DOCSLIB.ORG

A Taste of Torah

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Taste of Torah Presence to the rest of the world. As As world. the of rest the to Presence Continued on back side back on Continued They thought they were going to a work work a to going were they thought They of fulfilling it and revealing G-d’s G-d’s revealing and it fulfilling of Torah. Torah. worst possible, inhumane way by railcar. railcar. by way inhumane possible, worst ones charged with the responsibility responsibility the with charged ones through the study and fulfillment of of fulfillment and study the through the people were transported in the the in transported were people the Torah, and the Jewish People are the the are People Jewish the and Torah, “As you know, during the Holocaust, Holocaust, the during know, you “As to create and develop good character character good develop and create to that the world was created for the the for created was world the that essence of the human spirit. spirit. human the of essence contains the story of Man continuing continuing Man of story the contains and the Torah. What this means is is means this What Torah. the and it. Okay, gentlemen, let me tell you the the you tell me let gentlemen, Okay, it. Man. The second book of Creation Creation of book second The Man. The rabbi said, “You guys just don’t get get don’t just guys “You said, rabbi The of Creation is for the Jewish People People Jewish the for is Creation of relating the story of G-d creating creating G-d of story the relating again be a victim or bystander.” bystander.” or victim a be again Bereishis as teaching that the purpose purpose the that teaching as Bereishis The Book of Bereishis is the book book the is Bereishis of Book The a fantastic answer: “We will never, ever ever never, will “We answer: fantastic a the Torah, expounds the very word word very the expounds Torah, the He called on another guy, who had such such had who guy, another on called He idea of the second book of Creation. Creation. of book second the of idea Rashi, in his second comment on on comment second his in Rashi, me. He did not call me. I was sweating. sweating. was I me. call not did He me. an entirely new dimension to the the to dimension new entirely an fact, part two of the story of Creation. Creation. of story the of two part fact, looking away - you know, please, not not please, know, you - away looking to change man’s nature. This gives gives This nature. man’s change to All of us were sort of under the table, table, the under of sort were us of All second book, says the Netziv, is, in in is, Netziv, the says book, second Torah certainly possesses the ability ability the possesses certainly Torah getting ready to call on someone else. else. someone on call to ready getting development of Mankind. The The Mankind. of development for the guy until I realized the rabbi was was rabbi the realized I until guy the for ex nihilo ex , the the , creation is miracle the creation of the world and the the and world the of creation the completely dismisses him. I felt terrible terrible felt I him. dismisses completely nihilo ). Considering that the ultimate ultimate the that Considering ). in the Torah, Bereishis, describes describes Bereishis, Torah, the in will never, ever forget.” And the rabbi rabbi the And forget.” ever never, will ex ex there was previously nothing ( nothing previously was there the guy says something benign like, “We “We like, benign something says guy the a powerful lesson. The first book book first The lesson. powerful a the power to create something where where something create to power the the fifth grade without the answer. And And answer. the without grade fifth the that the Bahag intends to teach us us teach to intends Bahag the that what to do-it was like being called on in in on called being like was do-it to what world. This means that Torah has has Torah that means This world. his introduction to Sefer Shemos Shemos Sefer to introduction his called on one guy, who didn’t know know didn’t who guy, one on called that G-d used the Torah to create the the create to Torah the used G-d that Yehuda Berlin; 1816-1893) writes in in writes 1816-1893) Berlin; Yehuda the lesson of the Holocaust is?” He He is?” Holocaust the of lesson the third chapter of Pirkei Avos, explains explains Avos, Pirkei of chapter third Then he asked, “Who can tell me what what me tell can “Who asked, he Then The Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Tzvi Naftali (Rabbi Netziv The 1936), based on a Mishna in the the in Mishna a on based 1936), just a little dig there. there. dig little a just Torah? Torah? American businessmen.” You know, know, You businessmen.” American Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz (1873- Levovitz Yeruchem Rabbi for you because I know you’re all busy busy all you’re know I because you for a defining name for this book of the the of book this for name defining a an antidote for the Evil Inclination.” Inclination.” Evil the for antidote an He said, “I have only a few minutes minutes few a only have “I said, He the Bahag unable to come up with with up come to unable Bahag the responded, “G-d created the Torah as as Torah the created “G-d responded, hard to listen to him and watch him. him. watch and him to listen to hard simply as “the Second Book.” Was Was Book.” Second “the as simply become righteous?” Iyov’s friends friends Iyov’s righteous?” become than his physical shaking. It was really really was It shaking. physical his than the Torah, refers to Sefer Shemos Shemos Sefer to refers Torah, the Now his speech affliction was worse worse was affliction speech his Now become a donkey, how can a man man a can how donkey, a become name to the other four books of of books four other the to name look at me, and look at me right now.” now.” right me at look and me, at look tendencies. Just as an ox cannot cannot ox an as Just tendencies. this big bang on the table: “Gentlemen, “Gentlemen, table: the on bang big this unclear), although giving a specific specific a giving although unclear), G-d, “You created man with evil evil with man created “You G-d, We were all looking away, and we heard heard we and away, looking all were We halachic work whose authorship is is authorship whose work halachic relates that Iyov (Job) said before before said (Job) Iyov that relates want to embarrass him. him. embarrass to want the Bahag (an important medieval medieval important (an Bahag the inclination was to look away. We didn’t didn’t We away. look to was inclination The Gemara (Bava Basra 16a) 16a) Basra (Bava Gemara The Shemos. What seems strange is that that is strange seems What Shemos. head of the table, and, naturally, our our naturally, and, table, the of head Let’s take this idea a step further. further. step a idea this take Let’s Parkinson’s disease. He sat down at the the at down sat He disease. Parkinson’s More traditionally, it’s called Sefer Sefer called it’s traditionally, More Finkel was severely afflicted with with afflicted severely was Finkel nation and accept the Torah. Torah. the accept and nation calls it the Book of Redemption. Redemption. of Book the it calls What we did not know was that Rabbi Rabbi that was know not did we What in this book that the Jews become a a become Jews the that book this in Moshe ben Nachman; 1194-1270) 1194-1270) Nachman; ben Moshe him. Finally, the doors opened. opened. doors the Finally, him. the culmination of the first, for it’s it’s for first, the of culmination the this book. The Ramban (Rabbi (Rabbi Ramban The book. this study and waited ten to 15 minutes for for minutes 15 to ten waited and study that the second book of the Torah is is Torah the of book second the that there are several names given to to given names several are there anything about him. We went into his his into went We him. about anything never heard of him and didn’t know know didn’t and him of heard never It is for this reason, says the Netziv, Netziv, the says reason, this for is It When it comes to Sefer Shemos, Shemos, Sefer to comes it When of a yeshiva there [Mir Yeshiva]. I had had I Yeshiva]. [Mir there yeshiva a of accepting the Torah millennia later. later. millennia Torah the accepting or person expresses its very essence. essence. very its expresses person or Rabbi [Nosson Tzvi] Finkel, the head head the Finkel, Tzvi] [Nosson Rabbi would be dependent on the Jews Jews the on dependent be would the Torah, the name of an object object an of name the Torah, the opportunity to have an audience with with audience an have to opportunity with the world that its existence existence its that world the with the essence of this sefer. Throughout Throughout sefer. this of essence the of businessmen I was with, I had the the had I with, was I businessmen of within Jerusalem.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Jews, Gentiles, and the Modern Egalitarian Ethos
    Jews, Gentiles, and the Modern Egalitarian Ethos: Some Tentative Thoughts David Berger The deep and systemic tension between contemporary egalitarianism and many authoritative Jewish texts about gentiles takes varying forms. Most Orthodox Jews remain untroubled by some aspects of this tension, understanding that Judaism’s affirmation of chosenness and hierarchy can inspire and ennoble without denigrating others. In other instances, affirmations of metaphysical differences between Jews and gentiles can take a form that makes many of us uncomfortable, but we have the legitimate option of regarding them as non-authoritative. Finally and most disturbing, there are positions affirmed by standard halakhic sources from the Talmud to the Shulhan Arukh that apparently stand in stark contrast to values taken for granted in the modern West and taught in other sections of the Torah itself. Let me begin with a few brief observations about the first two categories and proceed to somewhat more extended ruminations about the third. Critics ranging from medieval Christians to Mordecai Kaplan have directed withering fire at the doctrine of the chosenness of Israel. Nonetheless, if we examine an overarching pattern in the earliest chapters of the Torah, we discover, I believe, that this choice emerges in a universalist context. The famous statement in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) that Adam was created singly so that no one would be able to say, “My father is greater than yours” underscores the universality of the original divine intent. While we can never know the purpose of creation, one plausible objective in light of the narrative in Genesis is the opportunity to actualize the values of justice and lovingkindness through the behavior of creatures who subordinate themselves to the will 1 of God.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Following Verses from Devarim, Moshe Recounts the Events of Revelation at Sinai
    In the following verses from Devarim, Moshe recounts the events of revelation at Sinai. How does he describe his role? What inner contradiction comes from a comparison of verses 4- 5? Deuteronomy 5 (1) And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. (2) The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. (3) The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. (4) The Lord spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire. (5) I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the Lord; for ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount, saying: To think about: What is a “face-to-face” encounter? What does it mean that Hashem spoke to the nation in such a manner at Sinai? Why might God have chosen to do so? According to verse 5, Moshe acted as an intermediary to “tell [the nation] the word of God.” How can this be reconciled with the direct encounter described in verse 4? What would be the point of Hashem speaking via a mediator? What does Moshe mean when he says “for you were afraid because of the fire”? Had the nation not been afraid, would the experience have been different? Why would God have chosen to frighten the people anyway? Did we hear the Ten Commandments directly from Hashem or did Moshe act as an intermediary? Right after the description of Hashem relaying the Ten Commandments, Moshe recounts how the people approached him, filled with fear: Deuteronomy 5 (20) and ye said: ‘Behold, the Lord our God hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and he liveth.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducción Al Estudio De La Torá
    FUENTES DEL PENSAMIENTO JUDAICO LAS OBRAS Y LOS PERSONAJES MÁS IMPORTANTES Por Roberto J. Ayala 1 LA TRADICIÓN INTERPRETATIVA “Rabí Meir refirió una vez: Cuando Israel se acercó a Di-s para recibir la Torá, Di-s les dijo: ‘Dadme garantías de que la observaréis.’ El Pueblo contestó: ‘Nuestros antepasados, cuya piedad es el ejemplo de nuestras vidas, aseguran que nosotros guardaremos la Torá.’ Pero Di-s contestó: ‘Vuestras garantías necesitan garantías a su vez, pues, yo he hallado falta en ellos.’ Entonces contestó el pueblo: ‘Permite que nuestro profetas se pongan de pie y respondan por nosotros.’ Pero Di-s contestó: ‘También en ellos he encontrado fallas.’ Entonces el pueblo de Israel dijo: ‘Nuestros hijos garantizarán la observancia de la Torá por toda la Eternidad.’ Y Di-s aceptó entonces esa garantía, y les dio la Torá.” (Cantar de los Cantares Rabá 1:4). Según la tradición Moisés recibió la Torá en el Monte Sinaí en el año 2.448 de la creación del mundo (1313 A.E.C.). La opinión de los rabinos al respecto es que la Torá que Di-s entregó al pueblo de Israel, estaba escrita de manera tal que además de poder estudiarse mediante un entendimiento literal del texto, también era posible llegar a niveles más profundos de comprensión mediante otros sistemas interpretativos de las escrituras que no contradecían la literalidad del texto, sino que complementaban el entendimiento del mismo. Por lo tanto los rabinos entendieron que la Biblia podía comprenderse de múltiples maneras al expresar: Shivím Paním LaTorá que quiere decir: ‘Setenta rostros tiene la Torá’ (Midrásh, Números Rabá 13:15), lo cual es una referencia a las diversas formas de interpretarla, considerándolas como verdaderas y entendiendo que provinieron de una misma fuente: El Creador del universo.
    [Show full text]
  • Exceptional a Sanctuary of Torah
    ISSUE # 215 | PARSHAS KI SISA FRIDAY MARCH 5TH, 2021 | 22 ADAR, 5781 EXCEPTIONAL A SANCTUARY OF TORAH Adapted from Touched by a Story by Rabbi Spero, with the permission of By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow the copyright holders, Artscroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd. (Artscroll) Based on the commentary of Rabbi Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt"l on Chumash, with permission from In 1973, Josh Kaniel was in a day school in L.A. The the publisher. From the very beginning, we were taught that the life in the Temple and rebbi, Rabbi Shmuel Leizer Stern, tried to make the life of the nation are not two separate spheres. The Sanhedrin is located learning exciting, but one day the boys gave him next to the altar, and the purpose of the altar is to bring justice, peace and a hard time, and he burst out, “I work so hard to holiness into the life of the nation. Hence, the laws that guide the nation prepare lessons every day and no one in this room is were set forth before the instructions for the building of the Mishkan. interested in learning—except Josh.” In the same spirit, now that those instructions have been carried out, the That caught Josh by surprise. His rebbi thought mitzvah of machatzis hashekel is given so that future generations will know he was learning? Josh struggled in school; no one that nation and Mishkan are one. thought that about him. He decided to pay attention. Thus, a great Jewish truth is established: The Sanctuary is not something He was ready to do whatever Rabbi Stern wanted.
    [Show full text]
  • Torah Musings Digests
    Torah Musings Digests July through October, 2014 as published on www.TorahMusings.com Unedited Introduction Started as the Hirhurim blog in 2004, Torah Musings relaunched in August 2013 as an online periodical focusing on multiple areas of interest, including: Textual Studies – halakhah (Jewish law),hashkafah (Jewish thought), history and parshanut (biblical commentary) that is clear, interesting, valuable to experienced students but understandable to those with limited Jewish education; News Stories and Commentary – thoughtful responses based on Jewish texts and traditions to issues of the day; Dialogue – differing views within the Orthodox camp, discussing with post and counter-post or in the responses. In July 2014, the website began sending weekly digests in PDF format. This booklet contains a collection of these weekly digests from July through October 2014, unrevised and in the same format originally sent. Currently, these PDF files flow automatically and sometimes misinterpret formatting commands. Therefore, there are occasional stray sentences that should be ignored. Please note that authorship of each essay is clear on the website but not always in the weekly digest. Unless otherwise indicated, assume that I wrote an essay. Many people contributed to this project. The editorial committee for the first year consisted of R. Micha Berger, R. Basil Herring and R. Moshe Schapiro, the last two continuing into the second year. These three scholars devoted many hours to improving and maintaining the website’s standards. I thank them for their hard work. During the period of this collection, Efraim Vaynman and David Roth served as editorial interns. I thank them both for their hard work.
    [Show full text]
  • Adas Torah Journal of Torah Ideas
    • NITZACHONניצחון Adas Torah Journal of Torah Ideas VOLUME 2:2 • PURIM - PESACH - SHAVUOS 5775 • LOS ANGELES Nitzachon Adas Torah Journal of Torah Ideas Volume 2:2 Purim-Pesach-Shavuos 5775 Adas Torah 1135 South Beverly Drive Los Angeles, CA 90035 www.adastorah.org [email protected] (310) 228-0963 Rabbi Dovid Revah, Rav and Mara D’Asra Alan Rich, President Nitzachon Editorial Team Michael Kleinman, General Editor Yaakov Siegel, General Editor Yaakov Rich, Associate Editor Andrea Kahn, Copy Editor Rob Shur, Design and Layout www.rbscreative.com VOLUME 2:2 • PURIM, PESACH AND SHAVUOS 5775 ראש וראשון Rabbi Dovid Revah: The Sweet Taste of Marror ..................................................................................... p. 13 Rabbi Kalman Topp: Guest Contributor Afikoman: The Mysterious Half ..................................................................................... p. 19 שפתי ישנים Rabbi Osher Zilberstein zt”l: Am Yisrael ..................................................................................... p. 29 Rabbi Simcha Wasserman zt”l: Reaching Out ..................................................................................... p. 33 PURIM Eli Snyder: The Klippa of a Kippa: Addressing our Dress through the Custom of Costumes ..................................................................................... p. 41 Avraham Azizi: Leaders Acting Like Children: The Unusual Events that Led toKlal Yisrael’s Salvation on Purim ....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Sword of Judith Judith Studies Across the Disciplines Edited by Kevin R
    The Sword of Judith Judith Studies Across the Disciplines Edited by Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti and Henrike Lähnemann To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/28 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. Abraham Bosse, Judith Femme Forte, 1645. Engraving in Lescalopier, Les predications. Photo credit: Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti and Henrike Lähnemann (eds.) The Sword of Judith Judith Studies Across the Disciplines Cambridge 2010 40 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, CB1 2BL, United Kingdom http://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2010 Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti and Henrike Lähnemann Some rights are reserved. This book is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. This license allows for copying any part of the work for personal and non-commercial use, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Details of allowances and restrictions are available at: http://www.openbookpublishers.com As with all Open Book Publishers titles, digital material and resources associated with this volume are available from our website: http://www.openbookpublishers.com ISBN Hardback: 978-1-906924-16-4 ISBN Paperback: 978-1-906924-15-7 ISBN Digital (pdf): 978-1-906924-17-1 All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initia- tive), and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certified. Printed in the United Kingdom and United States by Lightning Source for Open Book Publishers Contents Introductions 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Talmud Bavli
    Biography of the Vilna Shas תלמוד בבלי Moshe Freedman ירושלים תמוז תשס״ז דרכיה דרכי נעם בס״ד Introduction Typeset by the Romm Printing House in the city of Vilna, Lithuania, the Vilna Shas is by far the most common edition of the Babylonian Talmud still in use today. This biographical analysis of a typical page of Talmud was designed to help both beginner and more advanced learners to familiarize themselves with the origin and function of the various commentators printed on the margins of the classic Vilna Shas. Besides the primary commentaries of Rashi and Tosafos, the Romm printers made use of a variety of other important, but less well known commentaries in the outer margins of the text. The publishing house employed scholars to search for these manuscripts in libraries and private collections across Europe, including that of the Vatican. After studying these lost manuscripts, the scholars were able to copy them and bring them to the Romm publishers who included them, even though they did not cover every tractate. In this biography the only one of these commentaries mentioned is Rabbeinu Chananel whose manuscripts were found for most of Shas. Furthermore, the Sefer HaAruch (written by Rabbi Nosson ben Yechiel) indicates that Rabbeinu Chananel’s commentary originally covered every tractate, although many have now been lost. Different tractates contain other commentaries in the margins of the Gemara. The additional commentaries not included in this work include the following: Rabbi Nissim Gaon 4750 – 4822 מאור הגולה ,CE), Perush Rabbeinu Gershom, refered to as the Meor HaGolah 1062 – 990) 4720 – 4788 (960 – 1028 CE), Hagahos HaRi Landau by Rabbi Yechezkel Landau 5473 – 5553 (1713 – 1793 CE) also known as the Noda B’Yehuda and Rabbi Yeshaya of Trani I .(CE 1260 – 1180) 5020 – 4940 תוספות רי״ד ,HaZaken, known as Tosafos Rid The ‘Tzuras HaDaf’ layout is designed to facilitate the visual learner and is based on the original printing of the Vilna Talmud.
    [Show full text]
  • Solomon Schechter and Medieval European Rabbinic Literature
    https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.jhs.2016v48.023 Solomon Schechter and medieval European rabbinic literature ephraim kanarfogel Yeshiva University, USA* Solomon Schechter’s contributions to our knowledge of the rabbinic texts in the Cairo Genizah are legendary. But Schechter also expressed a wide variety of important ideas and theories about rabbinic literature and thought from other locales and periods. Several broad examples of these interests will suffice. At the plenary session of the World Congress of Jewish Studies held in Jerusalem in 1997 – marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Cairo Genizah and Schechter’s role in that discovery – Ya’akov Sussman noted that at this point in his academic career, Schechter had been deeply interested in a series of talmudic works such as the Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, and in rabbinic theology as well.1 Moshe Idel, in an article that appeared in the centenary volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review in 2010, highlights how much Schechter had to say about Nahmanides and the disciplines that he represented, including and perhaps especially Kabbalah.2 And recently, Elliot Wolfson has re-assessed Schechter’s trenchant analysis of the mystical traditions in sixteenth-century Safed.3 The present study sets its sights on another area of rabbinic creativity in the medieval world – rabbinic writings from Christian Europe – where Schechter’s work has gone relatively unnoticed and unremarked. In a brief period during the 1890s, from his vantage point at Cambridge, Schechter published a series of articles that present some of the rabbinic materials that he encountered in manuscripts held at Cambridge and in other European libraries as well.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence and Development of Tosafot on the Talmud
    143 The Emergence and Development of Tosafot on the Talmud By: ARYEH LEIBOWITZ Introduction It is generally known that the Tosafot commentary on the Talmud is a compendium of Talmudic scholarship produced in France and Germany over a period of a century and a half. Less known are the stages of its development and the different elements of its produc- tion. By charting the development of the Tosafist academies in Northern France through their final editing stages in France and Germany, this article suggests three distinct elements in the produc- tion of the Tosafot commentary and provides the reader with a gen- eral perspective of the printed editions of Tosafot that adorn mod- ern-day editions of the Talmud. The Tosafist Enterprise Dialectic study, the sine qua non of rabbinic Judaism in the period of the Amoraim, seemingly fell into disuse in the centuries follow- ing the final redaction of the Talmud. The talmudic commentaries that emerged from the Geonic era primarily focused on straight- forward explanations of difficult talmudic lexicons or on the eluci- dation of specific complicated passages. Additionally, Geonic atten- tion was turned toward the issuance of legal rulings for the many communities that looked toward the Babylonian academies for legal decisions. If dialectic study of the Talmud was engaged in by the Geonim, very little was recorded and available for the emerging ________________________________________________________ Aryeh Leibowitz is a musmakh of REITS and earned his Ph.D. from Yeshiva University. He is the Assistant
    [Show full text]
  • Parshat Bereishis
    בס״ד Torah Finding Comfort The first the body because this was their absolute. The kindness is true portion of the Torah begins first encounter with death. The kindness. Weekly with pristine beauty. The Midrash continues: they saw a Adam and Eve looked at creation of a graceful, peaceful bird (araiv in the Hebrew) the araiv and understood. They burying a dead bird in the 20-26 October, 2019 world, culminating with the received the wisdom on how to 21-27 Tishrei, 5780 creation of the day of rest, as ground. Adam and Eve decided react. They now understood Torah: Genesis 1:1 - 6:8 the Torah describes: to do the same and buried Abel that the response to absolute Haftorah: Isaiah 42:5-21 “And G-d saw all that He had in the earth. evil is absolute kindness. True, PARSHAT BEREISHIS On the surface, this Midrash evil must be stopped and made, and behold it was very We have Jewish good, and it was evening and it explains how they found a contained, but the remedy to was morning, the sixth day. solution to the technical absolute depravity within Calendars. If you would like one, Now the heavens and the earth question of how to dispose of humanity is absolute love and the corpse. On a deeper level, compassion. please send us a were completed and all their however, this Midrash contains letter and we will host. And G-d completed on the They were comforted. They seventh day His work that He profound insight into the send you one, or were comforted, because they did, and He abstained on the human condition.
    [Show full text]
  • Summer11b Layout 1 5/27/11 12:33 PM Page 75
    Summer11b_Layout 1 5/27/11 12:33 PM Page 75 Legal-Ease By Ari Z. Zivotofsky What’s the Truth about . Rashi’s Daughters? MISCONCEPTION: Rashi’s daughters While there is no evidence that any problem with women performing wore tefillin. of Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin, this these mitzvot, and they are actually myth persists and is found in various encouraged to do so. The mitzvah of FACT: There is no evidence that printed sources. In her book, Life on donning tefillin appears to be a notable Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Toward exception. A variety of reasons has Traditional Rabbinic Ordination, Dr. been suggested.5 BACKGROUND: Rabbi Shlomo Haviva Ner-David2 cites Rashi’s daugh- The earliest source on the topic of Yitzchaki, known colloquially as ters’ “tradition” of wearing tefillin as women donning tefillin is found in Tar- “Rashi,” is the commentator par excel- setting a precedent. Similarly, an article gum Yonatan to Devarim 22:5. When lence on both the Torah and Talmud. that appeared in the Journal of Jewish discussing the prohibition of a woman Born in Troyes in northern France in Music and Liturgy3 mentions that wearing male garments, the commen- CE), he descended on both 4801 (1040 Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. tary mentions that women are not per- sides from influential families. He The halachah makes it clear that mitted to don tzitzit and tefillin. studied in Worms, Germany, under women are exempt from wearing Dr. Aliza Berger, who carried out an some of the leading rabbinic authori- tefillin (Mishnah Berachot 3:3; Kid- exhaustive study of the topic, notes ties of his time and established a dushin 33b-34a; SA, OC 38:3).
    [Show full text]