In the past number of years some people have proposed that kiddushei taut (“a marriage under mistaken pretenses”) be used as a possible solution to the problem of agunot (for some on-line articles on agunot see here). There is an interesting booklet that was published in 1922 which contains a long responsum and discussion of [...]
Among the seemingly endless topics which Daniel Sperber touches upon in his Minhagei Yisrael, tefillin is discussed twice. First in vol. 4 he writes about תפילין עגולות (“round tefillin“) [pp. 137-142], and then in vol. 6 he discusses how the tefillin strap is wrapped around the hand and fingers (pp. 9-22, including a section by [...]
This past semester I taught a class on the Shabbes Goy and this is the first of a number of postings which will include some interesting things which I found in the material covered in the class. First, anyone who wants to become familiar with the subject should read Jacob Katz’s The “Shabbes goy”: A [...]
I just got the new JPS catalogue and here are two of their new titles which will be coming out in the next few months. Folktales of the Jews: Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion, edited with commentary by Dan Ben-Amos with Dov Noy as contributing editor. This volume is the first of a projected five-volumes [...]
As I mentioned before Shavuot, the recent issue of the Edah Journal is on-line. Over the past few days I had the opportunity to read Daniel Sperber’s article “‘Friendly’ Pesaq/Halakhah and the ‘Friendly’ Poseq‘” and I highly recommend it (if you are wondering, the title page says “Halakhah” and the on-line link says “Pesaq”). Sperber [...]
Recently I read two interesting articles on related aspects of the Rashbam’s commentary on the Torah, and I thought that they raised some good questions that could be thought about over Shavuot. The first article is by Elazar Touitou in which he discussd the methodology of the Rashbam in his commentary on the Torah. One [...]
Menachem over at AJHistory has kindly pointed out that the new issue of the Edah Journal is now on-line. I am sure that most people shouldn’t have a problem finding an article or two to print out and read over Shavuot.
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