Rabbi Zeira – Forgetting the Teachings of Babylon By Chaim Katz We read in the Talmud (Baba Metziah 85a): R. Zeira, when he moved to the land of Israel, observed a hundred fasts to forget the teachings of Babylonia, [1] so that they should not disturb him. He fasted another hundred times so that R. Elazar should not die during his years and the responsibilities of the community not fall upon him.He fasted another hundred times so that the fire…
The Man who Tried to Put it All Together: A Hesped for Rav Kook on His Eightieth Yahrzeit By Yehudah Mirsky Yehudah Mirsky is an Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University, and the author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution (Yale University Press), available here (link). This is his first contribution to the Seforim Blog. Jerusalem of the 1930s was boiled in fury….
Easing the Donkey’s Burden: Nitkatnu Hadorot or Nitgadlu? By Rabbi Simcha Feuerman “If the earlier generations were like angels, we are like humans. But if they were like humans, then we are like donkeys.” (Talmud Shabbat 112b) One of the basic and fundamental tenets of our tradition is respect and deference for the previous generations. Although there are notable exceptions, generally, rabbinic authorities do not override or disagree with the rulings of authorities from a previous class, such as Amoraim…
Waiting Six Hours for Dairy- A Rabbanite Response to Qaraism By Tzvi H. Adams tzviha@gmail.com Qaraites are a Jewish group that began around 760 CE. They rejected the Talmud and rabbinic Judaism and insisted that Jews only observe halacha as expressed in the literal text of the Torah. “Qaraite” means “Scriptualist”. The movement started in Iraq and Persia by Jews who objected to the authority of the leaders of the Babylonian Talmud Academies, the Gaonim. The Gaonim and their successors,…
Mishloah Manot: An Insight of the Rav zt”l By Nathaniel Helfgot Rabbi Helfgot is Chair of the Dept. of Torah SheBaal Peh at SAR High School and rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ. He has served as editor of Or-Hamizrach and associate editor of The Meorot Journal. He has written and edited a number of sefarim and volumes including Divrei Berakha U-Moed: Iyunim Be-Nosei Berakhot U-Moadim (Yeshivat Har Etzion, 2002), Community, Covenant and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Toras HoRav Foundation, 2005), The YCT Rabbinical School…
Mezuzah Revisited. Parshat Vaetchanan. By Chaim Sunitsky. Rashi on this Parsha (Devarim 6:9) says that since the word Mezuzot is written without the Vav[1], only one Mezuzah is necessary. It’s generally assumed that Rashi can’t argue with a clear Talmudic statement that every door of the house needs a Mezuzah[2] and therefore he can’t be understood at face value. However the custom in many places in Medieval Europe had always been to only affix one Mezuzah per house[3]. We will…