The Custom of Eating Fish on Shabbat
The Midrash tells of a Roman Jew, a tailor by profession, who on the eve of Yom Kippur competed with the servant of the governor for the last fish on […]
They Wore Sackcloth (Marking the Three Weeks)
Two great rabbinic luminaries wore sackcloth under their garments as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple and the Galuth of the Divine Glory. Not only one […]
The Sage of Leipzig (Rabbi Simon Hurwitz)
The Sage of Leipzig is the title of a new Hebrew English book about the life and writings of Rabbi Simon Hurwitz. The name Simon Hurwitz might not mean much […]
About the Daf Yomi
Last year on the eve of the 11th Siyum of Shas for the Daf Yomi, the Va’ad for the Daf Yomi of Agudath Israel in the US. published a miscellany, […]
Yad David- Novellae on the Talmud by Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim
A new volume of Yad David, novellae on the Talmud by Rabbi Joseph David Sinzheim, came off the press in Jerusalem some time ago. Rabbi Sinzheim was, in his time, […]
Elul
Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz writes in his Shnei Luchot HaBrith (Messechet Rosh Hashana, Amud HaDin): The ancients (Kadmonim) gave a sign (for the days of judgement and the period of repentance […]
A Difficult Line in A Tish’a BeAv Elegy
Among the Kinot we recite Tish’a BeAv in the evening after the reading of Eicha is one which begins with the words: “Ad Ana Bechiya Betziyon?” (How much longer will […]
Yetziv Pitgam
Last year, on the occasion of Shavuot, I wrote about Yetziv Pitgam, which is said on the second day of the festival after the reading of the first verse of […]
The Hillula of Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Lag Ba’Omer in Cracow)
Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the great codifier, author of additions to Rabbi Yosef Caro’s Shulchan Aruch, reflecting the laws and customs of Ashkenazi Jewry, lived and taught in Cracow, where he […]
Two Festival Customs
The Mishna (Yoma 5:1) tells us that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, “He came out by the way he entered.” Just as he […]