Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations on Previous Posts
…segregated from Ashkenazim to the extent that the two are not even permitted to play together. The Shas party has referred to this as nothing less than Apartheid, which it…
Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frommer HY”D: סנגורם של ישראל
…as well corresponding on Torah topics.[11] When the Avnei Neizer passed away in 1910, his son R’ Shmuel Borenstein[12], the “Shem Mi’Shmuel” was crowned the heir to his father’s chassidic…
Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History?
Can Orthodoxy Decide Its Own History? Rabbi Shmuel Lesher The Making of a Godol In his 2004 review of Rabbi Nosson Kamenetsky’s controversy-sparking Making of a Godol,[1] Professor Mordechai Breuer…
Zafenat Pane’ah—A Further Example in the Titling of Hebrew Books
…entitling their books Ẓafenat Pane’aḥ. I Abraham Menahem Rapa mi-Porto (Rapaport) Ashkenazi, Sabbioneta , 1555: Our first title, appropriately enough, is a work on cryptography by R. Abraham Menahem ben…
Comments on This and That, part 1
…in dating the text. Incidentally, R. Moses Isaac Ashkenazi, Ho’il Moshe: Hamesh Megilot ve-Sefer Mishlei (Livorno, 1880), pp. 80-81, states that you can also find some Aramaic words and expressions…
Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its History
…contains some very basic errors, many of which have been pointed out by Shmuel Ashkenazi in his notes that appear after the introduction. Difficulties in Authentication Today, various…
Renewal of the Hakhel Ceremony in Jerusalem and New York
…Motzei Shmitah year for a public reading by the king of certain parts of Deuteronomy.[4] Present at the event at the Kotel were numerous dignitaries, including the Ashkenazi and Sefardi…
The Pros and Cons of Making Noise When Haman’s Name is Mentioned: A historical perspective (updated)
…the Yiddish part he writes he is referring to R’ Heshel Av Beis Din of Cracow. See also R’ Shmuel Ashkenazi’s notes to the Kav Ha-Yosher (1999), p. 23. [77]…
Le-Tacen Olam (לתכן עולם): Establishing the Correct Text in Aleinu
…Review 81 (1990-91), pp. 379-380. Statements that Aleinu was composed by Joshua are found in various Ashkenazic Rishonim. This idea seems to have originated with R. Judah he-Hasid (d. 1217)….
Marc B. Shapiro – Clarifications of Previous Posts
…it is certainly possible for Sutton to reject R. Isaiah, but it becomes very hard to label the practice as nothing less than idolatry when an outstanding rishon justified it…
Ten Commandment Representations in Hebrew Manuscripts & Books: Artistic Approaches to Theological Issues in Judaism
…the entirety of the Torah. For example, many Ashkenazic Haggadahs include the Decalogue scene, typically accompanying the Dayenu, although two include it later in the liturgy. [7] The earliest, known…
Lithuanian Government Announces Construction of a $25,000,000 Convention Center in the Center of Vilna’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery
…and one of the most important in all of Europe. Ms. Kukliansky labels those who disagree with her as “simply uninformed” or having a particular axe to grind. She does…
A Half Slave, Ber Oppenheimer, the Reliability of R’ Shlomo Sofer, and Other Comments
…was a slave-woman in Pumpedisa, with whom men did sinful acts. Abaye said: Were it not that Rav Yehuda has said in the name of Shmuel, that anyone who frees his…
The Illusory Portrait of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller: Deceptive Art and Jewish Images in Vienna
…Aaron Shmuel Kaidanover, author of the Birkas ha-Zevach on Kodshim, is of the Karaite and forger Avraham Firkovich (1787-1875) (Bader 185). It is undoubtedly Firkovich, as it appears in his…
Marc B. Shapiro – Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III
Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III by Marc B. Shapiro This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Chaim Flom, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr…