A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten

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A Note on R. Bezalel Alexandrov’s משכן בצלאל and its Prenumeranten By Shnayer Z. Leiman             Not much appears to be known about R. Bezalel Alexandrov (circa 1850-1930). Born in Grodno, he would ultimately come under the influence of the teachings of R. Yisrael Salanter (1809-1883), largely through the efforts of R. Yitzchak Blazer, i.e., R. Itzel Peterburger (1837-1907). R. Bezalel considered R. Itzel to be his primary teacher, especially during the period they both resided in Kovno. R. Bezalel was a close…

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Altering of Rabbinic Texts?, Shlomo Rechnitz and the Eighth Principle of Faith, R. Yair Hayyim Bacharach, the Ridbaz and “Chemistry,” and R. Yitzhak Barda

Altering of Rabbinic Texts?, Shlomo Rechnitz and the Eighth Principle of Faith, R. Yair Hayyim Bacharach, the Ridbaz and “Chemistry,” and R. Yitzhak Barda

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Altering of Rabbinic Texts?, Shlomo Rechnitz and the Eighth Principle of Faith, R. Yair Hayyim Bacharach, the Ridbaz and “Chemistry,” and R. Yitzhak Barda Marc B. Shapiro 1. People continue to send me examples of censorship and altering of texts. If I would discuss all of them, I would have no time for other matters, but I do intend to get to some of these examples. Let me also share an “updating” of a classic rabbinic text that I discovered…

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Blood Accusation in Ragusa (Today Dubrovnik, Croatia) 1622 – A bibliographical mistake

Blood Accusation in Ragusa (Today Dubrovnik, Croatia) 1622 – A bibliographical mistake

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Blood Accusation in Ragusa (Today Dubrovnik, Croatia) 1622 – A bibliographical mistake  Dan Yardeni, an engineer by profession (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 1963), is entrepreneur specializing in cutting edge materials and materials production processes. As a sideline, he researches problems in the history of Hebrew books printing and printers. He also contributes articles to the Culture and Literature sections of Haaretz and other Israeli newspapers. This is his second contribution to the Seforim Blog. במסגרת עבודה על פרשת…

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Strife Between Men

Strife Between Men

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Strife between Men By Rabbi Shnayor Burton This is an excerpt from his forthcoming book [אורות יעקב [דרושים נבחרים על חיי האבות, Oros Yaakov [selected essays on the forefathers].  This essay, entitled ריב בין אנשים (Strife between Men), deals with Lot and Avraham – their own changing relationship and the relationship of the nations descended from them. It demonstrates that the complex treatment of Amon and Moav, and Ruth’s role therein, are rooted in the Sodom narrative, Lot’s connection to…

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Regarding Haftarah on Simchat Torah and the daily obligation to recite 100 blessings

Regarding Haftarah on Simchat Torah and the daily obligation to recite 100 blessings

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Regarding Haftarah on Simchat Torah and the daily obligation to recite 100 blessings Chaim Sunitsky It is well known that Simchat Torah is not mentioned anywhere in the two Talmuds or Midrashim[1]. In fact we have no proof that in the times of Talmud they used to finish the Torah cycle reading on Simchat Torah. The prevalent minhag in the land of Israel was to read the Torah not in one year but approximately in three[2]. In fact it seems…

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Hitzei Giborim, Tzitzit, and R. Meir Mazuz

Hitzei Giborim, Tzitzit, and R. Meir Mazuz

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Hitzei Giborim, Tzitzit, and R. Meir Mazuz Marc B. Shapiro 1. In 1969 the journal Moriah appeared, published by Makhon Yerushalayim. From its beginning, this journal published manuscript material from geonim, rishonim, and aharonim, together with Torah articles by contemporary scholars. This created a model that was later followed by a number of other journals. It also became a model for how to publish memorial volumes, as these generally also contain a section of material published from manuscript. Together with the interest…

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