A Halevi-an article from R Dovid Tzvi Hoffmann

In his article on the methodology of R Y I Halevy, R YY Weinberg compares the strident tone of Halevi with the more moderate tone of R Dovid Tzvi Hoffman. I just noticed this article in HaPisgah which is written in the harsher style of Halevi. My guess is that when a Christian who "doesn't know any better" writes against the Torah it is OK, but in this case it is a "Rabbi" writing against תורה שבעל פה and this upset Hoffmann very much.

Where to find Yiddish newspapers?

I am in need of the Yiddish newspapers: "Haynt", "Tag", "Moment", and "Yiddish Tageblatt" of the dates: September-December 1929. YIVO was only somewhat helpful. Any ideas where else I might find them?

Thanks

W

non-PC story from the Chazon Ish

מספר הר"ר מאיר וונדר היה לי קרוב משפחה בחיפה שסיים בית ספר עממי דתי ואמו רצתה לשלחו לבי"ס תיכון באתי לחזו"א לשאול מה עושים ואמר לי בהאי לישנא אפשר תיסע לשם שאלתי וכיצד אשפיע על האמא השיב תמצא כבר... נשים דעתן קלות

From Ma'aseh Ish 3:50

No, Cervantes was not Jewish

Chacham Y Faur has an article "DON QUIXOTE – TALMUDIST AND MUCHO MÁS"

In his words:

The purpose of the present study is to examine a story in Don Quixote II, 45 together with a passage in the Talmud, B. Ned. 25a

The essential facts are these. Someone loaned the sum of ten gold crowns to a friend without witnesses. The borrower admitted the loan but claimed to have repaid it in full. The creditor asks Sancho to put the debtor under oath. Before taking the oath the debtor hands over his staff, in which he had hidden the money, to the creditor. Unabashedly, he then proceeds to swear that he had returned the loan to the creditor

Typically, Faur goes to great length proving that Crevantes had a much greater understanding in the Gemara the the Rashba did, etc. ,etc. He notes that the story appears in older sources:

The motif of the reed as a tool of deception is already found in Livius I, 56,35 but in a completely
completely different context.

There seems to be a certain genre of story that passes from culture to culture and religion to religion with only minor changes to fit the context (see Parsha blogs excellent post on the subject here.) In fact, a quick search on Google gave me the following book Ariadne's Thread which has many versions of the "money in stick" story some of which parallel the Talmud's version exactly. Cervantes' source was probably one of the European versions.

Update on R Yaakov Kamenetsky and the Biur

R Eliezer Brodt points out that in pg. 292 in Tha Making of A Godol it is brought down that R Yaakov read the Biur :

Suggested Orthodox Maskilim for post of Chief Rabbi of NY

JD Eisenstein suggests some candidates for post of Chief Rabbi of NY: Hildesheimer of Berlin,(Marcus) Lehman of Mainz, (Isaac Hirsch) Weiss of Vienna. I doubt they would have been to interested (see also here).

I also saw an interesting Yiddish Memoir regarding the first candidate the Mablim and his relationship with the Sadigura Chassidim[1] (here):

He writes how most Chassidim viewed Malbim's commentary as being "not as treif as Mendelssohn's biur" but not as kosher as the Metzudos Dovid". The "old" Sadigura Rebbe did like Mabim and allowed his children to be taught T'nach with Malbim.

The story of how the Rebbe was "machshir" te Malbim goes as follows:

Because the Malbim would not bend before the rich men of Bucharest, there was a good deal of dissension during the 5 years he was Rabbi. The Rebbe was impressed and decided that it was a Mitzvah to help Malbim out.

When Malbim was placed in prison (tale of chassidishe mofes about informer dying when the Rebbe said Tehillim), the Rebbe wrote to Sir Moses Montefiore to speak to the Romanian Government on Malbim's behalf.

I also noticed this sefer that has many interesting letters from various Gedolei Lita that I have never seen before.

[1] Heichal HaBesht 5:3 has a comprehensive article on the subject of Malbim and Chassidim, I don't remember if this piece is quoted.

R Yaakov Kamenetsky, Mendelssohn and Jastrow's dictionary

There seems to be a story circulating to the effect that:

When R. Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l was Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodass, students used to help him prepare his house before Pesach. One group checked for chometz the seforim that might have been brought to the table. The work proceeded without event, until one bochur let out a shriek, having discovered a copy of Mendelsohn’s famous (infamous?) and ground-breaking German translation of Chumash, known today simply as “The Biur.” While there are likely fewer students in Torah Vodaas today who would know about the Biur and its author, that particular bochur did, and his horror was visceral. Rav Yaakov immediately understood, and reportedly smiled (he seemed always to smile) and said, “They are surprised that I would own such a work. If only they knew how many difficulties it helped me solve.”

Although not an irrefutable proof, the following excerpt (Emes L' Yaakov YD 281) would seem to falsify the above to some extent:

The ruling that the Biur should be left in a place where it will rot ought to preclude the possibility of R Yaakov owning a copy himself.

Even in his famous permissive ruling allowing usage of the Jastrow dictionary, R' Yaakov does not appear to be exceptionally tolerant of heresy. He writes (YD 246):





I assume R Yaakov was told that Jastrow was the head of a Reform congregation which would render him a heretic, although at that time being connected with the Reform movement was not necessarily synonymous with heresy (as can be seen from the wiki entry on Jastrow).

The distinction made between Torah and lexicography seems somewhat difficult. According to this, one can learns the following Talmudic passage Kesubot 17a:

מאי הינומא סורחב בר פפא משמיה דזעירי אמר תנורא דאסא רבי יוחנן אמר קריתא דמנמנה בה כלתא

without reciting Birkas HaTorah (but see the commentary of Rebbenu Chananel there) and there are many other passages in which lexicography is of great value.