Browsed by
Sefer: Besamim Rosh

‘Yikar Sahaduta Dipum Bidatta’ R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Besamim Rosh and the Chida

‘Yikar Sahaduta Dipum Bidatta’ R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Besamim Rosh and the Chida

Comments 20 comments

‘Yikar Sahaduta Dipum Bidatta’ R. Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Besamim Rosh and the Chida Rabbi Moshe Maimon, Jackson NJ Some of the worst epidemics we have known in our history have indirectly been the catalyst for important contributions by scholars who produced their valuable works under quarantine. Eliezer Brodt has published in these pages considerable lists of such scholarship, from bygone plagues down to the current terrible epidemic, which highlight the vast scope of this literary bounty. I recently came…

Read More Read More

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh

Comments 6 comments

Special book offer: Besamim Rosh By Eliezer Brodt One of the most famous forgeries in Jewish literature is the Shu”t Besamim Rosh. This work was brought to print by Saul Berlin in 1793. Shortly after it was detected as a forgery. Over the years the Seforim Blog has featured many essays about this work (here, here, here, here, here, here). For a valuable post about the subject see here. For some very recent work on the BR see the three-part…

Read More Read More

Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its History

Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its History

Comments 3 comments

Benefits of the Internet: Besamim Rosh and its HistoryBy: Dan Rabinowitz & Eliezer Brodt     In a new series we wanted to highlight how much important material is now available online.  This, first post, illustrates the proliferation of online materials with regard to the controversy surrounding the work Besamim Rosh (“BR”).  [We must note at the outset that recently a program has been designed by Moshe Koppel which enables one, via various mathematical algorithims, to identify documents authored by the same…

Read More Read More

Yom Kippur Reading

Yom Kippur Reading

Comments 1 comment

First, we have Eliezer’s post discussing Teffilah Zakah, then we have his review of R. Yedidyah Weil’s Levushi Badim and its implications for Yom Kippur, Prof. Frimmer’s discussion about Sperber’s use of various leincies on Yom Kippur and whether they have broader application, Marc Shapiro’s discussion about the R. Soloveitchik Machzor (its towards the end of the post), a discussion about candles on Yom Kippur, the censorship of the statement that the Besamim Rosh is worthy of being burnt even…

Read More Read More

Books Sale and New Auction Catalogs

Books Sale and New Auction Catalogs

Comments 0 Comment

Henry Hollander Books is having a 50% off sale on selected books. There are a significant number of books on sale, covering many different genres. The catalog is available online and the sale runs through the end of January. There are two auction catalogs online. The first, Asufa, who is having their auction on Janaury 24 is available here. The second, Baranovich, is having their auction on the 23 of January and you need to first fill out a form…

Read More Read More

Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process

Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process

Comments 57 comments

Forgery and the Halakhic Process by Marc B. Shapiro What is the role of academic learning in the determination of halakhah? In particular, I am referring to knowledge which is not available to the posek and which would affect his halakhic decision. This is, of course, a wide-ranging issue of which I will only discuss one aspect here, that relating to forgery. However, since the issue of the Mosaic text and R. Moshe Feinstein is relevant here, and I mentioned…

Read More Read More

The Besamim Rosh’s Son What Can Be Gleaned from an Introduction

The Besamim Rosh’s Son What Can Be Gleaned from an Introduction

Comments 15 comments

Most books, and Hebrew books are no exception, contain introductions. The introduction may lay out the author’s vision for the book, or describe the motivation for publication. Additionally, it is not uncommon to find material which has little to nothing to do with the work which follows. One example, is the introduction to the third edition of the work Or Enayim.[1] This work by R. Shlomo b. Abraham Peniel discusses “the fine attributes of the Jews and the good that…

Read More Read More

The Case of the Missing Books: Besamim Rosh in Berlin and St. Petersburg

The Case of the Missing Books: Besamim Rosh in Berlin and St. Petersburg

Comments 0 Comment

While we have previously discussed how the Besamim Rosh to this day remains an enigma, there are two important texts which may have bearing on this issue. Benjamin Richler has been kind enough to provide additional information about these two sources. We therefore pick up from Benjamin Richler at the Jewish National and University Library: The Case of the Missing Books: Besamim Rosh in Berlin and St. Petersburgby Benjamin Richler There are two sources concerning the Besamim Rosh that researchers…

Read More Read More

The Enigma of the Besamim Rosh – Solved by an Amateur – Not!

The Enigma of the Besamim Rosh – Solved by an Amateur – Not!

Comments 57 comments

It seems that my recent posts on the Besamim Rosh have been placed into the wilds of the internet. Someone, however, took issue with the very notion that the Besamim Rosh was a forgery. He claimed he could demonstrate that the Besamim Rosh was legitimate and solve this problem which has vexed people for the last three hundred years. Not only could he do so, he could do so in under a minute by executing a search on the Bar-Ilan…

Read More Read More

A Bizarre Case of Censoring the Besamim Rosh

A Bizarre Case of Censoring the Besamim Rosh

Comments 0 Comment

In the majority of cases of self-censorship it is fairly easy to surmise why something has been removed. Most typically, it is due to the current writer or publishers either fear of offending their audience or their own ideological sensibilities. Thus, commonly statements, approbations and the like which at the time seemed innocuous, today some may take offense for ideological reasons and thus some people remove them. This, of course, is not to say this justifies such practices but instead…

Read More Read More

Errors in New Kuntras HaTeshuvot

Errors in New Kuntras HaTeshuvot

Comments 0 Comment

As some have already noted, there is a completely new edition of Boaz Cohen’s Kuntras HaTeshuvot. This edition edited by Shmuel Glick totally reworks Cohen’s work. Supposedly this new work benefited from many subsequent bibliographies as well as the Institute for Jewish Bibliography. While this is an vast improvement in my quick read (I only received it today) I was amazed at what this lacked and in my mind errors. The first is for the entry for the Besamim Rosh…

Read More Read More

Besamim Rosh

Besamim Rosh

Comments 26 comments

In the previous post, I mentioned a new book which is a collection of articles by Moshe Samet, who is well-known for his studies of the Besamim Rosh. In the comments section it appeared that some wanted more information regarding the Besamim Rosh. I hope this will answer some of the questions raised and give a more comprehensive background. The Besamim Rosh is a book of reponsa first published in Berlin in 1793. It contained two parts, the teshuvot and…

Read More Read More

Moshe Samet and Manuscripts vs. Books

Moshe Samet and Manuscripts vs. Books

Comments 0 Comment

Manuscriptboy has two very nice posts today. One discusses a new book and various talks connected to the book. The book is a collection of articles by Moshe Samet. Moshe Samet has written some of the best pieces most notably on the Besamim Rosh, the teshuvot that were atributed to R. Asher b. Yehiel (Rosh) but are most likely a forgery and the product of the publisher, R. Saul Berlin. Samet has also written on the R. Moshe Sofer (Hatam…

Read More Read More

image_pdfimage_print