Should we celebrate birthdays or not? Is it better to ignore them?
…from the age of 70 – according to the testimony of his son Rabbi Avraham Pallagi (Tsavaa Mechaim §40 and see also Guinzei Chaim, yud §16). And this is also…
Is there a rotten apple in the Tu-BeShevat Fruit Basket?
…source. See Brodt Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century (PHD Bar Ilan 2015), pp. 68-69. The Mekor Chaim in…
Concerning Athei Merahiq, Nasog Ahor, and the Ravia Mugrash, and More
…receive a gershayim, marked with a geresh, as there can not be a word marked with gershayim immediately following a word marked with a qadma. With this in mind, we…
Names of Seforim I
…Hayyim, Darki Hayyim, U’Baharta B’Hayyim, Zechirah L’Hayyim, Huke’ Hayyim, Hayyim b’Yad, Hayyim V’Shalom etc. (you get the picture). Asided from these we have other books which make reference to something…
Twenty-Five Years at the Valmadonna Trust Library
…mystified us for years by locating another copy. For many years I tried to find the first 10 pages of a Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, di Gara, Venice 1574 for…
Haftaros of Vayetze and Vayishlach – A Mistake Rectified
…this time with Yaakov ben Chayim ibn Adoniya as his editor, and this edition was much more popular among Jews. It is essential an entirely different book, as this editor…
Some Assorted Comments and a Selection from my Memoir, part 2
…Tendler came to campus and expressed his feelings about homosexuality. There was the same outrage when the new campus rabbi said similar things. (Shmuley Boteach or R. Chaim Rapoport would…
Jews, Medicine and the University of Padua A Behind the Scenes Tour of a New Exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Padua November 2, 2022- December 31, 2022
…to the diploma, there are two sets of books on a table under the medallion, all of them labeled with the names of secular authors who were part of the…
The Medical Training and Yet Another (Previously Unknown) Legacy of Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, zt”l
…financial woes, in 1658, Chayim Palacco, another rabbi training as a physician in the University of Padua Medical School petitioned the Jewish community of Padua for assistance in paying his…
Modesty and Piety: Improving on the Past
…allusions to his name – Rapoport. Hida, R. Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, no Reform rabbi, includes an entry on Rapoport in Hida’s Shem HaGedolim (Machret Seforim, Mem, sub. Mincha Belula). …
The Perils of Ignoring Precedent: Alterations in the Kaddish Prayer
…Bokhner see Yitzhak Yudolov, “HaGa’on Rebi Hayim Bukhner Z’tl Mehaber Sefer Or Hadash,” in Birkat HaMazon l’Mh”r Shabbetai Sofer (2002): 274-276. [17] This was noted by Hayim A. Cohen, “Yitgadal…
The Rogochover and More: Excursus on Fasting
…finds support for R. Sharbani’s comment in a responsum of R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, Hayim Sha’al, vol. 2, no. 35:2. R. Azulai cites a few examples where R. Joseph…
Notes on the Book of Samuel, and the Eternal Sanctity of the Temple in Maimonidean Thought
Notes on the Book of Samuel, and the Eternal Sanctity of the Temple in Maimonidean Thought By Rabbi Avi Grossman avrahambenyehuda.wordpress.com Rabbi Label Dulitz, who passed away last week, was…
More on Ma’adane Eretz on Shevi’it
More on Ma’adanei Eretz on Shevi’it Between the ‘Inner Family Circle‘ and the Published Word By Yitzchak Jakobovitz a) In a recent post on the Seforim Blog, Rabbi Chaim Rapoport…
Afikoman – “Stealing“ and Other Related Minhagim
…Yair Chaim Bacharach of Worms writes in Mekor Chaim that there is reason to abolish this minhag. How far back can this minhag be traced, and what is the source…