid 19 pandemic continues to grow at breakneck speed.[4] What has largely gone unnoticed among the other unprecedented aspects of this pandemic, is that since the development of the printing press, we have not seen so much quality rabbinic literature…

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Book Sale 2020

Book Sale 2020

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Book Sale 2020 By  Eliezer Brodt This Book list of over four hundred titles, and consists of a few sections. The first batch are some of the works that were printed in the past year. Almost all the books are either brand new or in good shape. Email your order to eliezerbrodt@gmail.com. I will than send you a bill based on what is available. Payment is with Pay Pal, but other arrangements can be made. Shipping is not included in…

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