The Vilna Goan and R' Chaim of Volozhin
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The Third Wagon by Chaim Peri
Village Way - Past Present and Future Revisiting our vision The vision of Yemin Orde Village has always been to serve as a microcosm of an upright and resilient society, guiding youth from a life of survival to a life of worthiness. Backed by Friends of Yemin Orde, it sought to fulfill the prophetic vision of a Jewish State that is guided by compassionate justice, where no child is left behind. The Village Way initiative was established in order to propagate this vision where needed. The Village Way heralds a renaissance in education, a grassroots movement of social and spiritual development. ImpactIsrael A quarter of a century after the establishment of FYO, our new banner marks a most relevant evolvement of this vision. This development is totally attuned to the existential juncture in which the Jewish world now stands. Past and Present From its earliest days, Judaism has always been a grand-scale educational marathon – the transmission of knowledge, values and traditions from generation to generation. The realities of exile have further placed education at the heart of Jewish life - in the family circle, the Yeshivot and engaged congregations. In all cases, upholding faith and culture was reliant on the quality and centrality of education in the lives of our people. Indeed, the Yeshiva system continues to maintain that very strictly, following an educational methodology which was initiated 200 years ago by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. At the same time, elsewhere in our civil society, there is much talk about the importance of education, but in fact we see a constant degradation in its public status and increasing fragmentation in its implementation. -
Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 'Like Iron to a Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence David Sclar Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/380 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence By David Sclar A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 David Sclar All Rights Reserved This Manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Prof. Jane S. Gerber _______________ ____________________________________ Date Chair of the Examining Committee Prof. Helena Rosenblatt _______________ ____________________________________ Date Executive Officer Prof. Francesca Bregoli _______________________________________ Prof. Elisheva Carlebach ________________________________________ Prof. Robert Seltzer ________________________________________ Prof. David Sorkin ________________________________________ Supervisory Committee iii Abstract “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence by David Sclar Advisor: Prof. Jane S. Gerber This dissertation is a biographical study of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707–1746 or 1747). It presents the social and religious context in which Luzzatto was variously celebrated as the leader of a kabbalistic-messianic confraternity in Padua, condemned as a deviant threat by rabbis in Venice and central and eastern Europe, and accepted by the Portuguese Jewish community after relocating to Amsterdam. -
A Taste of Torah
Parshas Teruma February 19, 2021 A Taste of Torah Stories for the Soul Hungry for War by Rabbi Yosef Melamed Take to Give Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821), As Purim approaches and the excitement over the fourteenth of Adar. Taanis Esther thus the founder and head of the Volozhin this special holiday grows, this week’s parsha commemorates the fast of the day of battle Yeshiva, once travelled to Minsk to raise against the enemies of the Jewish People. is supplemented with Parshas Zachor, the desperately-needed funds to keep the second of the four special supplement parshios Having established the origins of the fast, we yeshiva afloat. In Minsk lived two men, Reb of this time of the year. Parshas Zachor features must now explore why fasting is important Baruch Zeldowitz and Reb Dober Pines, the Torah commandment to remember the while fighting a war, specifically a war against who served as gabbaim (representatives) to evil that the nation of Amalek perpetrated Amalek. collect money for the yeshiva. Rav Chaim against the fledgling Jewish Nation. Rabbi Gedalya Schorr (1910-1979) offers the visited Rabbi Zeldowitz and informed him The commentators explain that reading this following enlightening explanation: The evil of of the dire financial straits in which the parsha is an appropriate forerunner to Purim Amalek and its power stems from the ideology yeshiva found itself, specifying the large because Haman, the antagonist of the Purim that the world is run randomly through sum of money that was needed to stabilize story, was a direct descendent of Amalek who nature and is not subject to any Divine plan the situation. -
BEYOND JEWISH IDENTITY Rethinking Concepts and Imagining Alternatives
This book is subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ BEYOND JEWISH IDENTITY Rethinking Concepts and Imagining Alternatives This book is subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This book is subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ BEYOND JEWISH IDENTITY rethinking concepts and imagining alternatives Edited by JON A. LEVISOHN and ARI Y. KELMAN BOSTON 2019 This book is subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Library of Congress Control Number:2019943604 The research for this book and its publication were made possible by the generous support of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, a partnership between Brandeis University and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio. © Academic Studies Press, 2019 ISBN 978-1-644691-16-8 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-1-644691-29-8 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-644691-17-5 (Open Access PDF) Book design by Kryon Publishing Services (P) Ltd. www.kryonpublishing.com Cover design by Ivan Grave Published by Academic Studies Press 1577 Beacon Street Brookline, MA 02446, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com Effective May 26th 2020, this book is subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0/. -
Introduction of Rabbi Yosef Kapach to His Edition of Moses Maimonides
Introduction of Rabbi Yosef Kapach to his edition of Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (translated by Michael J. Bohnen) Rabbi Kapach was the foremost editor of the works of Maimonides. Born in Yemen in 1917, he used ancient manuscripts to restore the text of the Mishneh Torah. Several fascinating articles about Rabbi Kapach can be found at www.chayas.com/rabbi.htm The following is a summary and translation of his 20 page Introduction to his edition of the Mishneh Torah. Translator’s Summary My Work. When in my youth I studied the Mishneh Torah with my grandfather of blessed memory, most people used printed books, each with his own edition, but my grandfather and several of the others had manuscripts which were several hundred years old, each scroll of a different age. The errors and deficiencies of the printed texts were well known. The changes that Maimonides made over time in the Commentary on the Mishnah, after completing the Mishneh Torah, he then inserted in the Mishnah Torah. These are all found in our manuscripts, but some are not found in the printed texts. The Jews of Yemen are a conservative group. They would never have presumed to "correct" or "amend" a text that came into their hands, and certainly not the works of Maimonides. However, the Mishneh Torah was subjected to severe editing by the printers and various editors who made emendations of style, language, the structure of sentences and the division of halachot, to the extent that there is hardly any halacha that has not been emended. In this edition of ours, we are publishing, with God’s help, the words of Maimonides in full as we received them from his blessed hand. -
Loving the Convert Prior to a Completed Conversion: with a Test Case Application of Inviting Conversion Candidates to Pesach Seder and Yom Tov Meals
147 Loving the Convert Prior to a Completed Conversion: With a Test Case Application of Inviting Conversion Candidates to Pesach Seder and Yom Tov Meals By: MICHAEL J. BROYDE and BENJAMIN J. SAMUELS Introduction The Torah enjoins us numerous times concerning the mitzvah of Ahavat ha-Ger,1 which literally means the love of the stranger or sojourner, though is primarily understood in Jewish legal sources to refer more specifically to loving the convert to Judaism.2 Furthermore, the Torah commands us that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), and also charges us to love God (Deuteronomy 6:4), creating multiple duties of love as halakhic obligations. This article will explore the question: When does the duty to love the convert commence and does it impact the con- version process? Does it apply only to a newly converted Jew, or to a Noahide who is in the process of converting, or even to a Gentile who has expressed an interest in converting? The process of conversion to Judaism can be divided into three fun- damental stages: In the first stage, the person makes a personal decision 1 See Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:18-19. The Torah also prohibits oppress- ing the convert, “lo toneh” and “Lo tonu”—see Exodus 22:20; Leviticus 19:33; TB Bava Metzia 58b, 59b, and Ben Zion Katz, “Don’t Oppress the Ger,” Seforim Blog <https://seforimblog.com/2019/07/dont-oppress-the-ger/>. However, this article will not investigate the question of when the prohibition against oppressing a convert begins, which may or may not track in parallel with the mitzvah of Ahavat ha-Ger. -
Marc B. Shapiro. Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters. Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 2008
Marc B. Shapiro. Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters. Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 2008. xv +172pp. + Heb. 33pp. Notes, bibliography, index of Maimonidean passages. $10.00, paper, ISBN 978-1-58966-165-3. Reviewed by James Diamond Published on H-Judaic (December, 2008) Commissioned by Jason Kalman (Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion) Marc Shapiro's latest volume contributes fur‐ eth-century Talmudist who, having crossed over ther to what might be considered a series of from the very heart of rabbinic orthodoxy to the works that together constitute a programmatic as‐ Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary, repre‐ sault on the ahistorical non-text-critical tradition‐ sents a mirror image of R. Weinberg. His thesis alist rabbinic approach to its own intellectual there impels a yearning for a time now lost when, legacy. His superb biography of R. Jehiel Jacob in teaching Torah, “great talmidei hakhamim [rab‐ Weinberg, Between the Yeshiva World and Mod‐ binic scholars] of both denominations could be in‐ ern Orthodoxy (1999), a revered rabbinic sage of tellectual comrades” (p.51). the twentieth century (a godol), initiated the Once undermining (in truth ennobling) an ex‐ project exposing a dimension of critical thinking, istential icon of orthodoxy, Shapiro then took aim intellectual breadth, and personal relations that R. at the very foundation (or so it is believed) of its Weinberg's traditionalist admirers would have belief system--Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of preferred ignored, suppressed, or revised in ac‐ Faith in The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Mai‐ cordance with an ideal (nonexistent, stock, and monides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised (2004). -
Yair Dreyfuss TORAH STUDY FOR
Yair Dreyfuss Rav Yair Dreyfuss is co-founder and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Siach Yitzhak in Efrat. He was a longtime havruta of Rav Shagar. TORAH STUDY FOR CONTEMPORARY TIMES: CONSERVATISM OR REVOLUTION? TORAH FOR THIS GENERATION he late Rav Shagar, in his Be-Torato Yehegeh (In His Torah He Meditates),1 addresses the crisis surrounding Talmud study in T Israel’s Religious Zionist community. The author, who headed the Siach Yitzhak Hesder Yeshiva in Efrat until his passing in 2007, seeks to resolve this painful crisis. He saw the source of this crisis as relat- ing to the remarkable “Holy Rebellion,” which he and his generation had wrought as Bnei Akiva youths who were free to explore nationalism and the world at large, and nevertheless chose to embrace the world of the yeshiva. This process ultimately yielded a generation of Torah scholars who were also deeply connected to Erets Yisrael – but it came with a heavy price. For one, there were those who were unable to succeed within such a framework of intense intellectual immersion. However, R. Shagar is even more concerned about those who became the so-called “success stories” of the Hesder Yeshivot -- those who looked favorably upon their years of study and eventually established Torah homes. Yet, even for these students, the Torah did not become an authentic part of their culture. Their connection to Torah following their yeshiva studies was lacking, and, at times, a mere rote performance. There was a yawning gap between their everyday lives as professionals, scientists, even educators, and the Torah they had learned. -
Holiness-A Human Endeavor
Isaac Selter Holiness: A Human Endeavor “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy1.” Such a verse is subject to different interpretations. On the one hand, God is holy, and through His election of the People of Israel and their acceptance of the yoke of heaven at Mount Sinai, the nation attains holiness as well. As Menachem Kellner puts it, “the imposition of the commandments has made Israel intrinsically holy2.” Israel attains holiness because God is holy. On the other hand, the verse could be seen as introducing a challenge to the nation to achieve such a holiness. The verse is not ascribing an objective metaphysical quality inherent in the nation of Israel. Which of these options is real holiness? The notion that sanctity is an objective metaphysical quality inherent in an item or an act is one championed by many Rishonim, specifically with regard to to the sanctity of the Land of Israel. God promises the Children of Israel that sexual morality will cause the nation to be exiled from its land. Nachmanides explains that the Land of Israel is more sensitive than other lands with regard to sins due to its inherent, metaphysical qualities. He states, “The Honorable God created everything and placed the power over the ones below in the ones above and placed over each and every people in their lands according to their nations a star and a specific constellation . but upon the land of Israel - the center of the [world's] habitation, the inheritance of God [that is] unique to His name - He did not place a captain, officer or ruler from the angels, in His giving it as an 1 Leviticus 19:1-2 2 Maimonidies' Confrontation with Mysticism, Menachem Kellner, pg 90 inheritance to his nation that unifies His name - the seed of His beloved one3”. -
Noah Because He Studies Torah in Yeshiva, They Can Also Be Favorably with Holiness and Purity
THE INFLUENCE OF TORAH STUDY AND PRAYER EVEN EXTENDS TO OTHERS (BY RABBI DAVID HANANIA PINTO SHLITA) rom the verse, “For it is you that I have seen to be had no other way of showing his devotion that he brought righteous before Me” (Genesis 7:1), we learn of the an offering. As we know, the offerings actually symbolize a greatness of the tzaddikim and those who study Torah. person giving up his soul, for in bringing an offering, a person When they study, others see them and do the same, pictures himself as being the one who really should have been and they are also elevated in the service of Hashem. offered on the altar. FSimilarly, when people see how someone continues to be upright The Sages explain just to what extent the ark provided Noah because he studies Torah in yeshiva, they can also be favorably with holiness and purity. They say that when Noah emerged influenced and want to partake of the Torah. They will then merit from the ark and saw that the world had been destroyed, he seeing the light of Torah for themselves, a light that will extinguish cried out to Hashem: “You should have shown compassion the darkness within them. They will return to the right path, and for Your creation.” Hashem replied, “Now you say this? Why Hashem’s Name will be sanctified as a result. In fact Noah had didn’t you say this when I told you that you would be safe in considerable merit of his own, for the environment in which he lived the ark? You didn’t even bother to intercede for others! Yet NOAH and worked was filled with evil, and moreover everyone scorned now you open your mouth and pray?” (See Zohar Hashmatot, him. -
The Politics of Exclusion in Judaism Hassidim Vs
The Politics of Exclusion in Judaism Hassidim vs. Mitnagdim I. (Extremely) Brief Historical Overview (via Wikipedia) Shabbetai Tzvi, other spellings include Sabbatai Ẓevi, Shabbetai ,שַׁבְּתַׁי צְּבִ י :Sabbatai Zevi, (Hebrew .1 Ẓevi, Sabbatai Sevi, and Sabetay Sevi in Turkish), (August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676 in Dulcigno (present day Ulcinj), Montenegro) was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement. At the age of forty, he was forced by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV to convert to Islam. Some of his followers also converted to Islam, about 300 families who were known as the Dönmeh (aka Dönme) (converts). 2. Frankism was an 18th-century to 19th-century Jewish religious movement centered around the leadership of the Jewish Messiah claimant Jacob Frank, who lived from 1726 to 1791. At its height, it claimed perhaps 50,000 followers, primarily Jews living in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Unlike traditional Judaism, which provides a set of detailed guidelines called halakha that are scrupulously followed by observant Jews and regulate many aspects of life, Frank claimed that "all laws and teachings will fall" and asserted that one's most important personal obligation was the transgression of every boundary. August 27, 1698 (18 Elul) – May 22, 1760), often רבי ישראל בן אליעזר) Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer .3 called Baal Shem Tov or Besht considered to be founder of "Hassidic" Judaism [also known as the Baal HaTanya,[1 ,( שניאור זלמן מליאדי :Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Hebrew .4 (September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S.), was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia. -
The Old Yeshivishe Joke Has It That Demons, Like the Fairy Tinker Bell, Exist When and Only When People – Or Specifically the Greatest Rabbis – Believe in Them
The old yeshivishe joke has it that demons, like the fairy Tinker Bell, exist when and only when people – or specifically the greatest rabbis – believe in them. So demons existed in Talmudic times, but vanished in the face of Maimonides, only to be resurrected by the Vilna Gaon (according to Mitnagdim) or the Baal Shem Tov (according to Chassidim). This joke to some extent derives from a statement on Pesachim 110b about at least some aspects of demonology: כללא דמילתא: כל דקפיד - קפדי בהדיה, ודלא קפיד - לא קפדי בהדיה. ומיהו למיחש מיבעי. The principle of the matter is: Anyone who is concerned – demons are concerned about him; and anyone who is not concerned – demons are not concerned about him. But one is required to be cautious1. Rashbam explains that demons must have some power even over the unconcerned – which means that they must have some objective reality – or else Chazal would simply have commanded us not to believe in them, and thus eliminated any risk from them. But one can easily respond that Chazal knew that not everyone would disbelieve on command. Both the joke and the Talmudic statement express similar ambivalences. The Talmudic statement expresses a decent concern for conventional wisdom; the joke is nervous about attributing error to the great. The joke, conveniently, does not take any position as to whether demons exist in our day – that would presumably depend on what the great rabbis of our day believe, and in turn, on whom we identify as such. The question for Modern Orthodoxy is: Can we give Torah authority to rabbis who believe in attributing physical effects to demonic causes, or does that create too great a gulf of sensibility? Now past belief in demons did not stem from ignorance or a rejection of empiricism, nor does a contemporary belief in demons necessarily stem from such.