This blog has moved

This blog has moved to http://menachemmendel.net/blog/ - here.

Movin' on Up!

I recently decided to move my blog to its own domain in the hope that it will allow me more flexibility in postings, downloads, etc. The downside is that it is not free, but for a very reasonable amount one can get a domain name, I got it from Namecheap, and some server space, I am using Bluehost. I was able to transfer all of my posts, but the comments will take some time, as will some other aspects of the blog. So my domain name is http://menachemmendel.net/blog/ and my first post is here. I hope to see you all there.

Reading for Tisha B'Av

If you are looking for some reading for Tisha B'Av, one can look over Christian M.M. Brady's (also see his blog Targuman) dissertation, "Targum Lamentations' Reading of the Book of Lamentations."

Books That Ruin Good Paper

On my post on the use of underwear for paper-making, someone commented that,

I can think of many books today that would have been put to better use had they been converted to underwear.

While not using the same words, this description of the worthiness of certain books reminded me of an approbation (הסכמה) written for R. Judah Leib Zirelsohn's collection of responsa, Gevul Yehudah (1906). The writer of the approbation was R. Eliyahu Hazan, who was then the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria, Egypt. R. Hazan apparently was not only very impressed with R. Zirelsohn, but was also quite disappointed with the quality of many books that had been written. Regarding Gevul Yehudah he wrote,

אדוני שאל לשלוח לו הסכמתו על ספרו שו"ת גבול יהודא העומד בדפוס. גם שלח לי עלים לתרופה מהתשובות שכבר נדפסו כדי לשים עיני עליהם. ומאז ראיתי הרבה ספרים נדפסים אשר אינם שוים בנזק הנייר והדפוס ולא לעזר ולא להועיל המה, ויש בהם כי אדרבא עוד יזיקו להדת ולהחכמה, ולדאבון לבי ראיתי גם באיזה מהם הסכמות רבנים מפורסמים, אולי טרם ידעו הכתוב בספר או מרוב ענותנותם לא יכלו להשיב המחברים ריקם. ואחרי כי כן לא יוכל איש לדון על הספר ועל מחברו מההסכמות הבאות בראש הספר, ורק אחרי העיון בגוף הספר, אז ידע ערך החיבור וגודל מעלת המחבר. לכן משכתי את עצמי בכל האפשר לתת הסכמתי על הספר

The gentleman asked to send him an approbation for his book of responsa Gevul Yehudah which is soon to be published. He also sent me copies of the responsa which had already been published in order that I see them. Since then I have seen many books published which are not worth the damage done to the paper and printing, and they are not helpful or useful. On the other hand they contain that which will cause damage to religion and knowledge, and to my disappointment I saw in some of them the approbations of well-known rabbis. Maybe it is that they didn't know what was written in the book, or because of their great humility they weren't able to turn the authors away empty-handed. After this no person is able to judge a book and his author on the basis of the approbations that are in the beginning of the book. It is only after an examination of the contents of the book that one will know the worth of the book and the level of the author. Therefore I restrained myself as much as possible from writing an approbation for the book.

R. Hazan goes on to say how impressed he was with R. Zirelsohn when they met, and how much he thinks of his work that he has already seen, but he says that he is intentionally making comments of a general nature. One final not is that while R. Hazan has been subject to the insightful analysis of Tzvi Zohar, very little has been written about R. Zirelsohn. I wrote a seminar paper on him ages ago, and hopefully I will find the time to go over it and make it into an article.

Is Harry Potter Shomer Shabbat?

Not being the biggest fan of the Harry Potter books, I have enjoyed the movies, I am having quite the time observing from the sidelines all the latest about the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Iyov has linked to many of the attempts at derashing Harry Potter, but you knew that there had to be some real Torah involved, well here it is...

Ultra-Orthodox Lawmakers Slam Harry Potter Launch on Shabbat

Is all of this anticipation a taste of that for the coming of the Messiah? Oy vey, maybe Harry's the Messiah himself, and if he dies...Moshiah! Moshiah! Moshiah! (You know the tune) Ay Yay Yay Yay Yay....



(Warning: the video contains music which may be objectionable to some people during the nine days. If you qualify, try to watch it after Tisha B'av.)

Languages, Critical Inquiry and Theological Education

John Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry has written some very interesting posts on the need for stronger language skills for theological students. His post has resulted in a number of interesting responses. As someone who has taught rabbinical, graduate, and non-degree (לשמה) students, it is clear that language is a huge problem for many, if not most students wanting to study classical Jewish texts, with the problem more acute in the non-Orthodox world. While I agree with much of what John said, and I envy his early baptism, no pun intended, into the field of language study, I think that he overestimates both the knowledge of proper Hebrew and Aramaic by yeshiva students, and also the knowledge of the Biblical text by many yeshiva students. Consider the following statement of his,

But I disagree with Iyov when he says a Yeshiva bocher's reading of Scripture is no less valid than ours.
Chances are, it is more valid. That's because a Yeshiva bocher is more likely to be fully immersed in rabbinic culture's appropriation of Scripture, and to know Scripture inside and out.

If only John knew how the study of the Bible, outside of the weekly Torah portion, is such a marginal subject in many yeshivot. Despite these few misgivings, he raises some very important points which should be of concern to those concerned with study of classical religious texts in their original languages. It seems to me that modern rabbinical schools (i.e. YU, CT, JTS, UJ, HUC, RRC, and AJR) are often re-evaluating what they are doing and how they are doing it. While for some it may not be often enough, or the changes might not be to their liking, and those involved in the deliberations might be sick of it already, that it is happening illustrates how difficult it is to educate a rabbi. In addition, for some schools the changes are of a different nature and to a different degree than others.

Lastly, a number of years ago a study was published with the title "Religious and Theological Studies in American Higher Education". While somewhat outdated, a quick reading shows that there is still much relevance in its findings and discussions.

Update: I had a closer look at the above mentioned study and it isn't as relevant as I had thought. It is really a pilot study, trying to explain why a more in depth study is required.

Iyov-Excellent New Blog

Thanks a post at Codex, upon which I hope to comment later, I have come upon an excellent new blog, Iyov. In a little over two months there have been a large number of very interesting posts. Welcome to the blogosphere and keep up the good work.

The Influence of Underwear on Jewish History

I know that the title is a bit out of the ordinary, but as we begin the nine days and all of the questions which have been raised about washing certain articles of clothing, consider the following news report from News for Medievalists,

Delegates at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, northern England, were told this week that social migration from rural to urban areas in the 13th century brought with it changes in attire.

Whereas rough and ready peasants thought little of wearing nothing under their smocks, the practice became frowned upon in the burgeoning towns and cities, leading to a run on undergarments. And when the underwear was worn out, it provided a steady supply of material used by papermakers to make books.

“The development of literacy was certainly helped by the introduction of paper, which was made from rags,” said Marco Mostert of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who was one of the conference organizers.

“These rags came from discarded clothes, which cost much less than the very expensive parchment which was previously used for books. In the 13th century, so it is thought, as more people moved into urban centres, the use of underwear increased – which caused an increase in the number of rags available for paper-making.”

The invention of the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century is generally credited with spreading learning. Before that, books were hand-written.

But Dr. Mostert said that although literacy did not become widespread until the 19th century, it was more common in the Middle Ages than many believe because of cheap paper made from rags.

“Although the aim of producing a 100-per-cent literate population didn't occur before the 19th century, after about 1100 the need for literacy grew steadily, and from about 1200 … the number of literates increased dramatically along with the number of schools in urban areas,” he said.

Maybe the Genizah has preserved more than we previously thought.

Synagogue Regulations from the Early Reform Movement

Steven M. Lowenstein, previously mentioned in this post, has examined the Synagogue Regulations, Synagogenordnungen, of the early Reform Movement in 19th century Germany. He has compared collections of 13 regulations from different synagogues, spanning the years 1810-1848. Lowenstein writes that,

A study of the concrete innovations introduced into German-Jewish communities during the 1840's and earlier show that, despite the increase in Reform activity and the increased radicalization of both word and practice, the Reformers were still far from imposing their program on most communities. The most widespread innovations before 1850 were regular German sermons, confirmations, and choirs.

Another interesting note is that according to Heinrich Graetz, he was the one who gave Samson Raphael Hirsch the ideal to abolish Kol Nidre. Much of Lowenstein's research is based upon what was published in the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums which can be found here.

There are dozens of regulations, many relating to issues of decorum and what were considered to be folk beliefs and superstitions, and below are some of them.

1. No children under a certain age allowed in the synagogue-All of the regulations contain some age under which children shouldn't be brought into the synagogue. The ages range from 4-9 years old. This seems to be related to an attempt to maintain a certain level of order in the synagogue.
2. No noisemaking during the reading of Megillat Esther-This was in most of the regulations, although primarily in the earlier ones.
3. No LOUD kissing of the tzizit-This was absent in all of those before 1838, and found in most of them hereafter.
4. Only the rabbi can correct mistakes in Torah reading-Found in most of the post-1838 regulations.
5. Only the cantor may lead services-Found in most of the post-1838 regulations.
6. Shir ha-Yihud not said on weekdays-Found in most of the post-1838 regulations.
7. Ba-me Madlikin not said-Absent from all of the pre-1838 regulations.
8. Women must have covered heads-Found only in the Munich regulations of 1826.
9. Choir instituted-Found in every regulation from 1838 onwards.
10. Unmarried girls permitted in synagogue-This is found in 4 of the 13 regulations. Does it mean that unmarried girls usually weren't found, or maybe even permitted in the synagogue otherwise?

Source:

Steven M. Lowenstein, "The 1840s and the Creation of the German-Jewish Religious Reform Movement", in The Mechanics of Change: Essays in the Social History of German Jewry, 1992. Also see Jacob Petuchowski's Prayerbook Reform in Europe.

R. Yudl Rosenberg and the Golem

Probably everyone who has some interest in the Golem of Prague is familiar with Prof. Shnayer Z. Leiman's article "The Adventure of the Maharal of Prague in London: R. Yudl Rosenberg and the Golem of Prague". For those who want to read about R. Yudl Rosenberg even more, Curt Leviant has recently published a translation of R. Yudl's stories, The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague. The book includes an introduction about R. Yudl Rosenberg himself and the legend of the Golem, part of which can be read here.

Readers of Mendelssohn's Bible Translation

On the Main Line recently wrote about R. Akiva Eiger and Moses Mendelssohn and S. described some of the aspects of R. Eiger's relationship to Mendelssohn's Bible translation. Steven M. Lowenstein has analyzed subscriber lists of the translation, coming up with some interesting findings. Here are some of Lowenstein's findings,

In addition to the Jewish subscribers there were no fewer than 21 non-Jewish ones (to the Hebrew script edition), including the King and Crown Prince of Denmark, the governor of Silesia (Von Hoym), and other government officials, professors, clergymen and librarians.
...
Each of the editions lists rabbis who were pillars of Orthodoxy among its subscribers. In 1801 they included Rabbi Löb Berlin of Kassel, future leader of the Westphalian consistory and several of his sons; Michael Geiger, the Orthodox father of Abraham Geiger, and Wolf Hamburger, the fiercely anti-Reform future head of the yeshiva in Fürth.

In 1824 they included Salomon Trier of Frankfurt and Gabriel Adler of Mühringen (himself Orthodox though the teacher of a number of early reform rabbis). The Berlin edition of 1831 not only carried rabbinical endorsements (haskamot) from the traditional rabbis of Berlin, Emden, Krefeld, and Brunswick, but also included among its subscribers Akiba Eiger, chief rabbi of Posen, one of the leaders of old-line Orthodoxy in his generation. Descendants of early rabbinical opponents of the Mendelssohnian translation were later found among its supporters. The 1804 Mendelssohn Psalm translation, for example, includes amongs its subscribers the son-in-law of Rabbi Raphael Cohen of Hamburg, while the grandson of another opponent (Ezekial Landau of Prague, author of Noda Biyehuda), Moses Landau, was the publisher of the Prague edition of 1836.
...
Finally, the 1836 (Warsaw edition, MM) subscription list ends with a mention of unnamed subscribers "many and honored, who fear the Lord in secret and in the open, also loving wisdom even in secret, many who contributed for the printing of these chumashim..." Clearly, many East European Jews who did buy the Mendelssohn Bible preferred not to have their names publicized because of the stigma (or even danger) involved.

Lowenstein's findings are very interesting, examining the differences between the different editions, opposition to the translation, and the central role that language played among those who both supported and opposed it.

Source:

Steven M. Lowenstein, "The Readership of Mendelssohn's Bible Translation" in The Mechanics of Change: Essays in the Social History of German Jewry, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992. = [HUCA 53 (1982), pp. 179-213].