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…
Review of James A. Diamond, “Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon” (2014) by Menachem Kellner Menachem Kellner is Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College, Jerusalem, and the Wolfson Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa, where, among many other posts, he served as Dean of Students and Chair of the Department of Maritime Civilizations, and founding director of Be-Zavta, a program in Jewish enrichment. His most recent book is…
R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity By Tzvi H. Adams R. Yitchak Al-fasi (1013 – 1103) lived in North Africa and Spain during the Golden Age of Qaraism. It is quite natural that we find many instances of anti-Qaraite legislation in his writings. Below are four such cases: 1) R. Al-fasi had the shofar blown on Shabbos Rosh HaShanah in his beth din in Fez, Morocco. (See discussion here: here). This ruling and practice baffled many later authorities as it…
The Torah’s Jewish Sense of an Ending: A Yasher Koyach to Moses by James A. Diamond James A. Diamond, Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Waterloo. He is currently a Fellow of the Jewish Philosophical Theology Project sponsored by the Herzl Institute in collaboration with the John Templeton Foundation. His latest book is Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon, published by Cambridge University Press (http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/religion/judaism/maimonides-and-shaping-jewish-canon). This is his first contribution to the Seforim blog. Every…
What Did the Willows Ever Do to Deserve Such a Beating? An Original Explanation for a Perplexing Custom By Steven Weiner Steven had the privilege and good fortune of learning from Rav Aharon Lichtenstein ztz”l and Rav Yaakov Meidan Shlit”a at Yeshivat Har Etzion (1982-83) and prior to that from Rav Yisroel Mendel Kaplan ztz”l and other Rabbeim at the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia. He is currently working on a series of essays on the theme of Shivat Tzion and…
על שיבושי הצנזורה שנמצאים בהדפסות החדשות של התלמוד הרב ברוך אבערלאנדער אב”ד הבד”צ דקהילות החרדים דבודאפעסט ורב דקהילת חברה ש”ס – ליובאוויטש בהמשך לרשימה שהופיעה ב’ספרים-בלוג‘ אודות הצנזורה הנני מפרסם כאן מתוך מה שרשמתי בענין. הצנזורה בתלמוד מאז ‘דפוס באסיליאה’ לפני קרוב לארבע מאות וחמשים שנה, בשנים של”ח-שמ”א, נדפסה התלמוד הבבלי בעיר בזל שבשוצריה. ש”ס זה ידוע בשם ‘דפוס באסיליאה’ של הנוצרי אמברוסיאו פרוביאנו. מהדורה זו נדפסה על-פי ביקורת הצנזור מארקו מארינו, וזה השחית את תוכן המסכתות במאות מקומות. מסכת…