Hayyim ben Benjamin Ze’ev Bochner: Kabbalist, Talmudist, and Grammarian
…to “search Jerusalem with lamps” (cf. Zephania 1:12) for all the customs related to Ashkenazim. Many customs are found in the Shulhan Arukh that are not among the customs of…
Rabbi Joseph Hertz, Women and Mitzvot, Antoninus, the New RCA Siddur, and Rabbis who Apostatized, Part 1
…his deathbead, said, “Barukh haba, my revered father, barukh haba, Rabbi Yonatan.”[41] This was understood to mean that he was finally reconciled with his longtime adversary, and explains why they…
Shnayer Leiman – The New Encyclopaedia Judaica: Some Preliminary Observations
…published some 26 volumes of hiddushim on the Talmud and Shulhan Arukh, as well as collections of responsa. c) Academic Scholars. Two of the women listed above, Adele Berlin and…
Saul Lieberman and his Ketubah, Driving on Shabbat, an Unusual Marriage Practice, Girls born on Friday, and More
…Hida, however, the story does not end there. There was another great rabbi in Italy, R. Daniel Tierni of Florence (died 1814), author of the commentary on the Shulhan Arukh,…
Lekah Tov – What’s in a Name?
…that the Shulhan Arukh was, “a work for children and laymen.” Zahalon made several trips as an emissary of the community in Safed to Italy, Holland, Egypt and Constantinople.[10] 1577,…
Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III
Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III by Marc B. Shapiro This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Chaim Flom, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr…
Lithuanian Government Announces Construction of a $25,000,000 Convention Center in the Center of Vilna’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery
…of Be’er Ha-Golah, a classic commentary on the Shulhan Arukh; R. Shlomo Zalman (d. 1788), younger brother of R. Hayyim of Volozhin and a favorite disciple of the Gaon of…
Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History?
…codified in Shulhan Arukh,[15] this would not constitute formal lashon harah.[16] Interestingly, the father of the aforementioned R. Nosson Kamenetsky, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, writes that even this ban, which reaches…
Reuven Elitzur, Saul Lieberman, and Response to Criticism, part 2
…Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 1:1, R. Moses Isserles is citing the Guide of the Perplexed. The Vilna Gaon, who knew the Guide and thus knew the basis of R. Isserles’…
The Vilna Gaon, part 2 (Review of Eliyahu Stern, The Genius)
…the story found in the introduction to the Gaon’s commentary to Shulhan Arukh according to which the Gaon was so involved in his learning that he forgot about his ill son. Rather…
The Illusory Portrait of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller: Deceptive Art and Jewish Images in Vienna
…another Hoogstraten portrait that falls into this category. A 1670 Hoogstraten portrait now in the Jewish Museum in New York was previously associated with Baruch (Bento, Benedictus) Spinoza. This is…
The Rabbi, the Rebbe, and the Messiah
…I[11], and Shukar Kuchayil II[12], and more recently Yisrael Dov Odesser[13], all being labeled one way or another as the Messiah[14]. Despite the characterization of these individuals as the Messiah,…
A Picture and its One Thousand Words: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Vilna Revisited*
…born in Vilna in 1641. His father, R. Hillel b. Naftali Hertz, was the celebrated author of בית הלל (on Shulhan Arukh Yoeh De’ah and Even ha-Ezer), who served on…
Do We Cut Off or Bury One’s Head in the Sand?
…willing to label any perceived enemy of Jews as deserving of the harsh consequences of Amalek. Some of these examples are rather disturbing. After dealing with the Book of Esther…
Le-Tacen Olam (לתכן עולם): Establishing the Correct Text in Aleinu
…(this will be discussed below); 2) ha-kadosh barukh hu was not an appellation for God in Biblical times; and 3) terms are found in Aleinu that are characteristic of heikhalot…