If you thought that the persecution of witches was limited to Salem, MA, think again. According to the Jerusalem Talmud, Shimon ben Shetah [Hagigah 2:2 (77d)] hanged 80 witches in Ashkelon. One can read more about witches and their sort in this good article by Meir Bar-Ilan, “Witches in the Bible and the Talmud.” More [...]
Richard Kalmin of the JTS Talmud Department has recently published a new book, Jewish Babylonia between Persia and Roman Palestine: Decoding the Literary Record. The contents of the book is described in the following words, The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in the third through sixth centuries CE, by rabbis living under Sasanian Persian rule in [...]
There are two interesting web sites dedicated to promoting the teachings and writings of the late R. Louis Jacobs. They are a general web site about him and his writings, and Reading Rabbi Jacobs which promotes the reading and discussion of his writings.
Philip Harland at Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean has linked to an interesting web site which has the results of a seminar sponsored by the Society of Biblical Literature, “Meals in the Greco-Roman World.” There seem to be a number of interesting articles which might help us understand some aspects of Jewish ritual and custom, [...]
In the newest issue of Tarbitz there is an important article by Judah (Yehudah) Galinkski. The title of the article is “Asher ben Yechiel (The Rosh), the Ashkenazi, in Spain: His Tosafot, Psakim, and his Yeshiva”. The English abstract reads as follows, “Late medieval and modern historiography have chosen to describe the Rosh’s impact on [...]
The Washington Post has an article about a photographic exhibit which examines the houses built around the world which imitate the Rebbe’s house at 770 Eastern Parkway. Menachem Mendel lives on!
The Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania has two new exhibits online related to Hebrew books and printing. The first is The Jewish Book: Material Texts and Comparative Contexts. The second is Printer, Publisher, Peddler: The Business of the Jewish Book. Enjoy.
A while back in a series of posts on the shabbes goy I mentioned that R. Meir of Rothenberg used to put a lock of sorts (“מפתח”) on his oven over Shabbat so that the non-Jewish servants wouldn’t add to the fire. I was only aware of this being done by R. Meir of Rothenberg [...]
Some time ago Manuscriptboy posted about some new fragments from the Cairo Genizah which were found in Geneva. At the SBL Forum site Stefan C. Reif has a short article about the Genizah in general which also includes some descriptions of material from the “Geneva Genizah”. There’s also an article about the history of the [...]
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