The Seforim Blog – Page 94 – All about Seforim – New and Old, and Jewish Bibliography

A Response to Yaakov Rosenes

July 2, 2014 admin Comments 1 comment

A Response to Yaakov Rosenes by Menachem Lazar Menachem Lazar is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, studying applied mathematics and materials science. He has previously served as editor of Beit Yitzchak, an annual Talmud publication of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. In a recent essay at the Seforim blog, Yaakov Rosenes provides a fascinating window into some unfortunate trends in the world of Jewish publishing. In particular, Rosenes highlights how technology has impacted not only how seforim…

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Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri

June 30, 2014 admin Comments 2 comments

The Seforim Blog thanks Ivor Jacobs for sending us this unpublished article by his father. Demythologising the Rabbinic Aggadah: Menahem Meiri by Louis Jacobs Many of the mediaeval Jewish teachers, partly in defence of the Talmud against attack by the Karaites, partly because of their own rationalistic stance, engaged in what Marc Saperstein in a fine study [1] has called ‘decoding the Rabbis’. That is to say, passages, especially in the Talmudic Aggadah, which seemed to them offensive to reason…

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When was the Afar of the Para Adumah lost?

June 25, 2014 admin Comments 0 Comment

When was the Afar of the Para Adumah lost? By Eliezer Brodt A few years ago (2009) for Parshas Chukas I posted a chapter from my sefer Ben Kesseh Le’assur about when was the Afer of the Para Adumah lost. In 2010 I reprinted the chapter with many important additions in my work Likutei Eliezer. Here is the updated chapter as it appears in my Likutei Eliezer. Eventually I will update it even more. For recent footage of a Para…

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Publish and Perish or Digital death

June 23, 2014 admin Comments 32 comments

Publish and Perish or Digital death By: Yaakov Rosenes About the author: Yaakov Rosenes made Aliya from Canada after graduating from Trent Univ. and U of I Chicago Circle. In the 70’s he held various research and administrative positions at Yad HaRav Herzog, Feldheim publishers, and Machon Yerushalayim. In the 1980’s he founded the Judaica Archival Project, a Preservation and Access program for Rabbinics at JNUL. Since the 1990’s the Project has offered bibliographic and book-finding services at www.virtualgeula.com. Introduction:…

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Book week 2014

June 17, 2014 admin Comments 0 Comment

Book week 2014 By: Eliezer Brodt Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. As I have written in previous years every year in Israel, around Shavous time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week (see here, here, here here, here here and here). One should take advantage of this sale as a law was passed recently against sales on newly published books, for the first 18 months after the book was published, except…

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Assorted Comments

June 13, 2014 admin Comments 2 comments

Assorted Comments Marc B. Shapiro 1. In this post I mentioned the strange comment of R. Shabbetai Bass in his Siftei Hakhamim, Exodus 33:13, Moses thought that God was joking with him.[1] A few readers emailed me that in the new Mikraot Gedolot Ha-Maor this passage has been deleted, i.e., censored. Here is how the passage looks in the first edition of Siftei Hakhamim, published in R. Bass’ lifetime.. Here is the passage as it appears in the censored Mikraot Gedolot Ha-Maor. Fortunately, the new…

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