The Fish Motif on Early Hebrew Title-Pages and as Pressmarks
…weak people who get carried away easily and are prone to addictive patterns of behavior. Pisces is known for the holiday of Purim. According to the sages, it will be…
Tracing the history of eating milchigs on Shavuos
…in the intro of the facsimile edition of Mesechtas Purim printed by A. Haberman in 1978; A. Haberman, Toldos Hapiyut Ve-hashira, vol. 2, pp. 142-149; A. Haberman IyunimBshira Ubpyuit, pg…
April Fools! Tracing the History of Dreidel Among Neo-Traditionalists and Neo-Hebraists
…the Purim gragger. The dreidel is activated from the top, symbolic of the heavenly source of the Chanukah miracle. The gragger is turned from the bottom because the catalysts of…
The Ethics of the Case of Amalek: An Alternative Reading of the Biblical Data and the Jewish Tradition
…exegesis, in Kabbalah, in Hasidic literature, and in other modern traditional commentaries; see Eliot Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), pp….
A Knife, Is it A Dangerous Gift for Rosh haShana?
…Purim, Chanuka, and marriage occasions to the Rabbi’s see Zohar Chai, Veyairah, Midrash Hanelam 115. For giving charitable gifts to poor by inviting them over Shabbos night, sponsoring candles and…
Review of Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, Jewish Women in Time and Torah
…Megillat Esther and the Ma’ariv Evening Service for Purim with Commentary from the Writings of Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, (2022). [4] David Hazony (ed.), Essential Essays on Judaism, (2002). [5] Eliezer…
The Jewish Reaction to the Livorno Earthquake of January 27, 1742
…sefer were other tefilot that were instituted to recite in times of distress. This is essentially how the “Purim Sheni” in Livorno was born[3]. Here Eliezer Landshut gives an itemized…
The Rogochover and More: Excursus on Fasting
…Mir (New York, 2014), p. 106, wrote as follows in 1938: Tomorrow [the day before Purim] will be a day of fasting. Here [in the Mir Yeshiva], they are rather…
Lawrence Kaplan’s review of Eliyahu Stern, The Genius
…(Tel-Aviv, 1954), p. 38; and Zikhron Eliyahu (Benei Brak, 1991), pp. 12-15 (part two). For a full discussion, see R. Mordecai Breuer, “Seder Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim,” Pirkei Mo‘adot, Vol.2 (Jerusalem:…
Ancient Jewish Poetry & the Amazing World of Piyut: Interview with Professor Shulamit Elizur
…a ktav yad of a piyut about Purim that describes this very story and explains how Haman’s ancestor was born, which gives us a source from 1,000 years earlier! And…
Elliott Horowitz — ‘The Howling Place of the Jews’
…Bar Ilan University, co-editor of Jewish Quarterly Review, and author of Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), has described Modern Amalekites [here],…
Wine, Women & Song Some Remarks on Poetry & Grammar – Part I
…רבי יהודה הלוי מנוחתו כבוד …[15] We should also note that the Syrians apparently accept the basic tradition of Ibn Ezra’s hand in the composition of the Purim hymn in…
Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi: a Hidden Genius
…century; this fact was discovered by Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi of Yerushalayim. But I found a ktav yad of a piyut about Purim that describes this very story and explains how…
Soloveitchick’s Act of Selfless Heroism, 1785
…indemnity to the Jewish community. Megilat Kovno, a recounting of the story, was read annually on Purim in the old study hall—the first place of prayer established in Kovno.” Referring to…
R. Nathan Nata ben Reuben David Tebele Spira and his Works: Among them Ma’amar Yayin ha-Meshummar, on the Prohibition against Drinking Stam Yeinam (gentile wine), and Contemporary Books on that Subject
…synagogue (6); Sefer Torah and its reading (6); Shabbat and eruvin (3); hamez (5); shofar, lulav, Purim, and fast days (6); forbidden foods (19); yein nesekh and usury (4); hallah,…