The Longest Masechta is … By Ari Z. Zivotofsky As Jews, we are often intrigued with trivia about our holy books, and the more esoteric and harder to verify, the better. An example of such trivia is the longest masechta in shas. While it is relatively easy to verify that the longest masechta in terms of pages in the Vilna Shas is Bava Batra, with 176 pages,[1] until modern times it was much more difficult to determine which is the…
Foie Gras “Fake News”: A Fictitious Rashi and a Strangely Translated Ethical Will by Ari Z. Zivotofsky Controversial topics can sometimes lead to contrived sources, i.e. fake news. That is certainly true with the effort by vegetarians to find traditional sources to support their position. In the past I have shown how a booklet claiming Judaism supports vegetarianism was full of misquotes (here here ) and how a “quote” of the Rema was fabricated ( here ). Here I will expose two fake quotes that…
A Fabricated Rema Quotation on Wearing Leather Shoes by Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky The PETA website (accessed Aug 2, 2011) states: “Jews are prohibited from wearing leather on Yom Kippur.” The site continues by stating: “Jewish Vegetarians of North America President Richard H. Schwartz explains “One reason is that it is not considered proper to plead for compassion when one has not shown compassion to the creatures of G-d, whose concern extends to all of His creatures.” (see his website)…
