With each subsequent volume of his commentary on the Talmud, Mekorot uMesorot, David Weiss-Halivni has been dating the anonymous portion of the Talmud later and later (see his introductions to the numerous volumes). In the latest volume of Sidra he has posited an even later dating than he has previously claimed. See Yediah for a [...]
At Seforim Dan in the post Haredi Robbers illustrates a clear case of plagiarism. For some on-line resources in Hebrew regarding the question of copyright violation see this article by Nahum Rakover, author of a book-length study of the question. Also this short responsum on the question with some bibliographical references and this series of [...]
It seems that an article by Tzvi Zohar might be causing some controversy. Apparently in the recent issue of Akdamot (see here for a description of the contents of the issue with a short explanation of the decision to publish Zohar’s article) , published by Beit Morasha, he examines the question of pilagshut (“concubinage”). The [...]
J.B., a reader of this blog, recently commented to me that many people often make a common mistake and describe Esther as Mordechai’s niece. This is surprising considering that the verse reads “ויהי אומן את הדסה, היא אסתר בת דדו כי אין לה אב ואם” (“And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s [...]
J.B., a reader of this blog, recently commented to me that many people often make a common mistake and describe Esther as Mordechai’s niece. This is surprising considering that the verse reads “ויהי אומן את הדסה, היא אסתר בת דדו כי אין לה אב ואם” (“And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s [...]
In his post “Purim, Mixed Dancing and Kill Joys” Dan at Seforim mentionned the custom of Worms to continue the Purim celebrations even through the Shabbat after Purim. This Shabbat was called Shabbat HaBahurim-”The Sabbath of the Youth(s)”. The primary source for the description of this custom is from Yuspa Shammash’s book which describes the [...]
Courtesy of Paleojudaica I see that there’s a new blog on the Hebrew language called Balashon. He has a number of posts on Purim-related words.
Here a few reasons as to why we fast on Taanit Esther (I found them conveniently in Torat HaMoadim of David Yosef in the volume on Purim, par. 3, note 1): 1. The verse “And the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives” (Esther 9:16) refers [...]
A few weeks ago I had the chance to look over Herman Pollack’s Jewish Folkways in Germanic Lands (1648-1806). A number of years ago I had seen an article by Pollack but I hadn’t come across any of his writings for a number of years. I enjoyed what I had read of Pollack’s book so [...]
JSIJ (Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal) which is published by Bar-Ilan Univeristy has come out with vol. 4 and is available here. JSIJ is a peer-reviewed internet-journal of Jewish Studies, although they have begun to also publish it in hard-copy, at least I have seen someone publish it in hard-copy form so that it being [...]
You are currently browsing the Menachem Mendel blog archives for March, 2006.