The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay

The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay

Comments 0 Comment

The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: Review essay By Eliezer Brodt and Dan Rabinowitz The Writing on the Wall: A catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from the Valmadonna Trust Library, edited by Sharon Liberman Mintz, Shaul Seidler-Feller and David Wachtel, London-New York: 2015, 320 pp. Jews have been collecting books or manuscripts for centuries. A related category that is collected by fewer is ephemera, including broadsides, documents and letters of historical significance. Of late, a few annual auctions have included some of these…

Read More Read More

Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?

Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?

Comments 1 comment

Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?[1] By Rabbi Akiva Males   I – The Puzzle Kesher Israel (KI) Congregation has enhanced Jewish life in Pennsylvania’s capital of Harrisburg for almost 115 years. During that time, KI has been blessed with outstanding rabbinic leadership: The famed Rabbi Eliezer Silver[2] first headed the congregation from 1911-1925. He was followed by Rabbi Chaim Ben Zion Notelovitz who served KI from 1925-1932. Rabbi David L. Silver (a son of Rabbi Eliezer Silver) led the congregation…

Read More Read More

An Unknown Picture

An Unknown Picture

Comments 9 comments

An Unknown Picture Marc B. Shapiro In the post that went up earlier today, I mention that in the future I plan to share an unknown picture of R. Moshe Feinstein and R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. My intention was to include this picture in a future post, but that could be awhile, so here it is.   It was taken at the wedding of R. Moshe Dovid Tendler’s daughter, Rivka, to R. Shabtai Rappaport. The man on the left is…

Read More Read More

Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures

Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures

Comments 1 comment

Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures Marc B. Shapiro I have found a number of statements by mainstream rabbinic figures that, if one didn’t know better, one would think that they were said by liberal Orthodox figures. For example: ומה אעשה ולבי מרחם על אלמנה [ובפרט בימינו] רחמים גדולים, ואולי אפשר לערער אם אני כשר לדון דין אלמנה, אבל מצד הדין אינני רואה פסול לעצמי. If a liberal Orthodox rabbi made this statement, I think many would say…

Read More Read More

Open Orthodoxy and Its Main Critic, part 1

Open Orthodoxy and Its Main Critic, part 1

Comments 0 Comment

Open Orthodoxy and Its Main Critic, part 1 Marc B. Shapiro Please note: The conversation in the comments, while of importance, does not fit the focus of the Seforim Blog. Anyone who wishes to continue can email Dr. Shapiro or the conversation can be continued on a different website. 1. Those who follow Jewish debates on the internet have probably heard of Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, who has assumed the mantle of defender of the faith. He sees his goal as…

Read More Read More

Bridging the Kabbalistic Gap Nefesh HaTzimtzum by Avinoam Fraenkel reviewed by Bezalel Naor

Bridging the Kabbalistic Gap Nefesh HaTzimtzum by Avinoam Fraenkel reviewed by Bezalel Naor

Comments 1 comment

Bridging the Kabbalistic Gap Nefesh HaTzimtzum by Avinoam Fraenkel Vol. 1: Rabbi Chaim Volozhin’s Nefesh HaChaim with Translation and Commentary Volume 2: Understanding Nefesh HaChaim through the Key Concept of Tzimtzum and Related Writings (Jerusalem: Urim, 2015) Reviewed by Bezalel Naor Recently there has been a spate of English translations of the classic of Mitnagdic philosophy, Nefesh ha-Hayyim by Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin (1749-1821), eminent disciple of the Vilna Gaon. This is perhaps the most glorious—certainly the lengthiest—of the translations,…

Read More Read More