Manuscriptboy has linked to a new version of the Al Ha-Nissim prayer for Yom Ha-Atzmaut. There are numerous other versions which have been written in the past few decades. It will be interesting to see which ones are still around 50-100 years from now. See another versions here and here. Also see these (Eng.) posts [...]
Via H-Judaic: Professor Meir Benayahu z”l has passed away in Jerusalem. From a young age, Benayahu became known as a great expert in the reading of ancient manuscripts, deciphering their content, and identifying their authorship and time periods. His expertise in the field of Hebrew paleography redeemed thousands of manuscripts, letters and certificates from all [...]
Last week I came across a rather bold statement by Rabbi Hayyim David Halevi. The context was Rabbi Halevi’s opinion that one should alter the nachem prayer that is recited on Tisha B’av in order to reflect the reality of a rebuilt Jerusalem. See here for a previous post on this issue. After Rabbi Halevi [...]
Three Jews, Four Opinions has some discussion on James Kugel’s recent lecture at JTS and a link to a podcast of the lecture. See here, here, and here for previous posts on James Kugel.
Rabbi Yehoshua Hutner z”l, one of the editors of the Encyclopedia Talmudit, has passed away at the age of 96. (hat tip) See here for more with an emphasis on the Habad angle. In addition to the monumental Encyclopedia Talmudit, Rabbi Hutner and Yad ha-Rav Herzog have also done important work in the field of [...]
With Yom ha-Shoah beginning tomorrow evening, the Atlantic Monthly has a timely review of some recent scholarship on the Shoah. Three decades of scholarship (a good deal of it undertaken by Kershaw, as well as by the historian David Bankier, in his innovative study The Germans and the Final Solution) reveal that from the very [...]
Balashon has a detailed discussion of the meaning of עומר, ספירת העומר.
Whether Ashkenazim should continue to observe the prohibition of eating kitniyot on Passover has been discussed ad nauseam for quite some time. IMHO, do whatever you want and get over it. Personally, I eat any kitniyot which were not known in Ashkenaz during the 12-13th centuries, e.g. corn, when this custom took root and derivatives [...]
Between the years 1930-1960 over five hundred haggadot were printed on kibbutzim. See here for some examples. Recently a book has been published which collects many of these texts and tells their story. Below are two examples of the “Four Questions” from two different Kibbutz Haggadot from 1939. Hag Kasher Sameah. Source: Niv ha-Kevutzah, March [...]
Here are a few books which are helping me prepare for the seder this year. 1. Creating Lively Passover Seders by David Arnow. This is a great book which some of you may still be able to get before the seder if you are looking for a book to help make the seder more meaningful. [...]
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