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Sefer: The Limits of Orthodox Theology

Final Response

Final Response

 Final Response By Marc B. Shapiro In response to Rabbi Herschel Grossman’s strong criticisms of my Limits of Orthodox Theology, I wrote four responses on the Seforim Blog. You can view them here, here, here, and here. I then stopped responding even though there are still many criticisms I could have commented on. Readers can compare Grossman’s arguments with my replies and draw their own judgment. Grossman has recently responded to my posts and offered further criticisms in an article published in Dialogue. See here. I do…

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Response to Criticism Part 4; Rabbi Zvi Yehuda and the Hazon Ish

Response to Criticism Part 4; Rabbi Zvi Yehuda and the Hazon Ish

 Response to Criticism Part 4; Rabbi Zvi Yehuda and the Hazon Ish Marc B. Shapiro Continued from here. 1. In Limits,p. 14 n. 55, I write I should call attention to a significant philosophical and halakhic point which appears to have gone unnoticed. The Vilna Gaon (R. Elijah b. Solomon Zalman (1720-97) apparently believed that the First and Second Principles are the only true Principles in Judaism. According to him, one who believes in God’s existence and unity, despite his other…

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Response to Criticism, Part 3

Response to Criticism, Part 3

Response to Criticism, Part 3 Marc B. Shapiro Continued from here. Let me continue with Rabbi Herschel Grossman’s review. [1] This post will complete my response to around a quarter of his review, so we still have a long way to go. Grossman writes (p. 42) According to Shapiro, “Maimonides would be surprised that . . . later generations of Jews . . . latched onto his earlier work;” and it “is certainly one of the great ironies of Jewish history that…

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Post-Mosaic Additions to the Torah?

Post-Mosaic Additions to the Torah?

Post-Mosaic Additions to the Torah? Marc B. Shapiro In his post here, Ben Zion Katz deals with medieval rabbinic views regarding post-Mosaic additions to the Torah. Katz refers to The Limits of Orthodox Theology, and I have mentioned many additional sources in Seforim Blog posts. (A couple of people have commented that in a few recent publications on this topic it seems that the authors used my writings without any acknowledgment. I would only say that I don’t have a copyright on any…

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Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process

Marc B. Shapiro – Forgery and the Halakhic Process

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…

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Prof. Marc B. Shapiro response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport

Prof. Marc B. Shapiro response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport

In response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport’s recent response to Prof. Marc B. Shapiro’s response to Rabbi Zev Leff (see original review), Prof. Marc B. Shapiro has shared with the Seforim blog his original response to Rabbi Chaim Rapoport from several years ago. ועש”ק פרשת בא תשס”ד לכבוד ידידי אהובי הרה”ג החסיד המפואר, איש חמודות ונדיב לב, אוצר בלום לתורה ולחכמה, מוה”ר חיים ראפפורט שליט”א, אב”ד דק”ק אילפורד יע”אאחדשה”ט באהבה נאמנה תחילה אני מודה למע”כ על טירחתו לכתוב לי ולהעיר על…

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Rabbi Chaim Rapoport on Prof. Marc B. Shapiro and Rabbi Zev Leff

Rabbi Chaim Rapoport on Prof. Marc B. Shapiro and Rabbi Zev Leff

In response to Prof. Marc B. Shapiro’s recent response to Rabbi Zev Leff (see original review), Rabbi Chaim Rapoport has submitted the following letter exclusively posted at the Seforim blog. בס”ד. שלהי חודש תמוז ה’תשס”זלכבוד הרבנים מנהלי ‘בלוג הספרים’, וכל העוסקים במלחמתה של תורה לשם שמים, ה’ עליהם יחיו ויחיינו מיומים בקשר להמחלוקת שפרצה מחדש בין המשפתים, בענין שיטת הרמב”ם ע”ד פעולת השמות הקדושים והטהורים, אף שאינני רוצה להכניס ראשי בין הרים גדולים[1], אבל הנני בזה כמעיר ובא לפני חכמים,…

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Marc B. Shapiro — Response to Rabbi Zev Leff

Marc B. Shapiro — Response to Rabbi Zev Leff

Response to Rabbi Zev Leff by Marc B. Shapiro Rabbi Zev Leff (of Moshav Matityahu) reviewed my book, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised, in the most recent issue of Jewish Action [see review]. I don’t feel that he gave the readers a correct sense of what the book is about. To rectify that, I can only ask people to read for themselves and determine if his portrayal is accurate. For now, I would like to challenge…

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