Rav Kook’s Attitude towards Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal

Rav Kook’s Attitude towards Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal

Comments 58 comments

Rav Kook’s Attitude towards Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal By Rav Eitam Henkin, Hy”d  (Translated into English by Rachelle Emanuel) This article originally appeared in Hebrew in HaMayan 51:4 (2011), pp. 75-90. Today is the yahrzeit of the Rav Eitam and Naama Henkin, who were cruelly murdered one year ago. May Rav Eitam’s important writings, surely with us only thanks to Naama’s support, be an aliyat neshama for both. Hy”d. ·         “It is well known that the person who…

Read More Read More

Jews in Wonderland

Jews in Wonderland

Comments 11 comments

Jews in Wonderland John M. Efron John M. Efron is the Koret Professor of Jewish History at the University of California-Berkeley and author of German Jewry and the Allure of the Sephardic (Princeton University Press, 2016). This is his first contribution to the Seforim Blog. Although an important sesquicentennial anniversary took place on September 5, 2016, few people outside of Berlin, and not even that many there will have paid much attention to it.  As generally happens with selective historical…

Read More Read More

Text Manipulation on the Left – A Recent Incident

Text Manipulation on the Left – A Recent Incident

Comments 0 Comment

Text Manipulation on the Left – A Recent Incident by Yisrael Kashkin We have seen on this blog several posts that cite examples of censorship and text manipulation in literature within the Orthodox community. Generally, the practitioners of this tendentious editing have been described here as being among our brethren from the right wing of the community. However, the act of text manipulation happens as well among our brethren from the left wing. One notable example occurred recently in an…

Read More Read More

The Meaning of the Word Hitpallel (התפלל)

The Meaning of the Word Hitpallel (התפלל)

Comments 73 comments

The Meaning of the Word Hitpallel (התפלל) By Mitchell First[1] MFirstAtty@aol.com It is clear from the many places that it appears in Tanakh that התפלל connotes praying. But what was the original meaning of this word? I was always taught that it meant something like “judge yourself.” Indeed, the standard ArtScroll Siddur (Siddur Kol Yaakov) includes the following in its introductory pages: “The Hebrew verb for praying is מתפלל; it is a reflexive word, meaning that the subject acts upon…

Read More Read More

Torah Under Wraps

Torah Under Wraps

Comments 1 comment

Torah Under Wraps by Yoav Sorek translated by Daniel Tabak Their publications are not allowed to get out. Their roiling Internet forums are blocked by filters. The articles they publish omit the names of professors considered verboten. A cohort of Haredi scholars [1] challenge the academy and their natural surroundings, unafraid to deal with subjects deemed taboo in the yeshiva world. Few Religious Zionists have penetrated this alternative ivory tower, but one of them—Eitam Henkin, may his blood be avenged—succeeded…

Read More Read More

עוד שמועות נדירות, ופנינים וסיפרים מדור שעבר ששמעתי ממו”ר הרב שמרי’ שולמאן שליט”א בעמ”ס באר שרים ועוד, ומשיירי כנסת הגדולה

עוד שמועות נדירות, ופנינים וסיפרים מדור שעבר ששמעתי ממו”ר הרב שמרי’ שולמאן שליט”א בעמ”ס באר שרים ועוד, ומשיירי כנסת הגדולה

Comments 1 comment

עוד שמועות נדירות, ופנינים וסיפרים מדור שעבר ששמעתי ממו“ר הרב שמרי‘ שולמאן שליט“א בעמ“ס באר שרים ועוד, ומשיירי כנסת הגדולה מאת: אברהם י. וילנר Part two Continued from here א] מו”ר נפגש פעם עם רבי דוד קאגאנאוו זצ”ל מבחירי תלמידי רבי איסר זלמן מלצר באירופא, ולימים ר”מ בבית מדרש לתורה בשיקאגא, וסיפר לו שבעת מלחמת העולם הראשונה, הרוסים גייסו אותו להצבא, לכן ברח מרוסיא לאמעריקא, ובדרכו לאמעריקא כשעבר דרך וילנא נכנס לבקר אצל רבי ברוך בער לייבאויץ ששהה שם ביחד…

Read More Read More