Surrounding Independence Day
…Passover falls, Purim falls before it. The final sign, Zayin-Ayin (ז”ע), remains unresolved: there was no holiday whose name begins with the letter Ayin that fell on the day that…
Leket Yosher – A Closer Appraisal in Light of a Recent Controversy
…1456, records that he saw Halley’s Comet [7] (vol. 2, pp. 17-8), R. Isserlein used to tell Torah riddles on the first days of Pesach and Shavous and Purim (vol….
How much Greek in “Greek Wisdom”? On the Meaning of Hokhmat Yevanit
How much Greek in “Greek Wisdom”? On the Meaning of Hokhmat Yevanit by Eliyahu Krakowski In the medieval controversies over the study of philosophy, one of the major points of…
Rabbi Steinman and the Messiah, part 3
…is a mistake, but when reading from the Megillah on Purim it certainly is an error, and one that should be corrected. Some people who are careful readers see that…
Comments on This and That, part 2
…connected to simchah shel mitzvah, such as Purim, a wedding, etc. Concerts are doubly problematic since these gedolim believe that is forbidden to listen to live music when not connected…
Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations on Previous Posts
…question: A rabbi was playing with a young man on Purim and stuck his hands into the pants of the youth. The rabbi claimed that he did so because he…
R. Yitchak Al-fasi’s Anti-Qaraite Legislative Activity
…same date (Jer. 52:4-5). They do not observe the Fast of Esther but celebrate Purim for two days, and on leap years they only observe it in the first month…
Is there a rotten apple in the Tu-BeShevat Fruit Basket?
…On Purim and the 15 of Av and Shevat these were vacation days for the Rabbis, . . . [on the 15th of Shevat] one says tehina even during the…
The Hafetz Hayyim’s Statement on Teaching Torah to Girls in Likutei Halakhot: Literary and Historical Context
…celebration in Purim of 1931 of the school’s tenth anniversary. [6] Yizhak Rafael Ha-Levi Etzion (Holzberg), “The Yavneh Educational System in Lithuania,” in Yahadut Lita (Tel-Aviv, 1972), II, 160-163 [7]…
New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 4
…first alerted me to this (and also expressed his disagreement with the arguments of the author), I thought this was some sort of Purim Torah. But then I examined the…
Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag
…example, Machzor Vitri (Seder shel Yom Hakippurim) describes the formal minhag in his community to kindle lights on Yom Kippur, and provides a Midrashic basis for this custom [the Machzor…
Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books
Cherubim: Winged Celestial Beings on the Title-Pages of Early Hebrew Books by Marvin J. Heller[1] And having driven out the man, He stationed at the east of the Garden…
Marc Shapiro: What Do Adon Olam and ס”ט Mean?
…when did Esther organize three feasts? Everyone who attends synagogue on Purim knows that there were only two feasts. This is what the Arukh ha-Shulhan states: ויהא זהיר מאד לקיים…
Cemeteries and Response to Criticism
…my response (and it looks like it will take many posts before I am finished, unless I first tire of this endeavor). [1] Sipurim me-ha-Hayyim: Kitzur Shivhei ha-Ben Ish Hai…
R. Yudel Rosenberg, R. Mordechai Elefant, and Sexual
…Rebbe), Tzemah Tzedek, Yoreh Deah, no. 237. R. Schneersohn was asked the following question: A rabbi was playing with a נער on Purim and stuck his hands into the pants…