אדם דואג על אבוד דמיו / ואינו דואג על אִבוד ימיו
In the prior post, Yitzhak discussed a phrase and its origins. We now present, a chapter from R. S. Askenazi unpublished works, related to the same topic. As mentioned before…
Review of Mavericks, Mystics, & False Messiahs: Episodes from the Margins of Jewish History by Rabbi Pini Dunner (Toby Press, 2018)
…concluded with a happy ending, as the young couple later reconciled and remarried.) Another chapter focuses on the legacy of the folk-doctor Shmuel Falk (1708–1782), popularly known as the Baal…
Yaakov Mark and Two Episodes from Vilna’s Great Synagogue Related to Yom Kippur
…history are biographies of significant personalities interlaced with historical research and expositions. The first, Shmuel Yosef Fuenn’s Kiryat Ne’amanah, published in 1860, with an introduction and extensive endnotes by R….
More on Chaim Bloch
…Shmuel Aharon. More information about Bilinski’s Jewish roots is found in Chaim Bloch’s Ve-Da Mah she-Tashiv (New York, 1943), p. 74 n. 1. In general, I have found that when…
Visiting Zoos in Halacha
…specifically on the elephant. In Perek Shirah, the elephant says, “How great are Your actions, G-d! Your thoughts are deep.” Rabbi Shmuel Kimchi writes in his commentary to explain this…
Review of a new edition of the Sefer Chasidim
…instead it is from three different people – R Shmuel haChassid, his son R Yehudah haChasid, and R. Eleazer Rokeach (Kitvei R. Avrohom Epstein, vol. 1 pp. 258-261). R. Gutman…
Bein hashemashot: A Reevaluation of the Texts Part II
…Yosef attribute their opinion of the position of the tanna Rabi Yehudah to the opinion of the amora R. Yehudah in the name of Shmuel. Later, the gemara, without any…
The Anatomy of a Mystery: Kohanim, Dissection, and Medical Training Throughout History
…Kohanim physicians and the prohibition of tumah was Rabbi Isaac Shmuel Reggio in 1854.[12] The context of the case was a Kohen physician who was tasked with confirming the death…
David Sassoon, Bibliophile Par Excellence
…A very important acquisition David Sassoon made in Sept. 1923 was the Diwan of Shmuel HaNagid which Oxford University Press published with an introduction by Sasson in 1924. The manuscript…
Legacy Judaica Auction, Cremation, R. Kook, and Other Items
…Shmuel Eidels, Maharsha, and other of R. Yitzkah Alfasi, Rif, which is at lot 54. Rif is depicted wearing robes and a turban with a long white beard. Of course,…
Some Assorted Comments and a Selection from my Memoir, part 2
…a predecessor to R. Akiva Eger as rav of Posen, the Beit Shmuel Aharon, R. Samuel ben Moses Falkenfeld,[16] had a most significant great-grandson, yet he was not Jewish. I…
Romm Press, Haggadah Art, Controversial Books, and other Bibliographical Historica
…95 is Elbona shel Torah, (Berlin, 1929), by R. Shmuel Shraga Feigneshon, known as Safan ha-Sofer. He helmed the operations of the Romm Press in Vilna. During his 55-year tenure,…
Eliezer Brodt: A Censored Work by a Student of R. Hayyim of Volozhin: The Case of Menuchah u-Kedushah
…(as we will see) it seems that he must have been an excellent one. In the recent reprint, R. Shmuel Auerbach writes that the sefer was famous in particular as…
To Censor or Not to Censor, that is the Question
…R. Shmuel Salant and in 1894 emigrated to the United States. He held a handful of rabbinic positions, eventually, in 1906 becoming the chief rabbi of St. Louis. Abramowitz sought…
New Sefer Announcement: The Collected Writings of R’ Moshe Reines
…Yaakov Reines to Berdeshevsky, Shlomo Buber, and Shmuel Finn. All of these letters have never been printed before. Over the course of my research, I discovered that some additional letters…