Book week & The International Book Fair 2017 Updated

Book week & The International Book Fair 2017 Updated

Book week & The International Book Fair 2017 Updated By  Eliezer Brodt Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written the past ten years, every year in Israel, around Shavous 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 and here). Many of the companies offer sales for the whole month. Shavuah HaSefer is a sale which takes place all across the…

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Interesting Legacy Judaica Auction lots

Interesting Legacy Judaica Auction lots

Legacy Judaica is holding an auction on June 13, 2017, and we wanted to highlight a few items of interest (for our previous post regarding the auction house and previous auctions see here.  There are, of course, some old and rare books from the 16th and early 17th centuries (lots 1-7), and over forty manuscripts and a number of letters from rabbinical luminaries, R. Yosef Dov Solovetchik (Beis ha’Levi) (lot 198), R. Yitzhak Ze’ev Solovetchik (Brisker Rav) (lot 199), R….

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Book week 2017

Book week 2017

Book week 2017 By Eliezer Brodt Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written the past ten years, every year in Israel, around Shavous 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 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…

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Translations of Rabbi Judah Halevi’s Kuzari

Translations of Rabbi Judah Halevi’s Kuzari

Translations of Rabbi Judah Halevi’s Kuzari by Daniel J. Lasker Daniel J. Lasker is Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought. He has published widely in the fields of medieval Jewish philosophy, the Jewish-Christian debate, and Karaism. This is Professor Lasker’s third essay at the Seforim blog. On the occasion of the publication of: ספר הכוזרי. הוא ספר הטענה והראָיה לדת המושפלת לרבי יהודה הלוי תרגם…

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ביאור שי’ הגר”א ביחס למנהג העמדת אילנות כו’ בחג השבועות

ביאור שי’ הגר”א ביחס למנהג העמדת אילנות כו’ בחג השבועות

ביאור שי’ הגר”א ביחס למנהג העמדת אילנות כו’ בחג השבועות* איסר זלמן ווייסברג, לייקוואוד איתא בשו”ע אורח חיים (תצד, ג) ברמ”א: ונוהגין לשטוח עשבים בשבועות בבית הכנסת והבתים זכר לשמחת מתן תורה. לשון הרמ”א צ”ב, דאיך מזכירים שמחת מ”ת ע”י שטיחת עשבים בביהכ”נ או בתים? מקור הדברים הוא במהרי”ל (מנהגים) הלכות שבועות: נוהגין להשטיח רצפת בית הכנסת בבשמים של עשבים ובשושנים לשמחת הרגל. ובמעגלי צדק[א]: נהגו לשטוח שושנים ועשבים טובים בביהכ”נ לכבוד התורה. ובמנהגים דק”ק וורמישא (לר’ יוזפא שמש[ב]) ח”א…

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Lag B’Omer through the eyes of a Litvak in 1925

Lag B’Omer through the eyes of a Litvak in 1925

Lag B’Omer through the eyes of a Litvak in 1925[*] By Shimon Szimonowitz Dov Mayani (1903-1952) A Static and Evolving Chag Lag B’Omer has infiltrated Jewish culture as a bona fide holiday. While the day is celebrated throughout the Jewish world, it tends to take on added significance in Eretz Yisrael. This age-old disparity has seen a little easement, probably as a result of enhanced communication between the Promised Land and the rest of the world, but the difference is…

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