Grandma – a Book About Devorah Sternbuch
Some time ago, I leafed through some old Jewish newspapers. There was the first issue of HaDerekh, published in Zurich by the Central Office of the Agudath Israel. It carried […]
Yeshayahu Vinograd’s Monumental ‘Otzar HaSefer Halvri’
Three weeks ago, Yeshayahu Vinograd, director of the Institute for Computerized Bibliography in Jerusalem, came for a short visit to New York. He brought with him his eagerly awaited Thesaurus […]
The Rabbi in the Nazi Uniform
During the German occupation of Hungary, members of the Zionist youth movements — “the Zionist underground” — played a major role in the rescue of Jews by the mass […]
A Visit to the Talmudic Encyclopedia
“In about six months, the 22nd volume of the Talmudic Encyclopedia will come off the press.” Rabbi Yehoshua Hutner, the executive director of the encyclopedia told us when we visited […]
The 60th Anniversary of Encyclopedia Talmudit
Two weeks ago. my wife and I had the honor and privilege to attend an extraordinary Torah celebration. A festive dinner was held in honor of the 60th anniversary of […]
Supercommentaries on Rashi
A very large number of supercommentaries have been composed on Rashi’s commentary on the Torah. The author of the supercommnetaries include Gedolei Yisrael who felt impelled to explain and […]
Stories about Yitzhak Ben Zvi, the Second President of Israel
The late Rabbi Shmuel HaKohen Weingarten was a well known rabbinic scholar and author who wrote in four languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, Hungarian and German. Brought up in Hungary, where he […]
A Story and Its Twin
This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of the Gaon of Vilna. May we relate here a little known story about the Gaon. The same story is also […]
Abrabanel on Pirke Avot
(Conclusion) Abrabanel wrote his commentary on Avot at the request of his son Shemuel. In the prologue to his introductions” – which is written in very flowery langauge — Abrabanel […]
Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Berlin’s Tzava Rav
(Continued from last week) Machon Yerushalayim’s edition of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch’s notes and novellae on the Mishna, the Tur and the Shulhan Arukh is introduced in a foreward by Rabbi […]