Aaron the Jewish Bishop
…“R. Israel Lipschutz: The Portrait of Moses,” Tradition 24:4 (Summer 1989): pp. 91-98 (available here). See also the important chapter on this subject in R’ Shmuel Ashkenazi, Alpha Beita Kadmeysuh,…
The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay
…שר הפנים””. Here is an article written on this topic by R’ Shmuel Ashkenazi written in 1944 (!) under one of his pen names: One more point related to this…
New Writings from R. Kook and Assorted Comments, part 4
…would lose this status, an untenable possibility under the circumstances of medieval Jewish life. See ‘Religious Law and Change: The Medieval Ashkenazic Example,’ AJS Review 12 (1987), pp. 205-221. Soloveitchik…
Chanukah Controversies, Customs and Scholarship: A Roundup & Update
…in volunteering]. In the interim, here is a collection of Chanukah-related posts along with some new material: (As an aside, the Seforimblog’s internal style guide uses the Ashkenazic transliteration of…
A Compromise in Halacha – On Menachot 33a
…86a note 6 where he writes …מפני שהפרוש הזה המיוחס לרש״י הוא כנראה מתלמיד הרבינו גרשום מאור הגולה והעתיק ברובו לשון הרבינו גרשום מאור הגולה) Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi (the author…
The Ze’enah –Re’enah and its Author
…role. This is particularly true in the Ashkenazi tradition and is evidenced by the paucity of commentaries on the Prophets and Writings. The great exception is Rashi, whose commentary encompasses…
“Research Refutes Thesis of Unified Diaspora in Ancient Jewry”
…from the spiritual center in Jerusalem, and eventually melded into their host culture. This is very significant for medieval Jewish history, especially those interested in the roots of Ashkenazic halakhah….
Mishloach Manot of Rabbis and Scholars
…authority of Ashkenazi Jewry served as rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva in Cracow. In 1556 he was forced to leave Cracow because a plague ravaged the city. He moved temporarily to…
Twenty-Five Years at the Valmadonna Trust Library
…vast ranges of small liturgies of many different rites – Italian, Spanish, Roman, Ashkenazic, Aleppo, Karaite – sitting chronologically on shelves in beautiful bindings. Another area was devoted to Bibles…
Zvi Hirsch Masliansky: Memoirs from the Hebrew Periodical Ha-Doar
…illustrious family were the Lurias, descendants of Rabbi Shlomo Luria (the MaHaRSHaL) or of the Holy Ari [the mystic Rabbi Yitzhak Luria Ashkenazi.] They excelled in both looks and character,…
Can A Segulah Free an Agunah? Jewish Beliefs and Practices for Locating a Drowned Body
…quickly drawn. [12] Beis Dovid, Rabbi Dovid Tebal Ben Yaakov Ashkenazi, Wilhermsdorf, Pg. 31. [13] R’ Shimon Ben R’ Meir, Over Orach, Lemberg 1865, pg. 8. The Sefer Over Orach…
Rosh Hashana 23b – The Missing Map – Were We Deprived of a Map Drawn by Rashi?
…who wrote this commentary while he was in Chevron. He states that his two main teachers were Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi (the author of Shita Mekubetzet) and Rav Chaim Vital. In…
Book Announcement: Gabriel Wasserman’s Haggadah
…them have the nearly identical Hebrew text. Yes, Ashkenazic haggadot have a few songs at the end that are not in most Sephardic haggadot, and some Sephardic haggadot may have…
Abraham Rosenberg, R. Chaim Heller, R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach on Conversion, Abortion, Mercy Killings, and new pictures and videos of R. Jehiel Jacob Weinberg
…of Zelophehad as arguing from halakhic logic. In his derashah for parashat Va-Yera (p. 48), in discussing the descendants of Ishmael, R. Ashkenazi suggests that they held that the law…
Is Tu-beshevat a Sabbatian Holiday?
…or R. Issachar and according to R. Issachar, with numerous errors) he mentions “the Ashkenazim have the custom [on Tu-beshevat] to eat many fruits in honor of the day.” Mention…