Elli Fischer | Tel Aviv University (original) (raw)
Papers by Elli Fischer
Oqimta, 2024
Nearly all scholars and writers who have addressed Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann’s halakhic writings ... more Nearly all scholars and writers who have addressed Rabbi David Zvi
Hoffmann’s halakhic writings have lamented that the almost complete
absence of dates in She’elot u-Teshuvot Melamed Leho’il makes it
impossible to chart Rabbi Hoffmann’s development in this field. However,
close scrutiny of Rabbi Hoffmann’s vast correspondence and of the
chronological record from which Melamed Leho’il was abstracted allows
us to begin to reconstruct his development.
This paper will demonstrate the sources and methods by which this
reconstruction can be accomplished by looking at one particular issue: the
status of sesame oil on Passover. Rabbi Hoffmann addresses the question
in one lengthy (and composite) responsum in Melamed Leho’il and refers
to it obliquely in another. Additional correspondences have come to light
more recently, and a newspaper article from the early 1900s completes the
picture and demonstrates how Rabbi Hoffmann’s position changed over
the course of five years. This is but one example of Rabbi Hoffmann’s
evolution as a halakhist when he took up the mantle of posek during the
last two decades of his life.
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JSIJ, 2022
In this article, we seek to understand the methods by which Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann (1843-1921) ... more In this article, we seek to understand the methods by which Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann (1843-1921) functioned as a posek, a decisor of Halakhah. Close study of R. Hoffmann's written correspondence and of his manuscript "notebook" that forms the basis of Melamed Le-ho'il, the posthumously published collection of his responsa, enables us to trace the process by which he rendered judgment.
We demonstrate that R. Hoffmann both recorded his halakhic decisions in his notebook and copied directly from the notebook into the letters of response to various correspondents. We also show that R. Hoffmann continued to update his notebook through the years, until the end of his life, revisiting previously rendered decisions. Thus, even a single responsum, as printed in Melamed Le-ho'il, may reflect several stages of R. Hoffmann's halakhic thinking about a particular topic over time.
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The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, ... more The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, the Hungarian-born rector of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin during the first decades of the 20th century. In addition to training a generation of rabbis, his literary legacy includes his commentaries and scholarly writings on the Pentateuch, volumes of halakhic responsa, and several treatises on Talmudic literature, especially on the formal composition of Tannaitic literature. These works not only display his breadth of knowledge and intellectual versatility, but also his capacity to inhabit different roles in parochial settings and the academy, to "code-switch" from the style and conventions of critical scholarship to the parlance of the traditional posek halakhah, engaging Wissenschaft des Judentums practitioners in one essay, then citing traditionalist authorities in his halakhic rulings. We will mark his centennial yahrzeit by examining these distinct elements of his works and activities with the aim of achieving a more rigorous and critical portrait of a person who became an exemplar for Jewish scholars who seek to navigate the standards of balanced, scientific investigation with remaining embedded in and committed to their faith communities. Scholars are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute lectures on aspects of Hoffmann's life, works, or legacy. The conference is scheduled to take place at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday,
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Tradition, 2019
Professor Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction" shaped the thinking of a generation ab... more Professor Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction" shaped the thinking of a generation about attitudes toward the source of halakha. 25 years later, it seems that the change was transitional. Soloveitchik's article will join other texts that reflect the "sacred history" of halakha.
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It has long been remarked that nothing about Israel's religion-state "status quo" is static. This... more It has long been remarked that nothing about Israel's religion-state "status quo" is static. This is generally true, but for the exception of the laws governing marriage and divorce, which remain virtually unchanged in almost a century, even though these are some of the most unpopular laws in the State of Israel, and even though the problematic nature of the law was known at the time of its legislation.
This article adds a new layer of understanding to the genesis of this law by looking at the official and unofficial role of rabbis in Diaspora communities, especially Tsarist Russia and its successor states, birthplaces of most of Israel's founding leaders, and demonstrating the continuities between those arrangements and the arrangements in the new state.
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Lehrhaus, 2018
To understand one of the most baffling sections of the Haggadah, it is necessary to understand th... more To understand one of the most baffling sections of the Haggadah, it is necessary to understand that the "afikomen" was a substitute for the paschal lamb, and only in exile was it possible to invite people to "come and eat" at the last minute.
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The Lehrhaus, 2017
Diagnosing the problems with Israel's Chief Rabbinate is the first step to solving them. There is... more Diagnosing the problems with Israel's Chief Rabbinate is the first step to solving them. There is a tendency to fight the Rabbinate as though it were a systematic, principled entity, when in fact it is an incompetent bureaucracy. This means we should change strategy.
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There is an old Ashkenazic custom to visit the graves of Jewish saints on fast days, and particul... more There is an old Ashkenazic custom to visit the graves of Jewish saints on fast days, and particularly on the day before Rosh Hashana. A meditation on that practice after visiting the grave of Franz Rosenzweig, on the occasion of the launch of a publication based on is educational thinking.
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New York Jewish Week
What are the costs of American Modern Orthodoxy in terms of creativity?
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An obituary for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
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New York Jewish Week
When attempting to change Jewish practice, appeals to lofty values tend not to work. Appealing to... more When attempting to change Jewish practice, appeals to lofty values tend not to work. Appealing to socioeconomic realities is far more likely to succeed. A prescription for ordaining Orthodox Jewish women.
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The notion that a tattoo will bar someone from a Jewish cemetery is commonplace, even if it is no... more The notion that a tattoo will bar someone from a Jewish cemetery is commonplace, even if it is not true. Where does it come from, then?
The surprising answer is the comedy of Lenny Bruce - and it betrays something of his own hybrid identity.
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A brief history of Tu bi-Shvat
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Lehrhaus
Is the OU Paper on Women's leadership roles in Orthodoxy a schismatic document? Hardly. What is i... more Is the OU Paper on Women's leadership roles in Orthodoxy a schismatic document? Hardly. What is it trying to accomplish? Does it succeed?
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A mythic pilgrimage to a new Zionist shrine in the early 20th century had been domesticated by Hu... more A mythic pilgrimage to a new Zionist shrine in the early 20th century had been domesticated by Hungarian Ultra-Orthodoxy in short order.
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Mosaic, Apr 21, 2016
How the introduction of three-field crop rotation changed Ashkenazik food practices on Passover.
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Oqimta, 2024
Nearly all scholars and writers who have addressed Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann’s halakhic writings ... more Nearly all scholars and writers who have addressed Rabbi David Zvi
Hoffmann’s halakhic writings have lamented that the almost complete
absence of dates in She’elot u-Teshuvot Melamed Leho’il makes it
impossible to chart Rabbi Hoffmann’s development in this field. However,
close scrutiny of Rabbi Hoffmann’s vast correspondence and of the
chronological record from which Melamed Leho’il was abstracted allows
us to begin to reconstruct his development.
This paper will demonstrate the sources and methods by which this
reconstruction can be accomplished by looking at one particular issue: the
status of sesame oil on Passover. Rabbi Hoffmann addresses the question
in one lengthy (and composite) responsum in Melamed Leho’il and refers
to it obliquely in another. Additional correspondences have come to light
more recently, and a newspaper article from the early 1900s completes the
picture and demonstrates how Rabbi Hoffmann’s position changed over
the course of five years. This is but one example of Rabbi Hoffmann’s
evolution as a halakhist when he took up the mantle of posek during the
last two decades of his life.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
JSIJ, 2022
In this article, we seek to understand the methods by which Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann (1843-1921) ... more In this article, we seek to understand the methods by which Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann (1843-1921) functioned as a posek, a decisor of Halakhah. Close study of R. Hoffmann's written correspondence and of his manuscript "notebook" that forms the basis of Melamed Le-ho'il, the posthumously published collection of his responsa, enables us to trace the process by which he rendered judgment.
We demonstrate that R. Hoffmann both recorded his halakhic decisions in his notebook and copied directly from the notebook into the letters of response to various correspondents. We also show that R. Hoffmann continued to update his notebook through the years, until the end of his life, revisiting previously rendered decisions. Thus, even a single responsum, as printed in Melamed Le-ho'il, may reflect several stages of R. Hoffmann's halakhic thinking about a particular topic over time.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
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The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, ... more The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, the Hungarian-born rector of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin during the first decades of the 20th century. In addition to training a generation of rabbis, his literary legacy includes his commentaries and scholarly writings on the Pentateuch, volumes of halakhic responsa, and several treatises on Talmudic literature, especially on the formal composition of Tannaitic literature. These works not only display his breadth of knowledge and intellectual versatility, but also his capacity to inhabit different roles in parochial settings and the academy, to "code-switch" from the style and conventions of critical scholarship to the parlance of the traditional posek halakhah, engaging Wissenschaft des Judentums practitioners in one essay, then citing traditionalist authorities in his halakhic rulings. We will mark his centennial yahrzeit by examining these distinct elements of his works and activities with the aim of achieving a more rigorous and critical portrait of a person who became an exemplar for Jewish scholars who seek to navigate the standards of balanced, scientific investigation with remaining embedded in and committed to their faith communities. Scholars are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute lectures on aspects of Hoffmann's life, works, or legacy. The conference is scheduled to take place at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday,
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Tradition, 2019
Professor Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction" shaped the thinking of a generation ab... more Professor Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction" shaped the thinking of a generation about attitudes toward the source of halakha. 25 years later, it seems that the change was transitional. Soloveitchik's article will join other texts that reflect the "sacred history" of halakha.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
It has long been remarked that nothing about Israel's religion-state "status quo" is static. This... more It has long been remarked that nothing about Israel's religion-state "status quo" is static. This is generally true, but for the exception of the laws governing marriage and divorce, which remain virtually unchanged in almost a century, even though these are some of the most unpopular laws in the State of Israel, and even though the problematic nature of the law was known at the time of its legislation.
This article adds a new layer of understanding to the genesis of this law by looking at the official and unofficial role of rabbis in Diaspora communities, especially Tsarist Russia and its successor states, birthplaces of most of Israel's founding leaders, and demonstrating the continuities between those arrangements and the arrangements in the new state.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Lehrhaus, 2018
To understand one of the most baffling sections of the Haggadah, it is necessary to understand th... more To understand one of the most baffling sections of the Haggadah, it is necessary to understand that the "afikomen" was a substitute for the paschal lamb, and only in exile was it possible to invite people to "come and eat" at the last minute.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The Lehrhaus, 2017
Diagnosing the problems with Israel's Chief Rabbinate is the first step to solving them. There is... more Diagnosing the problems with Israel's Chief Rabbinate is the first step to solving them. There is a tendency to fight the Rabbinate as though it were a systematic, principled entity, when in fact it is an incompetent bureaucracy. This means we should change strategy.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
There is an old Ashkenazic custom to visit the graves of Jewish saints on fast days, and particul... more There is an old Ashkenazic custom to visit the graves of Jewish saints on fast days, and particularly on the day before Rosh Hashana. A meditation on that practice after visiting the grave of Franz Rosenzweig, on the occasion of the launch of a publication based on is educational thinking.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
New York Jewish Week
What are the costs of American Modern Orthodoxy in terms of creativity?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
An obituary for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
New York Jewish Week
When attempting to change Jewish practice, appeals to lofty values tend not to work. Appealing to... more When attempting to change Jewish practice, appeals to lofty values tend not to work. Appealing to socioeconomic realities is far more likely to succeed. A prescription for ordaining Orthodox Jewish women.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The notion that a tattoo will bar someone from a Jewish cemetery is commonplace, even if it is no... more The notion that a tattoo will bar someone from a Jewish cemetery is commonplace, even if it is not true. Where does it come from, then?
The surprising answer is the comedy of Lenny Bruce - and it betrays something of his own hybrid identity.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A brief history of Tu bi-Shvat
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Lehrhaus
Is the OU Paper on Women's leadership roles in Orthodoxy a schismatic document? Hardly. What is i... more Is the OU Paper on Women's leadership roles in Orthodoxy a schismatic document? Hardly. What is it trying to accomplish? Does it succeed?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A mythic pilgrimage to a new Zionist shrine in the early 20th century had been domesticated by Hu... more A mythic pilgrimage to a new Zionist shrine in the early 20th century had been domesticated by Hungarian Ultra-Orthodoxy in short order.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Mosaic, Apr 21, 2016
How the introduction of three-field crop rotation changed Ashkenazik food practices on Passover.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
בשנת תשפ"ב ימלאו מאה שנה לפטירתו של הרד"צ הופמן, ראש בית המדרש לרבנים בברלין בראשית במאה העשרים. ... more בשנת תשפ"ב ימלאו מאה שנה לפטירתו של הרד"צ הופמן, ראש בית המדרש לרבנים בברלין בראשית במאה העשרים. בנוסף להכשרת דור של רבנים והוגי דעות מורשתו כוללת בין הייתר את פרושו לתורה, ספרי שאלות ותשובות, ומספר חיבורים על הספרות התלמודית, במיוחד על התהוות חיבורים תנאיים. כתביו משקפים לא רק את היקף ידיעותיו ורוחו הרבגונית, אלא גם את שאיפתו לשלב בחייו תפקידים מגוונים בו זמנית במסגרות שונות ובכלל זה עולם התורה, פסיקת הלכה, ומתן מענה רבני מחד, ולצידם
לכתוב כתיבה מחקרית, מדעית ומחקר ביקורתי מאידך. מאה שנה לאחר פטירתו אנו מבקשים לדון באלמנטים השונים הללו של הגותו ופעולתו המעשית מתוך רצון
להעמיק את הידוע לנו על הרב הופמן, שנעשה מודל עבור חוקרים המבקשים לשלב בין מחקר ביקורתי תוך שהם נשארים נאמנים לאמונתם.
חוקרים העוסקים בהגותו ופועלו של הרד"צ הופמן מוזמנים להגיש הצעות להרצאות בנות 20 דקות.
הכנס מתוכנן ליום שלישי ר"ח שבט תשפ"ב 3 בינואר 2022 באוניברסיטת בר-אילן.
הצעות יש לשלוח עד לתאריך כ"ג אלול תשפ"א ) 31.8.2021 (
לכתוב: RDZH.conference@gmail.com
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The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, ... more The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, the Hungarian-born rector of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin during the first decades of the 20th century. In addition to training a generation of rabbis, his literary legacy includes his commentaries and scholarly writings on the Pentateuch, volumes of halakhic responsa, and several treatises on Talmudic literature, especially on the formal composition of Tannaitic literature. These works not only display his breadth of knowledge and intellectual versatility, but also his capacity to inhabit different roles in parochial settings and the academy, to "code-switch" from the style and conventions of critical scholarship to the parlance of the traditional posek halakhah, engaging Wissenschaft des Judentums practitioners in one essay, then citing traditionalist authorities in his halakhic rulings. We will mark his centennial yahrzeit by examining these distinct elements of his works and activities with the aim of achieving a more rigorous and critical portrait of a person who became an exemplar for Jewish scholars who seek to navigate the standards of balanced, scientific investigation with remaining embedded in and committed to their faith communities. Scholars are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute lectures on aspects of Hoffmann's life, works, or legacy. The conference is scheduled to take place at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday,
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Public displays of personal reading material has been an important element of self-fashioning sin... more Public displays of personal reading material has been an important element of self-fashioning since the Renaissance. The advent of digital culture has lessened the utility of printed books as storehouses of information and thus, somewhat ironically, increased their value as means of self-fashioning and self-curation. This process took another leap forward during the COVID-19 epidemic, when otherwise private or semi-private spaces became public on ZOOM, Facebook Live, and related applications. The more the naivete of book-placement diminishes, the more we can expect to find significance in the books that are held, placed on a desk, or arranged on a shelf where they will be seen by the public.
The proposed paper will look at this phenomenon as it pertains to the Jewish, and specifically rabbinic, bookshelf. Jewish books have a rich history of their own and their placement, type, and deployment in the form of citation often reflects particular orientations towards Jewish identity, thought, and theology.
The paper will be divided into two parts. The first part will address historical and theoretical elements of how one would “display” a bookshelf given technological constraints. It will also consider the potential role of COVID-19 and the ubiquity of video-conferencing in the shifting cultural role of the printed book. The second part will address concrete recent examples and analyze both what the curators of the shelves are trying to say about themselves and what various audiences actually perceive. It will include examples from rabbis, public figures, Israeli lawmakers, and others.
Conference program: http://www.open.ac.uk/arts/research/book-history/sites/www.open.ac.uk.arts.research.book-history/files/files/Full%20programme%20Bookshelves%20Conference%2001_10_2020.pdf
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Always Hungarian Hungarian Jewry through the Vicissitudes of the Modern Era, 2021
This paper traces the life-cycle of the midrash-myth that the Israelites in Egypt did not change ... more This paper traces the life-cycle of the midrash-myth that the Israelites in Egypt did not change their name, language, or mode of dress. It addresses the origins of the midrash, its re-emergence in the anti-acculturationist discourse of a specific circle in the early nineteenth century, and its role in the emergence of “Ultra-Orthodoxy” in 1860s Hungary. It will offer a hypothesis on how and why specifically this obscure midrash caught on in that circle and attempt to explain its adoption by Ultra-Orthodox leaders in the latter part of the century. It will then consider the spread of the meme in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in Hungary and beyond. Finally, it will address how it was absorbed into halakhic culture, considering the rhetorical significance of non-legal material in halakhic writings.
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One of the properties of advancements in information technology is that it alters the accessibili... more One of the properties of advancements in information technology is that it alters the accessibility and distribution of information. This can have far-reaching effects on the structure of forms of authority that are linked to knowledge and expertise.
With regard to rabbinic authority, information technology has played a significant role in periodization and in shaping the corpus of knowledge that the rabbinic arbiter must master in order to be considered an expert. At the major junctures of the post-classical era—during the shift from oral to written text, and then from written to printed—changes in the mode of transition of information has produced anxiety among the “old guardians” of knowledge, who (correctly) perceived the new technologies as dangers to their authority. In each case, however, adjustments were eventually made that allowed rabbis to project expertise and authority.
During the past several decades, digital text has steadily replaced printed text. Even if eulogies for paper books are premature, the changes in the culture of rabbinic learning have been dramatic. With massive databases like the Bar-Ilan Responsa Project, Hebrewbooks.com, Otzar Ha-hokhma, and others, which grant instant access to texts and are easily searched and excerpted, a Torah scholar with reasonable familiarity with the rabbinic corpus can accomplish what could only be accomplished by the greatest sages just a generation ago. Moreover, accessibility constrains the halakhic arbiter’s ability to assert the correctness of one particular view over others, as the alternatives will easily be found after a mere few keystrokes. This has all taken place even as new forms of communication and social media have generated new forums for rabbis in which rabbis may project expertise and authority and given individuals unprecedented choice of rabbis and opinions.
As can be expected, these innovations have produced anxiety among some leading halakhic decisors, especially those whose authority is based on knowledge that can be simulated and even surpassed by the new technologies. Several writings published by Rabbi Hershel Schachter of Yeshiva University/RIETS clearly demonstrate this anxiety in their direct appeal to halakhic authority. In fact, they echo some of the writings produced during other periods of technological transition.
It is reasonable to assume that the new technologies will not spell the end of rabbinic authority, and though it is impossible to predict the new shapes it will take in response to the advances of the Information Age, certain trends that are present in the writings of some 21st century halakhists may offer some indications of what the future holds in store.
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Tradition, 2019
A retrospective on Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction", situating it in a long histo... more A retrospective on Haym Soloveitchik's "Rupture and Reconstruction", situating it in a long history of perceived (but not necessarily real) "ruptures" that justified bursts of creativity.
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A parodic review and counterpoint to Chaim Saiman's "Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law"
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Jewish Review of Books, 2018
The problem with Michael Chabon's HUC graduation speech is not its anti-Zionism or pro-assimilati... more The problem with Michael Chabon's HUC graduation speech is not its anti-Zionism or pro-assimilationism. Those are expressions of a deep-seated aversion to anything particularistic, especially Jewishly particularistic.
But his dichotomy between a walled-in Judaism and a Judaism open to hybridization crashes on the rocks of Chabon's own ignorance. If you want pastiche and mongrels, you need to know something first.
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Jewish Review of Books, 2015
Every year, the Herzog Academic College hosts a five day seminar on the study of Tanakh, the Jew... more Every year, the Herzog Academic College hosts a five day seminar on the study of Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, during the week before Tisha b'Av. Despite this sobriety, at the seminar people are always excited, enjoying the company of old friends, teaching colleagues, and fellow Tanakh aficionados as they peruse the new books and compare notes with friends who have attended a different one of the seven lectures offered in each time slot (more than 200 lectures take place over the course of the week). Grandmothers and their grandsons sit together, taking notes and debating subtleties. Charismatic teachers pack the lecture halls and are treated like rock stars as they roam the corridors. Innovative scholars test out new ideas, happily anticipating the sparring that will ensue when the knowledgeable audience begins to push back. What began humbly a quartercentury ago as a continuing education program for a hundred of the college's alumni now boasts more than 5,000 participants who come from all over Israel, as well as North America and Europe.
The seminar is a visible expression of the explosion of biblical commentary that has emerged in " the Gush, " as Herzog College, the Beit Midrash for Women–Migdal Oz, and their parent institution, Yeshivat Har Etzion, are collectively known, over the last four decades. These institutions have come to be identified with a distinctive new derekh halimud (way of learning) in their approach to the Bible. This provides an important shared vocabulary of study, but what allows this intellectual subculture to take root and thrive has been its inclusion in the beit midrash, the noisy, boisterous, uniquely Jewish " house of study. " Even if one were to conclude, as some academic Bible critics do, that Gush Tanakh is merely religiously correct, watered down pseudoscholarship that avoids examining or undermining orthodoxies, one must still understand it as an extraordinary and surprising phenomenon that has not been replicated in other circles of Jewish learning.
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Jewish Review of Books, 2023
In his "On That Distant Day", Hillel Halkin laments the current Israeli political situation as Zi... more In his "On That Distant Day", Hillel Halkin laments the current Israeli political situation as Zionism's "infection" with the disease - Judaism - that it tried to cure. This response puts forth the argument that in fact secular Zionism has eliminated the ever-present sense of sanctity of the land of Israel - a sanctity that always threatens to expel impurity - thus "infecting" Judaism.
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Lehrhaus, 2021
The manna was central to Rabbi Mendel of Rymanov's thinking and to his resistance to the encroach... more The manna was central to Rabbi Mendel of Rymanov's thinking and to his resistance to the encroachment of German culture on Jewish life in the early 19th century. This article explores some key elements of his thought as they relate to a popular contemporary "segulah" attributed to him.
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The Lehrhaus, 2019
A close reading of two talmudic narratives to shed light on how the Bavli imagined the sage Abaye... more A close reading of two talmudic narratives to shed light on how the Bavli imagined the sage Abaye - a homiletic interpretation
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Segula, 2019
Review of Marcin Wodzinski's "Historical Atlas of Hasidism"
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Artifacts of Orthodox Jewish Childhoods, 2022
An exploration of the world described in the lyrics of "Country Yossi and the Shteeble Hoppers" f... more An exploration of the world described in the lyrics of "Country Yossi and the Shteeble Hoppers" for a forthcoming volume on "Orthodox Childhoods". This is a draft version.
The full version was published in "Artifacts of Orthodox Jewish Childhoods", edited by Dr. Dainy Bernstein (Ben Yehuda Press, 2022). https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/artifacts-of-orthodox-childhoods/
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Rabbi Dr. David Zvi Hoffman was the head of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, a halakhi... more Rabbi Dr. David Zvi Hoffman was the head of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, a halakhic authority, and a prolific writer of commentary and exegesis on the Talmud and Biblical text. His legacy lives on today even in the most timely and significant of debates, such as in the Jewish thought pertaining to women and halakha, the Jewish approach to Christianity, and the relationship of Judaism and Zionism.
On Monday, January 3rd, join me, Emmanuel Bloch, Elli Fischer, Adam Ferziger and others at Bar-Ilan University for a special conference marking a century since the death of this incredible figure -- to study his life, intellectual gifts, and the questions and ideas left to us today.
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![Research paper thumbnail of ‟A baby boy who dies before reaching eight [days] is circumcised with a flint or reed at his grave” (Shulḥan ‘Arukh, Yoreh De‘ah 263:5): From Women’s Custom to Rabbinic Law](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/96483766/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Jewish Thought 4 , 2022
The custom to circumcise newborns who died before being circumcised by their parents is addressed... more The custom to circumcise newborns who died before being circumcised by their parents is addressed in a short but important responsum by R. Nahshon, Gaon of Sura (872–879). This article examines the development of the practice, and the way in which this geonic responsum was transmitted among later halakhic authorities. Rabbis active in Rome in the late 11th – early 12th centuries rejected this practice. Their approach that halakhah is directed to the living and not to the dead led them to dispute R. Nahshon’s responsum, taking liberties with its language and contents in the process. In contrast, the Gaon's ruling was adopted by the sages of Barcelona and Lucena. They offered various reasons in support of their position, such as preventing the uncircumcised newborn’s descent to Gehenna or assuring its place at the Resurrection of the Dead. These legal rulings, examined more broadly, reveal their image of the world after death. The responsum by the Italian sages opposing the practice was the basis for halakhic discussion in Ashkenaz even though the custom of circumcising the dead was prevalent there. The article concludes with an analysis of the tension between textual sources and the custom as practiced.
The obligation to circumcise a newborn boy who dies before his parents can enter him into the covenant of Abraham is settled halakhah and thus codified in Shulḥan Arukh. By its very nature, the fulfillment of this obligation is hidden from the eye. It is not performed festively or before a large crowd, and it seems that the Jewish masses are unfamiliar with it and with the details of its performance, even though it is carried out to this day by ḥevra kadisha (burial society) members around the world. This article describes the history of this practice, which is possibly halakhah, possibly custom, possibly a balm for the soul of a mother who has lost a child, and possibly a practice that stems from beliefs about the nature of the afterlife. Along the way, it traces the development of this practice, from the responsa of the Babylonian
Jewish Thought 4 (2022): 7-39
Geonim in the ninth century through Italy, Spain, and the Rhineland to fourteenth-century Provence. The historical-geographical journey presented below will show that the practice of circumcising the stillborn also provoked much opposition, and its supporters advanced different reasons for upholding it. Between them, a unique conception of the function of the commandments and the nature of life after death emerges, and the journey through the history of this neglected corner of Jewish practice becomes a journey among Jewish cultures. Indeed, they all address a single brief responsum from one of the Babylonian Geonim, and they all return to it while using it to meet their needs.
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