When Rav Kook Was the Kana’i (Zealot) and His Opponent the Melits Yosher (Advocate)

When Rav Kook Was the Kana’i (Zealot) and His Opponent the Melits Yosher (Advocate)

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When Rav Kook Was the Kana’i (Zealot) and His Opponent the Melits Yosher (Advocate)[1] By Bezalel Naor In 1891, there appeared in Warsaw an anonymous work[2] entitled Hevesh Pe’er,[3] whose sole objective was to clarify for the masses the proper place on the head to don the tefillah shel rosh or head-phylactery. According to halakhah, the tefillah must be placed no lower than the hairline and no higher than the soft spot on a baby’s head (i.e. the anterior fontanelle).[4] In…

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Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post

Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post

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Correction and Apology For an Earlier Post A few months back we featured a fascinating two-part post about newly discovered documents from Rav Herzog’s Archive. One of the discoveries of the post was a document about Meir Kahane written to President Chaim Herzog by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in the summer of 1984 which was surprisingly supportive of Kahane. A careful examination of the document by the family of Rabbi Soloveitchik reached the opposite conclusion. This letter is a crude…

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 2

On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 2

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On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana: Part 2 By Avi Grossman Continued from here The Truth About The Beth Yosef’s Position A while ago I received this from a disputant (I have not edited any of his writing): In the Shulkhan Arukh (chapter 426 paragraph 3) it was ruled that one has to wait till seven days have passed, and the Rema did not override the halachik ruling of the Mechaber (the Shulkhan Arukh). Therefore this is the…

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Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe?

Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe?

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Who Wrote the Late Volumes of Igrot Moshe? By: Moshe Schorr[1] Though this article deals with a factual question, it often seems to devolve into an ideological one. I therefore wish to state: I have no horse in this fight. I have not taken halakhic positions from Igrot Moshe volumes 7-9. I went into this with a genuinely open mind, and in the course of researching this question, I have taken the affirmative and negative sides of this question at different points. Ever…

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Another Obvious Mistake, More Grammatical Points, Bubbe Mayseh, Apostates and the Zohar

Another Obvious Mistake, More Grammatical Points, Bubbe Mayseh, Apostates and the Zohar

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Another Obvious Mistake, More Grammatical Points, Bubbe Mayse, Apostates and the Zohar   Marc B. Shapiro 1. In my last post here I gave an example of an obvious error in a recent book focusing on the letters of R. Kook. I found another example of an obvious error in R. Dov Eliach’s new book, Be-Sod Siah. This is quite an interesting volume as it contains interviews with a number of leading haredi rabbis. I could have an entire post on the material in…

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