In honor of Purim, and in memory of Tovia Preschel, the Seforim Blog is happy to present the following. Mishloach Manot of Rabbis and Scholars By Tovia Preschel Rabbis, scholars and writers used to send on Purim—in addition to the traditional Mishloah Manot—spiritual food to their dear ones: a song, a study, even an entire book, they had written. In this article only a few of such “manot” (“portions”, “gifts”) can be mentioned. Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz,…
The Netziv, Reading Newspapers on Shabbos, in general & Censorship (part one)* By: Eliezer Brodt Previously, I have touched on the topic of the Netziv reading newspapers on weekdays and on Shabbos [here and here]. In this post I would like to revisit the subject, and also deal with some cases of censorship in the Netziv’s seforim.[1] I would like to stress at the outset that this is a work in progress[2] and not intended L’Halacha; each person should consult his own Rav. In 1928, R’…
The Vilna Gaon, part 3 (Review of Eliyahu Stern, The Genius) by Marc B. Shapiro In honor of Sean Penn and Mark Wahlberg, who understand what pidyon shevuyim is all about. Continued from here.Returning to R. Sternbuch’s Ta’am ve-Da’at, vol. 1, earlier in this book, p. 88, we find the following passage. שמעתי ממרן הגריז”ס זצ”ל (הגאב”ד דבריסק) שאברהם אבינו לא היה עצבני וחושש ומפחד שהולך לשחוט בנו יחידו, אלא היה לו הלילה שלפני העקדה ככל הלילות, ולא נתרגש מצווי זה וקם בבוקר לקיים המצוה…
Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger and Warder Cresson by Yirmiya Milevsky Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger (1798 –1871) was a German rabbi and author, and one of the great leaders of Orthodox Judaism. He was born at Karlsruhe and died in Altona. He studied under Rabbi Abraham Bing in Würzburg, where he also attended the university. Because of his well-known greatness as a Torah scholar, questions were sent to him from across the globe. The following question relates to a story that occurred in…
Some Notes on Censorship of Hebrew Books by Norman Roth Habent sua fata libelli (Books have their fate) One of the tragedies of the Inquisition and the Expulsions – both from Spain and Portugal– which has received very little attention is the destruction and loss of Hebrew manuscripts and books. Since the printing of Hebrew books in Spain began many years before the Expulsion, this loss involved printed books as well as manuscripts. Indeed, due to these losses, since only…
A Third Way: Iyyun Tunisai as a Traditional Critical Method of Talmud Study[1] by Joseph Ringel The following is an excerpt from an article with the above title by Joseph Ringel. The full article, including the footnotes detailing the source materials, and the appendix, have been published in the Fall 2013 issue of Tradition (46:3), and is available for purchase at http://www.traditiononline.org/. In recent years, scholars have taken a renewed interest in elucidating the specific methods used to study…