Book announcement: Ta’aroch Lifonai Shulchan by Rabbi Eitam Henkin H”YD
By Eliezer Brodt
הרב איתם שמעון הנקין הי”ד, “תערך לפני שלחן: חייו, זמנו, ומפעלו של הרי”ם עפשטיין בעל ערוך השלחן,” הוצאת קורן 413 עמודים
It’s with great pleasure that I announce the second printing of the book Ta’aroch Lifonai Shulchan by R’ Eitam Henkin H”YD, published by Maggid Press. I had the unique privilege to edit this … Read More...
Highlights of the Mossad HaRav Kook Sale of 2019, New Rabbi Tovia Preshel volumes & Beis Havaad Convention
By Eliezer Brodt
For over thirty years, beginning on Isru Chag of Pesach, Mossad HaRav Kook publishing house has made a big sale on all of their publications, dropping prices considerably (some books are marked as low as 65% off). Each year they print around twenty new titles and introduce them at … Read More...
Rabbi Joseph Hertz, Women and Mitzvot, Antoninus, the New RCA Siddur, and Rabbis who Apostatized, Part 1
Marc B. Shapiro
1. In my last post here, in discussing R. Joseph Hertz’s suggested alternative text for Maoz Tzur, I wrote that this suggestion “was simply made up by Hertz or perhaps suggested by an unnamed collaborator on his siddur commentary.” At least one person wondered if I had anything in … Read More...
Three new Books
By Eliezer Brodt
In this post I would like to briefly describe three new works, which are hot off the press. For a short time, copies of these three works can be purchased through me for a special price. Part of the proceeds will be going to support the efforts of the Seforim Blog. Contact me at Eliezerbrodt@gmail.com for more information.
The first title is printed … Read More...
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 … Read More...
The Haftarot for Behar and Behukkotai[1]
By Eli Duker
The old Babylonian practice was to read Jeremiah 16:19 as the haftara for Parashat Behar and Ezekiel 34 for Parashat Behukkotai, and this is attested to in most of the relevant Cairo Geniza fragments. One of them, Cambridge T-S B15.4, aside from also indicating this, is written in the Oriental Hebrew script and vocalized with the Babylonian supralinear system, indicating … Read More...
Reflecting on When the Arukh haShulhan on Orach Chaim was Actually Written: Citations of the Mishnah Berurah in the Arukh haShulhan
Michael J. Broyde & Shlomo C. Pill
… Read More...Rabbi Michael Broyde is a Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law and the Projects Director at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Pill is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish, Islamic,
Towards a Bibliography of seforim related to Shavuos and Megilas Rus (both new and old)
By Eliezer Brodt
Originally written May 24, 2012 -Updated June 3, 2019
In this post I intend to start a list towards a more complete bibliography to the various seforim (new and old) and articles related to Shavuos (including many links). I hope to update it in the future.
When learning the Halachos of Shavuos, … Read More...
The Religious-Zionist Manifesto of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Don Yahya
by Bezalel Naor
In 1901 there appeared in Vilna a 32-page booklet entitled, Ha-Tsiyoniyut mi-nekudat hashkafat ha-dat (Zionism from the Viewpoint of Religion). The author was Yehudah Don Yahya.[1] The final eight pages of the work contain a supplement (Milu’im) by one Ben-Zion Vilner, criticizing the anti-Zionism of the Rebbe of Lubavitch. (One ventures that “Ben-Zion … Read More...
Book Week 2019
By Eliezer Brodt
Book week just began in Eretz Yisrael. Continuing with my now thirteenth year tradition, every year in Israel, around Shavuos time, there is a period of about ten days called Shavuah Hasefer – Book Week (for previous years lists see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). … Read More...
Book Sale 2019
Eliezer Brodt
This Book list of over three hundred and fifty titles, consists of a few sections. I have attempted to put them in some sort of categories to make it easier to use. Most of these titles were printed in the past five to six years and are not found in regular stores.
Just a reminder that the sale from this post is active for another two days (through June 27).… Read More...
Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frommer HY”D: סנגורם של ישראל
A Closer Look At One of the Greatest Defenders of the Common Jew in Modern Times[1]
Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin, Av Beit Din of Kozoglov, Author of Responsa Eretz Tzvi, Siach Ha-Sadeh, Doreish Tov Le’amo[2]
By Alon Amar
הכל מלמדין זכות” – משנה סנהדרין ד:א”
In the fall of 1933, immediately after the death of Rabbi Meir Shapira … Read More...
Towards Decoding Ha-Yeriah Ha-Gedolah (The Great Parchment), A Cryptic 14th Century Italian Kabbalistic Text
By Ezra Brand
… Read More...Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in NYC. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History. His main research focus is currently 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah, and he is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. His previous contributions
On the Times Commonly Presented for Birkat HaL’vana, Part 3
By Avi Grossman
Some time ago, my first article appeared on the Seforim Blog (link). It felt good to join the club.
In the comments section, readers took much more issue with the opinion of Rabbi Bar Hayim that I mentioned at the outset than they did with any of the arguments I myself was advancing, and it … Read More...
Don’t Oppress the Ger
Ben Zion Katz
The Torah in Motion blog by Rabbi Jay Kelman[1] discusses the daily daf as well as the parashah of the week. When reviewing Baba Metzia 59, Rabbi Kelman mentioned that the Talmud stated that there were 36 or 46 places where the Torah commands not to oppress the stranger/convert[2] (ger), but that he was not aware of any list … Read More...
The Anonymous Author of Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna: An Antinomian or a Radical Maimonidean?
By Bezalel Naor
Today, it is an accepted fact in scholarly circles that Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna form a single unit that postdates the main body of Zohar.[1] More than one reader has been scandalized by statements in Tikkunei Zohar and Ra‘ya Mehemna likening the Mishnah to a shifhah or maidservant.… Read More...
Reply from Haym Soloveitchik to the JQR Interview with Robert Brody
By Haym Soloveitchik
Editor’s Note: As a recap of a recent exchange between two scholars on a nuanced debate within medieval Jewish history (see the first footnote), we present this final note by Professor Haym Soloveitchik.
Part One
Dr. Robert Brody advances no new arguments against my thesis in his recent interview at the blog of the Jewish Quarterly … Read More...
Antoninus, R. Moses Kunitz, and Iggerot Malkhei Rabbanan [1]
Marc B. Shapiro
Continued from here
Returning to our discussion of Antoninus, we now come to a figure we have often dealt with in previous posts, R. Moses Kunitz, who for some reason has become much more controversial in recent years than he was during his lifetime.
In his biography of R. Judah ha-Nasi, found at the beginning of the Vilna … Read More...