New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 3
…a good way to deflect the Christian attacks that the Talmud defamed Jesus. However, I recently saw that Tosafot ha-Rosh, Sotah 47a, in a completely non-apologetic comment, assumes that the…
In Search of Memory:Towards an Understanding of Baladhur
…of the Rosh), R. Yehudah Aryeh (Leon) Modena, R. Hayyim Vital and R. David de Silva (son of the Prei Chadesh). R. Hayyim Vital, besides for providing a recipe for…
Two Jewish Temples in Egypt
…no other authorities do so. The notion of Alexandrian artisans being unable to exactly replicate something from Jerusalem is also found in Targum to Est. 1, which relates that Achashverosh…
Organizing the Mitzvot and the Sefer Ha-Chinukh
…sacrifices. The Chinukh counts the mitzvot to bring a korban musaf on Passover, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret respectively, in Emor (Lev. 23), as they are alluded…
The Princess and I: Academic Kabbalists/Kabbalist Academics
…– the Rosh ha-Shana of The Zohar and Jewish Mysticism that I present here an expanded and annotated translation of Rabbi Menachem Hai Shalom Froman’s poem and pean to his…
Ariel Evan Mayse – Kindler of Hearts and Illuminator of Letters
…piece also known as the “Din Toyre mit Got” (“The Lawsuit with God”). According to tradition, Levi Yizhak had composed the song spontaneously on a Rosh Hashanah as he contemplated…
Mikra Pashut: A New Reading of the Tanakh
…Chaim Sabato (Rosh Yeshivat Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, Ma’aleh Adumim), Rabbi Yuval Cherlow (Rosh Yeshivat Yeshivat Orot Shaul, Tel Aviv), Prof. Haggai Misgav (Hebrew University), Prof. Noam Mizrahi (Head of the…
Maccabean Psalms? (and more)
…הנביאים כתוב לאמר is used in the mussaf of Rosh ha-Shanah, in both the silent amidah and the repetition (two times in each), it is followed by citations from different…
R. Chaim Vital and his Unknown Work Sefer ha-Pe'ulot
R. Chaim Vital and his Unknown Work Sefer ha-Pe’ulot: A Work on Science, Medicine, Alchemy and Practical Magic. by: Eliezer Brodt ספר הפעולות רבי חיים ויטאל, תש”ע, תלט עמודים כולל…
Kol Nidrei, Choirs, and Beethoven: The Eternity of the Jewish Musical Tradition
Kol Nidrei, Choirs, and Beethoven: The Eternity of the Jewish Musical Tradition On April 23, 1902, the cornerstone to the Taharat Ha-Kodesh synagogue was laid, and on Rosh Ha-Shana the…
The Source for the Recitation of LeDovid
This post is a followup of an earlier post which discusses the origins of reciting le-dovid hashem ori from rosh hodesh Elul through Simchat Torah. In this post I show…
Kol Nidrei, Choirs, and Beethoven: The Eternity of the Jewish Musical Tradition
…Taharat Ha-Kodesh synagogue was laid, and on Rosh Ha-Shana the next year, September 7, 1903, the synagogue was officially opened. The synagogue building was on one of Vilna’s largest boulevards…
מנהג אכילת ה’סימנים’ בליל ראש השנה וטעמיו
מנהג אכילת ה’סימנים’ בליל ראש השנה וטעמיו* מאת אליעזר בראדט מנהג אכילת ה’סימנים’ בליל ראש השנה נפוץ ומוכר בכל קהילות ישראל[1]. וכבר נתנו בו רבותינו הראשונים כמלאכים טעמים: בעלי התוספות…
Censorship: The Autobiography of R. Eliyahu David Rabinowitz, ADeReT
…1983 ed. (99) Aderet details how various rabbis/roshei Yeshiva of Mir weren’t completely honest with Aderet. Aderet refers to these persons by name. Jer. ed. (92) removed entirely and replaced…
Daniel Sperber’s New Book – “The Path of Halakha”
…the issue of blowing shofar when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat. While his sources are rather impressive, he misses (on purpose perhaps?) the Mo’adim l’Simcha’s discussion [although he does mention…