Book Announcement: The Lost Library by Dan Rabinowitz
…Chaim Ozer, addressed to the Strashun Library’s head librarian Chaim Chaikel Lunski. Thanks to R’ Dovid Kamenetsky for making it available: One of my favorite stories about the library as…
Evening Prayer Revisited
Evening Prayer Revisited Chaim Sunitsky There is a dispute in Tamud Bavli (Brachot 4b) as to whether one should say Shma with Brachot before or after Shmone Esre during the…
Avunculate Marriage in the Bible
Avunculate Marriage in the Bible By Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) Klein Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of the Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew [available here]. His book is…
Mezuzah Revisited. Parshat Vaetchanan.
Mezuzah Revisited. Parshat Vaetchanan. By Chaim Sunitsky. Rashi on this Parsha (Devarim 6:9) says that since the word Mezuzot is written without the Vav[1], only one Mezuzah is necessary. It’s…
Megilat Rut: The night of Boaz and Rut Revisited
Megilat Rut[1]: The night of Boaz and Rut Revisited By Chaim Sunitsky In a well known story of Megilat Rut, Naomi tells Ruth to bathe herself, put on her [best]…
Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora
Mikva Revisited – Understanding Shabbat 13a-b in light of Parshat Metzora by Chaim Sunitsky (with some additional comments by Marc B. Shapiro) It is well known that when describing the…
Can A Segulah Free an Agunah? Jewish Beliefs and Practices for Locating a Drowned Body
…Ketzon Yosef (grandson of R’ Yosef Yuzpa Han Norlingen),[3] the Taamai Haminhagim,[4] Refuah Vechaim,[5] Rafael Hamalach,[6] Hoach Nafshainu,[7] Mareh Hayeladim,[8] Yosef Shaul,[9] and the Segulas Yisroel.[10] This amazing segulah is…
Will The Real First American Jews Please Stand Up?: A Review of Machon Yerushalayim’s New Book About the Jews of Recife
…research is very good. Aside from providing a history of R. Aboab and Recife, this work contains Torah from R. Aboab. The most important is the Machberet Nishmat Hayyim. This…
The Recently Published Photographs of Rav Yisrael Salanter: Real or Imaginary?
…entitledגדולים פון אונזער צייט (New York, 1927),[6] is devoted to biographies of the key persons that he knew personally, such as R. Hayyim Soloveichik, the Malbim, and R. Yisrael Salanter….
Lawrence Kaplan’s review of Eliyahu Stern, The Genius
…Moses Hayyim Luzzatto “who read and appropriated Leibniz’s ideas on theodicy” (38). More significant, “Elijah, Luzzatto, and Leibniz were working with an overlapping set of Kabbalistic and philosophical texts, ideas,…
The Custom of Playing Cards on Channukah
…times people have other needs which apparently cards fulfill. Sources: Rememberings: The World of a Russian-Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 65-66; R. Yosef Hayyim Sonnenfeld, Simlat Hayyim, nos….
Dr. Leiman’s Post – Two Cases of Non-Jews with Rabbinic Ordination
…great Gaonim who lived in the eighteenth century was R. Joseph Teomim (1727-1792) Chief Rabbi of Frankfort on the Oder.[10] His classic commentary on Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim and Yoreh…
Akedah, Art, and Illustrations in Hebrew Books
…is a notable exception. In 1685, the work Pachad Yitzhak was published in Amsterdam. This book, written by Rabbi Dr. Isaac Vita (or Hayyim) Cantarini (see note 1), is about…
Pandemic Bibliopenia: A Preliminary Report of Disease Eradication
…Lev, vol 1, E. H., n. 57, p. 114b Hayyim Biyad n. 79, p. 98a In a letter to Rabbi Hayyim Yehudah Avraham, published in the latter’s Ahi vaRosh[20] Palachi…
Jordan S. Penkower – Some Notes Regarding the First & Second Rabbinic Bibles
…the Latin material. (2) The second Rabbinic Bible was published by Bomberg in Venice, and completed in 1525. The editor of this edition was Jacob ben Hayyim Ibn Adoniyahu (who…