Month: May 2012
-
Rabbeinu Chananel
This shiur is really about the Rabbis of Kairouan and the codification of the Talmud. Having never heard of Kairouan at all until very recently it amazes me how many famous Rabbis lived there or learnt there. I have also wondered for many years about what made the Talmud a binding text on all of… Read more
-
Thoughts on the Anti-Internet Brochure part 2
Rabbi Yosef Veiner wrote the first article in the brochure. It is entitled “Family Security and Issues of Lifnei Iveir”. Even though it begins as completely out of touch with reality (in my opinion) I thought he actually made a valid point (albeit one that has been known to any internet savvy people for about… Read more
-
Rabbi Yitzchak Yisraeli
I gave a shiur last night about Rabbi Yitzchak (ben Shlomo) Yisraeli. He is possibly the first Rishon (because he was a contemporary of Rav Saadiah Gaon, so he is really before the era of the Rishonim. He also lived to the age of 100, so he really spanned the transition from Gaonim to Rishonim… Read more
-
Some First Thoughts on the Anti-Internet Brochure
Failed Messiah has posted a link to the brochure that was given out at Citi-Field during the ‘Asifa’. It is 100 pages, and even with the big letters I doubt I will be able to read it all at once (unlike those who attended the Asifa I don’t have the luxury of 7 hours to… Read more
-
New Look
I’ve changed the template of my blog – mainly because blogger has been telling me to do it for a long time, and partly to avoid doing more serious work. Please let me know if it works for you, on your computer, and most of all, whether it looks better on your smart phone now.… Read more
-
Can Yerushalayim be saved again?
This is kind of a Yom Yerushalayim post, and kind of because of the chareidi nonsense going on in America today with the ‘internet asifa’ which highlights to me how messed up the whole system is. The Talmud (Gitin 56a-b) speaks about the fall of Yerushalayim in the year 70, and how Rabbi Yochanan came… Read more
-
Kosher Internet – cynicism =truth
Every time I am at my most cynical about the Chareidi community I REALLY hope that I am going over the top and will be shown to be a fool. Because every time that I find myself to be correct I end up becoming more and more cynical! Today is the ‘asifa’ in Citi-Field where… Read more
-
Science and Chazal – three approaches
No chidushim in this post, but just another interesting example of different approaches to aggadata. I was learning Ein Yaakov with my daughter on Shabbat, and we came to the passage in Yoma 20b that speaks about the noise that the sun makes as it travels across the sky during the day: ת”ר אלמלא גלגל… Read more
-
What have the British ever done for us?
There is a great scene in ‘The Life of Brian’ (don’t watch the whole movie – not tzanuah in one scene) were they are discussing “What have the Romans ever done for us?” Without wishing to minimize the comedy of that scene, or the seriousness of the gemara, I am reminded of this scene every… Read more
-
Chief Rabbi Hertz on Aggadata
I found this section on Aggadata in the Introduction to Nezikin in the Soncino Talmud. It is by Chief Rabbi J. H. Hertz and is clearly written to remove any charges of anti-Christian sentiment from the Talmud (if you read the entire piece it is clear that is a major issue for him – this… Read more