Tevie Kagan: The Enigmatic R. David Lida

Tevie Kagan: The Enigmatic R. David Lida

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Tevie Kagan works in the Seforim industry. This is his first post for the TraditionOnline Seforim blog. Part I: R. David of Lida and Plagiarism R. David ben Aryeh Leib of Lida (c.1650-1696) is a fascinating and enigmatic figure. He was the rabbi of multiple communities over the course of his lifetime including Lida, Ostrog, Mainz, and the Ashkenazic community in Amsterdam. He was forced to leave Amsterdam under a cloud of alleged plagiarism and possible Sabbatean beliefs; though he…

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Can A Segulah Free an Agunah? Jewish Beliefs and Practices for Locating a Drowned Body

Can A Segulah Free an Agunah? Jewish Beliefs and Practices for Locating a Drowned Body

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Bency Eichorn learns in kollel and, on the side, has been researching about various segulos. For his wedding he authored a book, Simchas Zion, discussing the segulah of keeping the afikomom from year-to-year. The post below is a small part of a much larger project on this segulah and has been adapted for the blog. In light of the recent drowning of Los Angeles’s Naftoli Smolyansky A”H, much discussion has ensued about the segulah performed to recover his body. This…

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Akiva Leiman: Gravely Mistaken

Akiva Leiman: Gravely Mistaken

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R. Leiman teaches high school at the Yeshiva of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland. Additionally, he leads trips to sites of Jewish interest in Eastern Europe. This is his first contribution to the Seforim blog. One hardly need go far to find errors in published materials, but when even moderate research would suffice to unearth correct information lack of such an effort would seem egregious. Jewish burial sites have often been lost: Nazis or indigenous peoples destroyed cemeteries, acid…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III

Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III

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This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Chaim Flom, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr David in Jerusalem. I first met Rabbi Flom thirty years ago when he became my teacher at the Hebrew Youth Academy of Essex County (now known as the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy; unfortunately, another one of my teachers from those years also passed away much too young, Rabbi Yaakov Appel). When he first started teaching he was known as Mr. Flom, because he…

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R’ Orenstein, Author of the Yesuos Yaakov: The Controversy Over Publication of his Works

R’ Orenstein, Author of the Yesuos Yaakov: The Controversy Over Publication of his Works

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R. Y. Dubovick has published many articles on diverse topics. He is currently working on many projects including a critical edition of the Rabbenu Hananel’s commentary on Bava Kama. Additionally, he has published a critical edition of the Mahrashal on hilchot shehita and Yoreh Deah (discussed here ) and R. Dubovick is working on some of the Mahrashal’s other works. As R. Orenstein’s yarhzeit is the 25th of Av, Tuesday, Aug. 26, R. Dubovick provides the following information on this…

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The Modern Custom of Standing for the Ten Commandments

The Modern Custom of Standing for the Ten Commandments

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Many mitvot require that one stand. One of which is reading the Torah. Thus, the ba’al koreh and the person making the blessing stand. When it comes to those who are just listening, there is a debate whether they are required to stand as well. Some hold that the listeners are required to stand while others require the listeners to stand only for the blessings, and finally others don’t there is a nearly universal custom to stand during the recitation…

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Marc B. Shapiro: A Tale of Two Lost Archives

Marc B. Shapiro: A Tale of Two Lost Archives

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I have spent much of my professional life rummaging through collections of documents, mostly in well-kept archives, but sometimes also in hard-to-reach places in basements and attics. Fortunately, I have made some great discoveries in these places, but I will now tell you a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. It begins around fifteen years ago, when I was researching the life of R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg. With the strength that only someone in his twenties has, I traveled…

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Some Literary, Scholarly & Halachic Perspectives on Medieval Ash

Some Literary, Scholarly & Halachic Perspectives on Medieval Ash

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George Eliot, in Daniel Deronda, depicts the ineffable, exquisite Mirah Lapidoth contemplating her recent abortive suicide attempt: She went on musingly– “I thought it was not wicked. Death and life are one before the Eternal. I know our fathers slew their children and then slew themselves, to keep their souls pure. I meant it so. (George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Chapter XVII) She elaborates, several chapters later: Then I thought of my people, how they had been driven from land to…

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Jews, Drinking & Kiddush Clubs

Jews, Drinking & Kiddush Clubs

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The popular press, in this case Newsweek, does not always get Jewish practices correct. Newsweek just published a short piece on Jewish drinking and specifically mention “Kiddush clubs.” While the article makes it appear that this is a new problem, (and to be fair, it seems that is what they were erronously told by those they spoke with), in fact, as is almost always the case, ain hadash tachas ha-shemesh – there is nothing new under the sun. First, the…

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All New Posts are at a New Address

All New Posts are at a New Address

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All new posts for the Seforim blog appear at the new address www.seforim.traditiononline.org However, you can still access the old post on this site or, all the old posts, including comments, have been moved to the new site and are accessible there.

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it

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a) In a recent post on the Seforim Blog, Rabbi Chaim Rapoport spoke of the extent to which some disciples of the late Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach have gone in order to disassociate their late mentor from the heter mechirah, a procedure that he defended robustly in his work Ma’adanei Eretz. To this end, a censored version of the original work was published (bearing the title Kitvei Ma’adanei Eretz), in which Rabbi Auerbach’s endorsement of the heter mechirah as a…

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Meir Hildesheimer – Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Rapha

Meir Hildesheimer – Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Rapha

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of The Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Cathedra for the Research of the Torah im Derekh Eretz Movement (Bar-Ilan University), delivered a paper entitled “Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch,” at the Jüdisches Museum in Frankfurt (7 June 2008). The remarks below appear with the express permission of Dr. Hildesheimer. Historical Perspectives on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch by Meir Hildesheimer 1. Introduction 200 years ago, on June 20th, 1808 Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was born. And this year, 2008 –…

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Bitul ha-Tamid: the History and Application

Bitul ha-Tamid: the History and Application

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Bitul ha-Tamid and Edgar Allan Poe* The Mishna in Tannit records that 5 bad events occurred on the 17th of Tamuz, one being the cessation of the daily sacrifice, the tamid. The Talmud Bavli offers the background to the other four events. When it comes to the cessation of the Tamid, all the Bavli does is state “Gemara.” It is left to the Yerushalmi to fully explain the story. The Yerushalmi, (Tannit, 4:5), records that the Jews to maintain the…

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Forgetfulness & Other Human Errors a New Monography by Marc Shapr

Forgetfulness & Other Human Errors a New Monography by Marc Shapr

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As a religion based on tradition, Judaism places great stock in the words and opinions of its early Sages. This is so to the extent that there is great debate as to whether it is even possible that these early authorities could err. In fact, throughout Jewish literature one can find many areas where people argue for deference based on seniority. For instance, there is an extensive debate on the binding authority, and to what extent, with regard to the…

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Special Subscription Offer to Tradition

Special Subscription Offer to Tradition

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In honor of the adoption of TraditionOnline Seforim Blog, Tradition Online is offering, for a limited time only, a reduced price of $15 for a 1-year, online-only subscription to Tradition. This will entitle you to complete online access to upcoming issues as well as all 50 years of the Tradition archives. To subscribe, simply go to the Subscriptions link on the TraditionOnline.org sidebar, choose the 1-year online-only subscription option at the bottom of the page, and when you get to…

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