Mercaz Zalman Shazar has recently begun to publish a series of books on great figures in Jewish history and thought. The first volumes on Rashi, Moses Mendelson and R. Judah the Pious have been published. Apparently there will be a projected 15 volumes in the series. You can read about the volume on Rashi here.
For Yom Yerushalayim a link to an important article by David Golinkin on “Jerusalem in Jewish Law and Custom”.
This past Shabbat I happened to read through Louis Ginzberg’s chapter “The Rabbinical Student” in his book Students, Scholars and Saints and some of his opinions about Jewish history were just too interesting to keep to myself. His Lithuanian biases were not even subtle. First he has this to say about Jewish history, “In view [...]
It seems that volume 2 of the new edition of the Isaac Meir of Vienna’s Or Zarua has been published by Machon Yerushalayim and Yeshivat Or Etzion. The first volume contained the laws of Shabbat and Eruvin, and this second volume contains the laws of the Festivals and Zeraim. In addition, it seems that Yerid [...]
One of the unique features of the Blogsphere is Carnivalesque, a monthly summary of blogging from posts about Early Modern or Ancient/Medieval topics. This month Siris is hosting Carnivalesque XV on Ancient/Medieval blog posts. There are a number of interesting articles featured. One is on essential readings in medieval historiography, important for those who are [...]
The latest NSA-related issue in the news has gotten me to thinking about Rabbeinu Gershom the Light of the Exile (Meor HaGolah). It is well-known that one of the takkanot attributed to Rabbeinu Gershom was the prohibition of opening someone else’s mail. I am not going to touch upon the question as to whether this [...]
In the wake of my post about Oat Matzah, Dan R. mentionned to me that there are comments in the Kehati Mishnayot on the first mishnah in Hallah which some people found problematic. I have the original typeset Kehati Mishnayot, so I cannot comment upon the newer version, but in the older version there is [...]
Menachem Ben-Sasson is well-known as one of the most important historians in the field of Geonic and medieval Jewish History, specifically in the area of North Africa. He has published numerous articles and books, including the authoritative book on the Jewish community of Qayrawan. Well, it turns out that I wasn’t aware that Ben-Sasson is [...]
Courtesy of Cliopatria, I just saw that one of the greatest historians of religion in our age, Jaroslav Pelikan, has passed away. Pelikan was the author of dozens of books and articles which influenced many students of religion, one of his last being Whose Bible Is It? : A Short History of the Scriptures (one [...]
Recently the Schechter Institute has published a book, Za’akat Dalot, analyzing the numerous solutions to the problem of the agunah which have been put forth. In today’s Haaretz one can read an article about the book, including an interview with the two authors. The book was published under the auspices of the Center for Women [...]
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