Giovanni Antonio Costanzi, the Vatican librarian and author of a catalog of the Vatican’s Hebrew manuscripts, directed searches in all the Jewish quarters throughout the Papal States to confiscate Jewish holy books. The confiscation began on the 22nd Iyar in 1731. More confiscations continued over the next twenty years. ULTIMO CENSORE DI LIBRI EBRAICI A […]
Siddur HaShalom, USSR
Siddur HaShalom (Soviet Russia) Moscow, 1956; 1968. Edited by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levine Rabbi of Moscow סדור השלם אשר י”ל במוסקבה Молитвенник Мир, Молитвы на весь год под редакцией московского равина Л.И. Левина sold “Found on Page 71 is an interesting censor correction – in Al HaNissim, “al hamilchamot” was erased” via Kedem Auctions page […]
Are Colored Eggs a Minhog Lubavitch?
Eating tinted eggs was a Jewish custom for Lag B’Omer since the histalkus of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. When non-Jews adopted the practice for their “yom eidam’, many Jews abandoned the minhog. Don’t miss this fascinating explanation about eating colored eggs on Lag B’Omer by Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Garelick. Did The Rebbe eat colored eggs […]
Jew’s Ear
Hirneola auricula – judae (St. Amans) Berkley “Jew’s Ear is a fungus …” Kitchen Herbs and Spices by Lanska, Hlava
The Amazon Package @ Shabbos
“Assuming that the package is not inherently Muktzah, the Mishna Brurah (307:56) rules that the fact that they came from outside the Techum does not, by definition, make them Muktzah. We see in Hilchos Yom Tov (OC Siman 515) that even though one may not benefit from something that was brought to him from beyond […]
Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels
” Notwithstanding its lengthy coverage of tzaraat (צרעת, biblical “leprosy”), why does the Torah omit discussion of its cause (sin?), its infectiousness, and its treatment? Comparison to the Mesopotamian rituals pertaining to a strikingly similar disease (Saḫaršubbû) shows that these omissions were far from accidental.”by Dr. Yitzhaq Feder (more)