With all of the tumult in Pakistan during the last few days, it is interesting to remember the Jewish connection regarding modern Pakistan’s history. A figure who was somewhat involved in the area’s politics in the years before the establishment of Pakistan, and the future Pakistani representative at the UN is Muhammad Asad. Asad was [...]
I stumbled across a new project by those at Bar-Ilan who brought you the Responsa Project. Project Cotar (Collection Of Torah Articles by the Responsa Project) includes an index and articles from a number of journals which discuss halachic issues such as Tzohar, Zachor le-Avraham, and Ha-Ma’ayan. Their web site also says that it is [...]
Many of us have hard drives filled with articles and books in digital format, sometimes never having to leave the comfort of our computer to search through those antiquated “stacks” in libraries for that sought-after book or journal article (see this related post at Seforim). But how many of us have thought of what is [...]
Last year JPS published The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation. I really haven’t looked at it, but John F. Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry has done us the pleasure of writing a few posts about it here, here, here, and here. In addition to John’s informative posts, I also suggest reading [...]
Once in a while one finds in a responsa a rabbi saying that they have something else to say, but that it is either better left unsaid, not appropriate for here, I don’t want to write more about it, etc. Sometimes it is just because they don’t want to digress from the question at hand, [...]
From the local paper. It couldn’t wait until Purim. No menorah at McDonald’s To the editor: On Dec. 7 I took my two small grandsons to McDonald’s on West 236th Street and Broadway for lunch and to play. To my disappointment I found there was no menorah anywhere in the restaurant. There were many Christmas [...]
If someone wanted more proof that the Lower East Side of old is ending, Streit’s Matzos has put their building up for sale. Here is an interesting story about “A Matzo Princess” from the NY Times a few years back. (hat tip)
In one of the many dramatic moments of the Joseph narrative we read about the moment when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו גְּשׁוּ נָא אֵלַי וַיִּגָּשׁוּ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי יוֹסֵף אֲחִיכֶם אֲשֶׁר מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי מִצְרָיְמָה “And Joseph said unto his brothers, “Come near to me,” and they came near. And he [...]
While many people are familiar with tomorrow’s fast on the tenth of Tevet (see also this by Jeffrey Woolf), there happen to be two lesser-known fasts from Tevet. The more well-known Megillat Taanit lists days on which it is forbidden to fast, while the less well-known Scroll of Fast-B (מגילת תענית בתרא) list days on [...]
For those who are interested in Jewish ephemera, also see the blog Ephemera, collecting Jewish-themed postcards is very popular. A hundred years ago postcard collecting was extremely popular, and Jewish-themed postcards were no exception. The two most common types of postcards are New Year/Shannah Tovah cards, and those with synagogues. A number of years ago [...]
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