A Response to Dr. Shapiro: A Defense of the Torah Temimah
…points out that among the sources that R’ Epstein plagiarizes is Maimonides Sefer Hamitzvos. Is it really logical to assume that Epstein intentionally tried to pass of a Rambam as…
New work by Rabbi Stahl
…Rabbi Yakov Stahl was just printed (for reviews of some of his earlier works see here and here). This work is called Segulah (Hard cover, 153 pp.) Sefer Segulah is…
New Seforim, books, random comments and Benny Brown’s Work on the Chazon Ish
…crisis was. In the above mentioned work, Sefer Zichron Degel Machaneh Reuven, they print a hesped given in Bnei Brak by R. Yakov Edelstein, a close friend of R. Elitzur….
Chanukah Customs and sources
…money for the poor (presumably for money to purchase the necessary implements for the Chanukah lights)(Sefer Mataamim) or giving money to ones children’s teachers. (Hemdat Yamim, Chapter 3 Chanukah early…
Review of a Recent work of Rav Zvi Hirsch Grodzinsky
…learning the complicated laws of yayin nessech and it is well worth the money.[3] The sefer is available for purchase at Biegeleisen in the U.S., and at Girsa and Otzar…
Minhagim Books No. 1
…actually a new edition of this book, however, it has some rather glaring flaws. The editor of this edition, [Sefer Tashbetz haKoton, Israel, 2005 Machon Torah S’beketav] states that he…
Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old) – updated
…to Shavuos is the plagiarism of the highly controversial Sefer Chemdas Yamim discussed many times on this blog (see here). Isaiah Tishbi in his various essays where he proves the…
Four Perplexing Words in Rashi
…MiBartenura, in the sefer attributed him called עמר נקא. I expected to see the words “מופתי שנים רבות שלשה” in the portion quoted in עמר נקא but we don’t find…
R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity
…was solidifying that only two daily prayers were required. The Qaraite scholar, Levi ben Yefet, writes in his Sefer ha-Miswot (latter half of the 10th century),II pp. 501-502: הדבור בכמה…
Modena, Gilgul, and an Unpublished Letter
…Shmuel Aboab (1610-1694), author of the Davar Shmuel (as well as Sefer Zikrohonot, discussed here, and Tavat Dovid) was one of the leading rabbis in Italy and Europe of his…
The History and Dating of Onkelos
…a proper translation? Our translation.” The first mention of Targum Onkelos after the Babylonian Talmud does not occur until the seventh century. Sar Shalom in Sefer Shaarei Teshuvah, ed. F….
Daf Yomi: Seforim on Moed Katan, Part Two and Three
…devoted to Avelius as it deals with topics related to death. Part two deals with tracing the sources about this from the Sefer Chasdim, Yosef Ometz and the Chasam Sofer….
Franciscans and More; “Repulsive” Practices; Saul Lieberman, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg
…in R. Hayyim Vital, Sefer ha-Peulot, p. 321, that appears to recommend a blatant halakhic violation. (It is doubly shocking when one remembers how seriously this sin is viewed in…
Where’s Shai Agnon?
…עיסוקיו אינם אלא בתורה שבעל פה בלבד אינו עוסק בתורה שבכתב. נתן הדברים אל לבו ובליל חמישי ישב כל הלילה וחיבר את ספרו על התורה “in the book ‘Sefer, Sofer,…
Waiting Six Hours for Dairy- A Rabbanite Response to Qaraism
…after poultry. One source is in the Sefer Ittur of R. Yitchak ben Abba Mari (c. 1122 – c. 1193). In his discussion of the view of R. Chananel, Ittur…