A Talmudist's Halakhic Hermeneutics: a New
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The Exegetical Craft of the Zohar: Toward an Appreciation
THE EXEGETICAL CRAFT OF THE ZOHAR: TOWARD AN APPRECIATION ELIEZER SEGAL As a consequence of the specialization that thrives in current humanistic studies, it is not surprising that scholarship has tended to classify the literary creations of the past into fixed compartments. In the study of medieval Judaism, it is particularly common to follow the traditional division of disci- plines into philosophy, Kabbalah, and rabbinism-a categorization that was indeed promoted by the medievals themselves.' Following this way of thinking, the study of Rashi's biblical commentaries would be assigned to one class of scholars devoted to the study of rabbinic Judaism; Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed to experts in Jewish philosophy; and the Zohar to yet a third group consisting of specialists in Jewish mysticism. As helpful as such a division of labor may be, we should not lose sight of 1. Some aspects of the interrelationships between the three medieval Jewish disciplines of "talmudism," philosophy, and Kabbalah are explored by I. Twersky, "Talmudists, Philoso- phers, Kabbalists: The Quest for Spirituality in the Sixteenth Century," in Jewish Thought in the Sixteenth Century, ed. B. Cooperman (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1983), pp. 431-457. The classification underlies the fourfold division employed in R. Bahya b. Asher's commentary to the Pentateuch (to which he adds the method of peshat interpretation). 32 ELIEZER SEGAL the fact that these kinds of classifications tend to obscure the individuality of sources which can often, when taken on their own terms, prove notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. In the specific context of medieval Judaism, we must bear in mind that philosophers and mystics alike saw themselves as operat- ing within the tradition defined by the Talmud and Midrash, whose more profound or mysterious contents they were venturing to expound. -
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. -
Yaqub Al-Qirqisani: a Staunch Scripturalist? Karaite Literal Understanding and Scripturalism Under Islamic Rule
Yaqub al-Qirqisani: a staunch scripturalist? Karaite literal understanding and scripturalism under Islamic rule Anne van Toor- van der Zwaag Student number: S1015192 7 December 2017 First supervisor: Dr. C.E. Wilde Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. S.N. Mason 1 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 Yaqub al-Qirqisani ...................................................................................................................... 6 Defining ‘Scripturalism’ .............................................................................................................. 8 Karaism ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Modern scholarship on the origins and development of Karaism ....................................... 14 Characteristics of Karaism .................................................................................................... 15 Elements of kalam and Mu’tazilism ................................................................................. 18 Political environment and questions of authority ........................................................... 22 The chain of tradition ...................................................................................................... -
Newsletter for Shavuot 5774
Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace June 7, 2014 - 9 SIVAN 5774 SHABBAT SHALOM FROM CYBERSPACE SHABUOT and BEHA’ALOTECHA JUNE 4-7, 2014 6,7,9 SIVAN 5774 DEDICATIONS: To Grandma Chantelle and her partner Baby Chantelle SEPHARDIC CONGREGATION OF LONG BEACH We say Yehi Shem through the 13th of Sivan I hope you will join us for Shavuot Tuesday Night , June 3 - Candle Lighting – 8:05, Mincha Services – 7:45pm - Do not begin Kiddush at home if possible until 8:45 …. Tikun Lel Shavuot – 11:00pm Rav Aharon, Rabbi Yosef and Rabbi David will interject derashot and ideas into the reading Desserts, Fruits, tea and Coffee will be served throughout the night Wednesday, June 4 – 1st Day of Shavuot - Sunrise Minyan begins at 4:30 AM, Sunrise at 5:24.34 - Regular services begin at 9AM – As many of those who typically arrive early will be at the first minyan we need commitments from ten for the second Minyan. B’H – as usual Uri Lemberger will lead this minyan and read the Torah He needs help! Who will be there? We need ten guys to commit to the late minyan. No Meal in the Synagogue ….But something better - Phyllis invites everyone for Kiddush with home-made desserts after services. Return for Azharot and Mincha at 7:15 followed by Arbit Candle Lighting – After 9:05pm The most distinctive Shavuot custom is undoubtedly the recital of the Azharot and the Book of Ruth that takes place before the Minha service. The main poem is a precis of the 613 commandments written by R. -
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). -
Kabbalah As a Shield Against the “Scourge” of Biblical Criticism: a Comparative Analysis of the Torah Commentaries of Elia Benamozegh and Mordecai Breuer
Kabbalah as a Shield against the “Scourge” of Biblical Criticism: A Comparative Analysis of the Torah Commentaries of Elia Benamozegh and Mordecai Breuer Adiel Cohen The belief that the Torah was given by divine revelation, as defined by Maimonides in his eighth principle of faith and accepted collectively by the Jewish people,1 conflicts with the opinions of modern biblical scholarship.2 As a result, biblical commentators adhering to both the peshat (literal or contex- tual) method and the belief in the divine revelation of the Torah, are unable to utilize the exegetical insights associated with the documentary hypothesis developed by Wellhausen and his school, a respected and accepted academic discipline.3 As Moshe Greenberg has written, “orthodoxy saw biblical criticism in general as irreconcilable with the principles of Jewish faith.”4 Therefore, in the words of D. S. Sperling, “in general, Orthodox Jews in America, Israel, and elsewhere have remained on the periphery of biblical scholarship.”5 However, the documentary hypothesis is not the only obstacle to the religious peshat commentator. Theological complications also arise from the use of archeolog- ical discoveries from the ancient Near East, which are analogous to the Torah and can be a very rich source for its interpretation.6 The comparison of biblical 246 Adiel Cohen verses with ancient extra-biblical texts can raise doubts regarding the divine origin of the Torah and weaken faith in its unique sanctity. The Orthodox peshat commentator who aspires to explain the plain con- textual meaning of the Torah and produce a commentary open to the various branches of biblical scholarship must clarify and demonstrate how this use of modern scholarship is compatible with his or her belief in the divine origin of the Torah. -
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. -
ZOHAR QUESTIONS – DANIEL MATT 1) How Did You First Become Drawn
ZOHAR QUESTIONS – DANIEL MATT 1) How did you first become drawn to the mystical side of Judaism? My father, Hershel Matt, was a rabbi—a genuinely spiritual rabbi. He rarely used the word “mystical,” but I imbibed spirituality from him, from praying, singing, and studying with him. Largely because of him, I felt drawn to exploring the mystical dimension of Judaism. At Brandeis University I took courses in Jewish mysticism with Professor Alexander Altmann. Arthur Green, who was then a graduate student, taught an informal course in Hasidic texts. These courses inspired me to begin studying the Zohar, which I first undertook in Jerusalem at the Hebrew University during my junior year abroad in 1970. 2) How has the Zohar informed your life and what meaning can it have in our contemporary world—for Jews and other spiritual seekers? I see the Zohar as a celebration of the imagination. It shows how to discover radically new meaning in an ancient text. The Zohar, after all, is a commentary on the Torah, not an independent book. It challenges you to delve deeply into Scripture. Though it builds on all the previous layers of Jewish tradition, it also demonstrates a holy dissatisfaction with traditional formulations. Typically we read: “This verse has already been discussed, but…” It is that pregnant “but” that provides an opening for new discovery, for new possibilities of meaning. The Zohar has taught me to never stop questioning, to build on the past and to soar higher. Through its imaginative power, it has helped me cultivate a sense of wonder. -
אוסף מרמורשטיין the Marmorstein Collection
אוסף מרמורשטיין The Marmorstein Collection Brad Sabin Hill THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER Manchester 2017 1 The Marmorstein Collection CONTENTS Acknowledgements Note on Bibliographic Citations I. Preface: Hebraica and Judaica in the Rylands -Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts: Crawford, Gaster -Printed Books: Spencer Incunabula; Abramsky Haskalah Collection; Teltscher Collection; Miscellaneous Collections; Marmorstein Collection II. Dr Arthur Marmorstein and His Library -Life and Writings of a Scholar and Bibliographer -A Rabbinic Literary Family: Antecedents and Relations -Marmorstein’s Library III. Hebraica -Literary Periods and Subjects -History of Hebrew Printing -Hebrew Printed Books in the Marmorstein Collection --16th century --17th century --18th century --19th century --20th century -Art of the Hebrew Book -Jewish Languages (Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, Others) IV. Non-Hebraica -Greek and Latin -German -Anglo-Judaica -Hungarian -French and Italian -Other Languages 2 V. Genres and Subjects Hebraica and Judaica -Bible, Commentaries, Homiletics -Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, Rabbinic Literature -Responsa -Law Codes and Custumals -Philosophy and Ethics -Kabbalah and Mysticism -Liturgy and Liturgical Poetry -Sephardic, Oriental, Non-Ashkenazic Literature -Sects, Branches, Movements -Sex, Marital Laws, Women -History and Geography -Belles-Lettres -Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine -Philology and Lexicography -Christian Hebraism -Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim Relations -Jewish and non-Jewish Intercultural Influences