I just came across this interesting comment by Rashi on a mishnah. תלמוד בבלי מסכת מועד קטן דף יט עמוד א משנה. הקובר את מתו שלשה ימים קודם לרגל – בטלה הימנו גזרת שבעה, שמונה – בטלו הימנו גזרת שלשים. מפני שאמרו: שבת עולה ואינה מפסקת. רגלים – מפסיקין ואינן עולין. רבי אליעזר אומר: משחרב [...]
That is, at least according to Greg Laden in his post where he tries to explain How the Bible Ruined Western Society. I feel that I can know sleep better, although I am not sure who to blame-P, P2, H1, H2. See here for a list of suspects.
Failed Messiah links an article from the Jerusalem Post which discusses the date of the destruction of the Temples and what actually might have happened on the 9th of Av. ACCORDING TO Kings II (25:8), the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, not on the Ninth of Av, but on the seventh, while Jeremiah [...]
In what may be the final nail in the coffin of the Lower East Side as many of us used to know it, Guss’ Pickles has announced that it will be moving its pickle barrels to Borough Park in a few months. For details of the pickle move and the current pickle situation see this [...]
Last week, David Pogue, whose column I highly recommend for anybody interested in technology, wrote a article criticizing some aspects of the cellphone industry in America. His bottom line, in my words, many people are getting ripped off. Today in his column he reports about some attempts to rebut his claims. Here is what Pogue [...]
Makor Rishon is reporting that tomorrow there will be a conference (the program in PDF) at Heichal Shlomo on responsa in the age of the internet. The conference will address issues of rabbinic authority and community. See previous discussions of this issue here, here, and here.
The classicist Lionel Casson has passed away at the age of 94. While much of his work dealt with issues relating to ancient maritime history, a number of years ago he wrote a book on libraries in antiquity, Libraries in the Ancient World. It is a relatively short book and an easy read, making it [...]
Ynet has published an article (Hebrew) about changes which Rabbi Yuval Sherlow wants to make in the architecture and functioning of the synagogue (Orthodox) in order for it to be more welcoming to women. He isn’t necessarily so liberal when it comes to some things and many of these things have been standard in many [...]
This morning I started working on a blog post and saved it with the intention of finishing it tonight or tomorrow. I now see that R. Josh Waxman at Parshablog has posted on the same topic, adding more than I ever intended to write. I wanted to mention a few different things so read Josh’s [...]
There’s a new book, דרשוני, of midrashim by women. Here are a few. I particularly liked this one. מצווֹת הבן והבת/ נעמה שקד “כל מצות הבן המוטלות על האב לעשות לבנו – אנשים חייבין, ונשים פטורות. תנינא להא, דתנו רבנן: האב חייב בבנו למולו, ולפדותו, וללמדו תורה, ולהשיאו אשה, וללמדו אומנות. ויש אומרים: אף להשיטו [...]
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