On the Plagiarism of a Tach-ve-Tat Chronicle
…edition is exceedingly rare. According to Ya’ari, there is but one complete copy extant. (See Ya’ari, Kiryat Sefer, (16) 1939-40). This edition was published by R. Shmuel ben R. Shimson…
Bein hashemashot: A Reevaluation of the Texts Part III
…from the highest elevations around Jerusalem, Shmuel is consistent at least in a limited sense with R. Yosef but completely inconsistent with Rabbah. at 6 minutes, the opinion of R….
Chapter from Y. S. Spiegel’s Amudim be-Toldot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri (Volume Three)
Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel’s new book has just appeared, as announced here. It is titled Amudim be-Toldot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri: Be-Sha’arei ha-Defus. The Seforim Blog is happy to present this selection from…
The Porto family: Eminent Sages, Scholars, and Prolific Seventeenth Century Authors
…and Zafenat Pane’ah. Concerning that article see Marvin J. Heller, “Abraham Menahem ben Jacob ha-Kohen Rapa mi-Porto (Rapaport) Ashkenazi: A Renaissance Rabbi of interest” Seforim.blogspot.com (March 17, 2021). [3] Several…
New Book Announcement: A critical edition of R’ El‘azar HaKalir’s Piyyutim of Rosh Hashanah, by Shulamit Elizur and Michael Rand
…the festival. A number of these piyyutim are known and recited to this day in Ashkenazi congregations, while others are published here for the first time. Even those piyyutim that…
R. Isaac Arama, R. Kook, Mordecai Kaplan, and more
…in medieval times).[4] Abarbanel also used other writings without acknowledgment, such as R. Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan ha-Bavli’s Tzafnat Paneah,[5] R. Nissim of Gerona’s Derashot,[6] and the medieval work Zekhut Adam.[7] R. Azariah de Rossi even accused…
Eliezer Brodt – A Lively History of Reprinting Rabbeinu Yeruchem
…R. Yehudah Ashkenazi (1780-1849) the work is called Yisa Bracha (available at HebrewBooks.org), printed in Livorno 1822. He authored many famous seforim such as the Geza Yeshai (klallim) (Livorno, 1842),…
Two Books by R. Bezalel Naor, R. Meir Simhah of Dvinsk, Michael Lerner, and More
…the book. Pp. 50ff. Naor cites examples where earlier authorities mention that Maimonides derives halakhot from the Torah,[4] and he notes the dispute about whether medieval Ashkenazic sages independently came…
Legacy Auction, agunot, censorship, and other notable items
…Ashkenazi ‘s Maasei Hashem. The Netziv quotes this work in his commentary on the Sifri (1:243) and in his work on Chumash Bershis (44:34). This was his personal copy: Lot…
Ancient Jewish Poetry & the Amazing World of Piyut: Interview with Professor Shulamit Elizur
…one extra night, which allowed Haman’s ancestor to be born. However, the earliest makor we find in writing in the 16th century; this fact was discovered by Rav Shmuel Ashkenazi…
Ghosts, Demons, Golems and their Halachik Status
…married as intercourse with a demon has no effect. Least one say this is all in the realm of theory or not followed, the Beit Shmuel the classic commentary on…
New Books from Biegeleisen
…and here. Kitzur Nahlat Shivah, Shmuel ha-Levi Segal & Asher Anshel Greenwald, ed. Yehezkel Shraga Shwartz, Beni Brak, 2009, 2 vols., 315, 649 pp. This reprint, done by Otzar ha-Poskim,…
The 93 Beit Yaakov Martyrs: A Modern Midrash
…טִבְחָה”. Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel – or it may be R. Ammi, or, as some say, it was taught in a baraita: Four hundred boys and…
A Gift for Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulay: On R. Yaakov Shimshon Senigallia, author of the Machshirei Pischa haggada, and his relationship with Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulay,‘the Chida’.
…– one containing the Sephardic rite and one containing the Ashkenazic rite. The 1788 edition is the second edition of this haggada and it was published in Livorno (Leghorn) by…
Afikoman – “Stealing“ and Other Related Minhagim
…afikoman that I have located is the illustrated manuscript Ashkenazic Haggadah, known as the Second Nuremberg Haggadah, written between 1450 and 1500. On page 6b, the boy puts out his…