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Tag: Historical Oddities

Charles H. Manekin — Moritz Steinschneider’s Indecent Burial

Charles H. Manekin — Moritz Steinschneider’s Indecent Burial

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University of Maryland, College Park / Bar Ilan University Over a century has passed since the death of Moritz Steinschneider, the great orientalist, bibliographer, and historian of Jewish literature and culture. When Steinschneider died in 1907 at the age of 91, he was recognized by many as the greatest Jewish scholar of the previous century. His scholarly output numbered over fourteen hundred publications, ranging from short notices to books of over a thousand pages, a number that does not take…

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Mayer I. Gruber — How Did Rashi Make a Living?

Mayer I. Gruber — How Did Rashi Make a Living?

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Professor in the Department of Bible Archaeology and the Ancient Near East Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel It has long been taken for granted that Rashi engaged in viticulture, which is to say, the cultivation of vineyards and the preparation and sale of wine made from the grapes he cultivated. However, in 1978 the question of how Rashi made a living was reopened by Haym Soloveitchik. Indeed, Soloveitchik asserted: “Indeed the presumption is against anyone being a winegrower…

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

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

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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. This work by R. Shlomo b. Abraham Peniel discusses “the fine attributes of the Jews and the good that…

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Marc B. Shapiro: Obituary for Prof. Mordechai Breuer zt”l

Marc B. Shapiro: Obituary for Prof. Mordechai Breuer zt”l

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Professsor Mordechai Breuer passed away on the twelfth of Sivan, 5767. It is a great loss for the world of Jewish scholarship as well as that of Orthodox Jewry. Breuer, born in Frankfurt in 1918, was the great-grandson of R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, the grandson of R. Shlomo Zalman Breuer, who succeeded Hirsch as Rav of the Frankfurt separatist community, and the son of Dr. Isaac Breuer, the leading theoretician of the Agudah (although the latter’s philosophy would later diverge…

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Eliezer Brodt – A Lively History of Reprinting Rabbeinu Yeruchem

Eliezer Brodt – A Lively History of Reprinting Rabbeinu Yeruchem

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In recent years, a host of critical editions of works on various rishonim have been published on all topics – some seeing the light of day for the very first time – on topics related to halakha, kabbalah, and chiddushim on the Talmud. These works have been made available via the major printing presses such as Mossad HaRav Kook, Machon Yerushalyim, Machon Talmud Yisraeli, Machon Harry Fischel and others. However, one very important work has noticeably been omitted from being…

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Rabbi Eliezer Brodt on Haggadah shel Pesach: Reflections on the Past and Present

Rabbi Eliezer Brodt on Haggadah shel Pesach: Reflections on the Past and Present

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Perhaps the topic which has engendered the most commentary in Jewish literature is the Haggadah shel Pesach. There are all kinds, in all languages, and with all types of commentary, pictures, etc. Whatever style one can think of, not one, but many Haggadahs have been written. So, whether it’s derush, kabbalah, halakha, mussar or chassidus there are plenty of Haggadahs out there. Then, there are people who specialize in collecting haggadahs although they do not regularly collect seforim. In almost…

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A Behind the Scenes Look at the Banning of HaGaon

A Behind the Scenes Look at the Banning of HaGaon

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It appears that at least one controversial book can not escape being criticized even after a significant passage of time. In this case, R. Dov Eliach’s book the R. Elijah, Gaon of Vilna, published five years ago and, at the time, subject to some harsh criticism, is the subject of a new magazine – אמת מול שקר (Truth Against Lies) published by “the Institute for Truth and Faith.” That is, the entire purpose of this magazine is to disproving and…

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Eliezer Brodt: Review of Halikhot Shlomo, by R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Eliezer Brodt: Review of Halikhot Shlomo, by R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

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There is a well known joke which claims that some gedolim have actually been “writing from their graves.” The most famous person to be “guilty” of this charge is R. Moshe Sofer (Hatam Sofer) as he printed nothing in his lifetime and yet we have volumes and volumes of his Torah on literally every area and – to this day – they continue to be published. Obviously, all of this material has come to light through his own notes and…

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Rabbi Adam Mintz: Rabbi Henkin and The First Heter Agunot in America

Rabbi Adam Mintz: Rabbi Henkin and The First Heter Agunot in America

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The tragedy of the agunah, the woman who is unable to receive a get from her husband, has plagued the Jewish people since time immemorial. Rabbis and scholars throughout the centuries have contended with this issue in an attempt to free agunot to remarry. In the United States this issue was first formally addressed following World War I. European Jews soldiers, fighting on both sides of the war, were among those killed in battle. As soldiers are generally young, they…

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R. Avraham ben haGra: A Victim of Plagiarism?

R. Avraham ben haGra: A Victim of Plagiarism?

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In several previous posts at the Seforim blog, I have discussed instances of plagiarism and, in this post, I would like to mention one of the more famous instances of plagiarism within Jewish literature. To be clear, the issues of plagiarism under discussion lack any ambiguity, these discussed are limited to when the entire book is republished with the only difference being the authors name at the beginning. One of the smaller and lesser known Midrashim is one titled Midrash…

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Adam Mintz — The Manhattan Eruv

Adam Mintz — The Manhattan Eruv

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discussed the significant roles of Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in the development of a unique halakhic response to the issue of the mehitzah in the American synagogue, based on a previous lecture delivered as part of his “History of American Poskim” series at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The following historical and halakhic overview of the issues surrounding the Manhattan eruv is based on Rabbi Mintz’s doctoral dissertation, “The Evolution of…

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To Adolf, from Cecil

To Adolf, from Cecil

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During a Sunday afternoon trip to Biegeleisen in Boro Park, I came across 650-page collection of rare letters from the personal collection of R. David Solomon Sassoon (of Jerusalem, Israel) that has just been published in Israel, I hope to discuss this new publication in some detail in the following weeks, however, I did want to first make mention of the 1941 biography of the Sassoon family, written by British scholar and Oxford-trained historian Prof. Cecil Roth. In the short…

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New Book on R. Saul Wahl, King of Poland for a Day

New Book on R. Saul Wahl, King of Poland for a Day

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Dr. Neil Rosenstein, who has already published some rather important works on Jewish genealogy generally, as well as on R. Elijah Gaon of Vilna, has published a new book, devoted to R. Saul (Wahl) Katzenellenbogen. His earlier two-volume landmark work, The Unbroken Chain: Biographical Sketches and Genealogy of Illustrious Jewish Families from the 15th-20th Century, lists in great detail, the descendants of R. Saul (Wahl) Katzenellenbogen. R. Saul is best known for the legend that he became king for a…

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Adam Mintz — Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin: A Forgotten American Posek

Adam Mintz — Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Henkin: A Forgotten American Posek

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is a visiting professor of Jewish History at Queens College and the immediate past president of the New York Board of Rabbis. He lectures widely on a variety of topics in Jewish History and his weekly streaming video entitled “This Week in Jewish History” is featured on the internet at www.rayimahuvim.org. Rabbi Mintz served in the pulpit rabbinate for over twenty years and is one of the founders of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He…

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