Menachem Mendel

Rabbi Benny Lau has written a strongly-worded column (Hebrew) on Ynet, wondering what religious zionist rabbis are doing defending Rabbi Dov Lior and anything having to do with the book Torat ha-Melelkh.

Posted on August 20th, 2010 under Israel, Jewish Law, Jewish Thought, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Religious Zionism. Comments: None

I am sure that many people reacted with scorn to the “Islamic” haircuts that are now permitted in Iran. Well I have news for you, many rabbis would feel right at home with such a decree. In a text that was appended to the Sifra that listed actions that were prohibited in order that Jews [...]

Posted on July 15th, 2010 under Ancient Judaism, Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Rabbinic Authority. Comments: None

Targuman describes here what the Targum to Ruth does with Ruth 1:16-17.

Posted on June 29th, 2010 under Bible Studies, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Rabbinic Literature. Comments: 3

A number of years ago the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Publication Society published two books for Jews and Muslims. One was by Khalid Durán, Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews. I haven’t read the book, but it seems that some Muslims weren’t very happy about it. A companion book was [...]

Posted on February 21st, 2010 under Israel, Jewish-Gentile Relations. Comments: None

On the Main Line has posted some very interesting sources about the way in which some Jewish travelers ate kosher food on their journeys. I would add the following from this exhibit (see under “Jews and the Liquor Trade”), By the end of the eighteenth century about 80 percent of rural Jews in Poland-Lithuania were [...]

Posted on February 4th, 2010 under Customs, Halakhic Literature, Jewish History, Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Kashrut, Rabbinic Authority. Comments: None

A new book from Brill with an October 2009 publication date, The New Testament and Rabbinic Literature, Edited by Reimund Bieringer, Florentino García Martínez, Didier Pollefeyt & Peter J. Tomson. The present book brings together the contributions of the foremost specialists on the relationship of the New Testament and Rabbinic Literature. It contains the proceedings [...]

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 under Ancient Judaism, Jewish-Gentile Relations, New Books, Rabbinic Literature, Talmud. Comments: 5

It seems that this summer has been rich with many important archaeological finds in Israel and the latest one is a Roman mansion found in the City of David. Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, the excavation’s director said that “[the] building most likely met its end during a massive earthquake that shook Jerusalem in 363 CE.” In [...]

Posted on August 19th, 2009 under Ancient History, Ancient Judaism, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments: 1

Johannes Buxtorf (more here) (1564-1629) was a German Hebraist who authored Synagoga Judaica, a rich description of Jewish life and practice in early seventeenth century Germany. Among his other works, Buxtorf also authored books on Biblical and Rabbinic Aramaic and on Hebrew Grammar. Alan D. Corré has translated Synagoga Judaica (Juden-Schül) and it can be [...]

Posted on August 9th, 2009 under Jewish History, Jewish-Gentile Relations. Comments: None

This Shabbat our synagogue hosted a shabbaton from Yeshivat Hadar. Yeshivat Hadar is one of the more exciting things that is happening in the world of Torah study these days. They have an extensive number of source sheets and podcasts of classes posted online. They just received a large matching grant, which means that for [...]

Posted on July 11th, 2009 under Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Rabbinic Authority. Comments: 2