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“Moses received the Torah from Sinai” [m. Avot 1:1]:
R. [Ovadiah] from Bartenura has explained this to mean “from the One revealed at Sinai.” And there, when God revealed Himself at Sinai, Moses…
Kol sakhal (Voice of a Fool), a polemical work attacking rabbinic Judaism, has been the subject of many scholarly debates. To this day, its composition and aims remain shrouded in mystery. The author…
[…] What rabbi would come to this impoverished nowhere for the pishochs we offered, especially if he had to rent his own lodgings—the congregation had no money for an apartment when a perfectly good…
Hillel the Babylonian, the important teacher of Israel, was poor and needy, and his daily income consisted of half a zuz. One half of this he used for food, the other half he…
The yearning to modernize the yeshiva and give it the appearance of a seminary grew considerably in the hearts of our scholars; but, regretfully, they used whatever filth…
The Birth of the Ba‘al Shem Tov
One of the greatest phenomena, running like a thread throughout the spiritual history of the Jewish people, is mysticism, a remnant of ancient mythology, which could…
The purpose in view was, as may easily be gathered from the essays themselves, to bring under the notice of the English public a type of men produced by the Synagogue of the…
Our master, the holy rabbi, told a tale of the Ba‘al Shem Tov (may his memory be for a blessing to the life of the world to come!). There was once a matter involving great danger to the human life of…
Some decades ago Jewish badkhonim-actors [jesters] were still a very common phenomenon. Most of the time the badkhn was not only an entertainer improvising rhymes and funny sayings, but also an actor…
Rebbe Levi YitskhokTsine, his wifeKhayim, their sonGnendl, their daughterTaybele, their daughterHenekh Yoel, gabbaiOyzer, butcherZavl, butcherItsheMordkheMoysheKhveder, shabes-goyPave…