The following statement can be found in the Shulḥan Arukh, OH 446:4: מצא פת בפסח בביתו ואינו יודע אם הוא חמץ או מצה מותר אפילו באכילה דאזלינן בתר בתרא. If during Pesaḥ one finds in his house pat (bread) and doesn’t know if it is ḥametz or matzah, it is permitted even to eat, since [...]
One of my favorite Israeli radio programs is Sof Shavua Zugi that is broadcast on Galei Tzahal every Friday afternoon. The show features the husband and wife team of Yedidya Meir and Sivan Rahav Meir. They talk about current events, religion, culture, and just about anything else that is on their mind. The show is [...]
A dose of historical perspective on Israel-Diaspora relations. The following are a few selections from Zohar Segev’s article American Zionists’ Place in Israel after Statehood: Historian Melvin Urofsky has shown that from the moment that the establishment of the State of Israel appeared feasible, and after it became a reality, American Zionist leaders struggled to [...]
Ynet has an article (Hebrew) by Yossi Sofer of the Reshut ha-Rabim Beit Midrash of the Yaacov Herzog Institute. Sofer addresses a number of issues related to the laws of Passover that he thinks are out of sync with reality. What I found funny were some of the comments. Just so you know, the Yaacov [...]
I recently posted about the renewed interest in the writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel in Israel. The other day I came across the first newsletter of Mosad Abraham Joshua Heschel, an institute that existed in Israel during the 1970′s. It published a few books of Heschel in Hebrew translation, including The Sabbath, The Earth is [...]
For people living in America who are looking for a kitniyot Passover, the following hotel option is available in New Jersey under the auspices of Avraham Ohavi. The advertisement says that its for “kitniyot eaters only,” although I am not sure how they define a “kitniyot eater.” The food may have kiyniyot, but it isn’t [...]
Posted at SSRN: Oren Gross, Violating Divine Law: Emergency Measures in Jewish Law Abstract: Judaism is a thoroughly legal culture. Structured around the concept of mitzvot (commandments), Jewish law regulates both the public sphere of social and political interactions and the private sphere of human conduct. Jewish law is founded on a single source of [...]
From the Legal History Blog: Proposals are invited from members of the American Society for Legal History interested in joining an ASLH-sponsored panel at the Israeli Legal History Association’s annual conference to be held 15 October 2012 in Jerusalem. As part of its policy of international outreach, the ASLH has entered into an agreement with [...]
Israel and the Palestinians-A Different Israeli View I recently came across the following booklet, published in 1975 by the left-wing Zionist organization Breira. It is a translation of a Hebrew booklet that featured a roundtable discussion by a number of prominent Israeli left-wing activists in 1974. The booklet provides an interesting window into the history [...]
I had a vague recollection of a pesak by Rav Scheinberg z”l on “shopping” for a pesak halakhah. A little searching on the internet found the source. The following is from the book Divrei Ḥachamim, p. 290. Trans.: I heard in the name of Hagaon Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, that there is no prohibition to [...]
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