Book Week 2019

Book Week 2019

Comments 2 comments

Book Week 2019 By Eliezer Brodt Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. Continuing with my now thirteenth year tradition, every year in Israel, around Shavuos time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week (for previous years lists see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Many of the companies offer sales for the whole month. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the country in stores, malls and special…

Read More Read More

The Religious-Zionist Manifesto of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Don Yahya

The Religious-Zionist Manifesto of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Don Yahya

Comments 41 comments

The Religious-Zionist Manifesto of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Don Yahya by Bezalel Naor In 1901 there appeared in Vilna a 32-page booklet entitled, Ha-Tsiyoniyut mi-nekudat hashkafat ha-dat (Zionism from the Viewpoint of Religion). The author was Yehudah Don Yahya.[1] The final eight pages of the work contain a supplement (Milu’im) by one Ben-Zion Vilner, criticizing the anti-Zionism of the Rebbe of Lubavitch. (One ventures that “Ben-Zion Vilner” is a pseudonym.) What is remarkable about this manifesto that argues that Zionism is…

Read More Read More

Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old) – updated

Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old) – updated

Comments 5 comments

Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old) By Eliezer Brodt Originally posted May 24, 2012 – Updated June 3, 2019 In this post I intend to start a list towards a more complete bibliography to the various seforim (new and old) and articles related to Shavuos (including many links). I hope to update it in the future. When learning the Halachos of Shavuos, one is struck how the Tur does not mention…

Read More Read More

Reflecting on When the Arukh haShulhan on Orach Chaim was Actually Written

Reflecting on When the Arukh haShulhan on Orach Chaim was Actually Written

Comments 16 comments

Reflecting on When the Arukh haShulhan on Orach Chaim was Actually Written: Citations of the Mishnah Berurah in the Arukh haShulhan Michael J. Broyde & Shlomo C. Pill Rabbi Michael Broyde is a Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law and the Projects Director at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion.  Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Pill is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish, Islamic, and American Law and Religion at Emory University’s Candler School…

Read More Read More

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

Comments 6 comments

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh By Eliezer Brodt One of the most famous forgeries in Jewish literature is the Shu”t Besamim Rosh. This work was brought to print by Saul Berlin in 1793. Shortly after it was detected as a forgery. Over the years the Seforim Blog has featured many essays about this work (here, here, here, here, here, here). For a valuable post about the subject see here. For some very recent work on the BR see the three-part…

Read More Read More

The Haftarot for Behar and Behukkotai

The Haftarot for Behar and Behukkotai

Comments 1 comment

The Haftarot for Behar and Behukkotai[1] By Eli Duker The old Babylonian practice was to read Jeremiah 16:19 as the haftara for Parashat Behar and  Ezekiel 34 for Parashat Behukkotai, and this is attested to in most of the relevant Cairo Geniza fragments. One of them, Cambridge T-S B15.4, aside from also indicating this, is written in the Oriental Hebrew script and vocalized with the Babylonian supralinear system, indicating its antiquity.  Moreover, these haftarot are listed by R’ Shlomo ben…

Read More Read More