In Musaf Shabbat of Makor Rishon, Carmiel Cohen reviewed (Hebrew) a double-issue of Sidra that was devoted to Prof. Aryeh Steinfeld. Cohen wrote at length about two articles that appeared in this issue. The first is by Mordechai Akiva Friedman and is about the possibility that other shofar blowings for Rosh ha-Shannah existed in the [...]
Jonathan Sarna has written in the Forward about the recent merger between the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) and the University of Nebraska Press. In the meantime, even as we mourn JPS’s disappearance as an independent Jewish publisher, lovers of Jewish books should wish the new couple well. Sarna is also the author of JPS: The [...]
The Cairo Genizah has provided numerous examples of different rabbinic texts that were vocalized. Whether the vocalization was Palestinian, Tiberian, or Babylonian, is another question that raises other issues. See the first comments to this post at the Talmud Blog for some implications about the type of vocalization found in Mishnah texts from the Genizah. [...]
Ḥullin 58a (original, English trans.) is one of the places in the Talmud where the phrase כח דהיתרא עדיף (“the strength of the lenient ruling is preferable”) appears. Many people are familiar with the use of the phrase in post-Talmudic literature, where it signifies the preference to rule leniently in questions of law. What some [...]
The conference at Haifa University on the book Torat ha-Melekh has been cancelled after protests from numerous quarters over the author being invited to speak. (hat tip)
Tomer Persico has posted about a conference next week at Haifa University on the book Torat ha-Melekh.
Rabbi Dov Linzer has a good post about some of the recent discussions in Daf Yomi, We Don’t Add to the List of Treifot-Really? Rabbi Linzer addresses the discussion found in the Gemara as to whether it is possible to add to the list of conditions that are fatal to an animal and therefore make [...]
At the Talmud Blog, Amit Gvaryahu, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this past shabbat, gives a good overview of Menahem Kahana’s new edition of Sifre Bemidbar.
For those who haven’t been paying attention during the last few months, lots of Jews have been interested in the interest found in South Korea of certain Talmudic teachings. My original post on the subject can be found here. It seems that the story has continued to develop in different ways, and the South Korean [...]
Hillel Gershuni has posted some thoughtful comments (Hebrew) about the book Torat ha-Melekh. Hillel’s main points are that the book in no way calls for individuals to take the law into their own hands, it even emphasizes the need for the state to be the sole arbiter of power and force. Additionally, there is nothing [...]
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