The Seforim Blog – Page 77 – All about Seforim – New and Old, and Jewish Bibliography

Avunculate Marriage in the Bible

October 25, 2015 admin Comments 0 Comment

Avunculate Marriage in the Bible By Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) Klein Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of the Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew [available here]. His book is available online and in bookstores throughout the world. Rabbi Klein published articles in various journals including Jewish Bible Quarterly, Kovetz Hamaor, Kovetz Chitzei Gibborim, and Kovetz Kol HaTorah. He studied at premier Yeshivas including the Mir in Jerusalem and BMG in Lakewood. He was most recently a fellow at the Tikvah Institute for Yeshiva Men (Summer 2015)…

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Rambam’s Response to the Inclusion of Chicken, Duck and Quail in Qaraite Cuisine

October 22, 2015 admin Comments 57 comments

Rambam’s Response to the Inclusion of Chicken, Duck and Quail in Qaraite Cuisine By Tzvi H. Adams In “Waiting Six Hours for Dairy- A Rabbanite Response to Qaraism” (here) I posited that Rabbeinu Chananel initiated the practice of waiting six hours between meat and dairy in order to protect Rabbanite values. This association was inspired by Dr. Bernard Revel’s studies of Rabbanite leaders’ efforts to counter sectarian influences during the early Middle Ages[1], as well as a shiur by Rabbi…

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Nachmanides Introduced the Notion that Targum Onkelos Contains Derash

October 20, 2015 admin Comments 4 comments

Nachmanides Introduced the Notion that Targum Onkelos Contains Derash By Israel Drazin www.booksnthoughts.com People today read Targum Onkelos and search it for derash, halakhah, and homiletical teachings. The following will show that the rabbis in the Talmuds and Midrashim and the Bible commentators who used the Targum before the thirteenth century recognized that the Aramaic translation only contains the Torah’s peshat, its plain meaning, and not sermonic material. It will survey how the pre-thirteenth century rabbis and scholars used Onkelos…

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R. Zevin, R. Ovadia Yosef, Pras haRav Kook and a Minor Case of Censorship

October 15, 2015 admin Comments 0 Comment

R. Zevin, R. Ovadia Yosef, Pras haRav Kook and a Minor Case of Censorship by Jacob D. At the end of R. Zevin’s introduction to his Sofrim u-Sefarim [1] we read – In R. Zevin’s footnote we see that one of the works that he wanted to review but didn’t yet get to was R. Ovadia Yosef’s two volumes of Yabia Omer. As someone who enjoys R. Zevin’s pen immensely (both his style and substance, especially the way he analyzes…

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Announcement of new works of Rishonim

October 13, 2015 admin Comments 15 comments

Announcement of new works of Rishonim By Eliezer Brodt מגנזי אירופה, כרך ראשון, ההדיר והוסיף מבואות: שמחה עמנואל, הוצאת מקיצי נרדמים, 512 עמודים. I am very happy to announce the publication of an important work which I have been eagerly waiting for, Professor Simcha Emanuel of the Hebrew University’s Talmud department’s volume of texts from the “European Genizah” (volume one). This volume was just printed by Mekitzei Nirdamim and is being sold by Magnes Press. New texts from Rishonim are…

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Please note

October 12, 2015 admin Comments 0 Comment

The Seforim Blog is proud to provide a platform for freewheeling debate in a productive spirit. We do not moderate comments, because there has been no need. While tongues sometimes get sharp, we believe that overall the mood in the comments section has been in the spirit of comaraderie, with our readers and commenters sharing the bonds of a common interest and love of Jewish learning. Recently, to our dismay, the comments section has been transformed to something else. We…

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