I see that many issues of Kathedra, a journal devoted to the history of Eretz Yisroel can be found online. I especially recommend Michael Silber's article on R' Akiva Yosef Schlesinger which can be found here. (Dr. Silber is currently working on a full-length biography of RAYS - see here)

And just in time for Pesach, the JSIJ has added an extensive article "ON THE ORIGINAL STRUCTURE AND MEANING OF MAH NISHTANNAH AND THE HISTORY OF ITS
REINTERPRETATION"

I found one:

R' Jesaja Berlin, Eine Biographic Skizze

End letter - אגרת המיוחס הר"י אייבשיץ על האגדות

From here:

I now see that the episode in question and this letter is already mentioned in the Shefer translation of Graetz, in Zinz's Gedulot Yehonoson V. 2 pgs. 135ff, 214 and in YY Greenwald R Yonoson Eibschutz pg. 57 ff (the last two books can be found at hebrewbooks.org, Zinz especially has a lot of good material on R' Yonason Eibschutz.)

[Update:Prof. Shnayer Leiman was kind enough inform me of his article in Or Ha-Mizrach 29(1981), pp. 418-428 containing the short commentary to Aggadot mentioned in the above letter.

(He also informed me that: "After I published that essay, the Perush Li-Kzat Aggadot appeared in print several times. You will find it easily in a large volume that gathers together color reproductions of the sha'ar blatt of the major editions of shas through the ages.")

The following excerpt:

complements Eliezer's point in his recent Seforim blog post:

"Besides for these two Gedolim opposing Copernicus, R. Yonsan Eybshutz who was also knowledgeable in Astronomy was also opposed as he writes in 1779:

ועבור זה נתטפשו הרבה מתוכנ' קופרניקוס וסעייתו באמרם שהארץ מסבב אבל שקר נחלו והאמת עד לעצמו כי הארץ לעולם עומדת... (יערות דבש, חלק א, דרוש ד, דף לו ע"א).

(Neher, idem, p. 253, is incorrect when he writes that Eybshutz was positive towards Copernicus' theory). "

See also here on the well known explanation of R' Yonoson Eibschutz that the Tower of Bavel was actually some sort of proto-rocketship. I'm not certain which books he refers to -וכבר חברו בזה חיבורים איך לעשות ספינה כזה לילך לכדור הירחי

(although a Google search might be useful here)

but his rocket sounds a bit like the one in Jules Verne - "From the Earth to the Moon" (written decades after RYE's passing).

A footnote on Jewish footnotes

For Menachem:




See also R Y Nissim Yayn HaTov 1: YD 11 for a discussion of R' Yaakov Meir's acceptance of the cross of honor (or some other type of Medal). And R Y Messas Mayim Chaim 2:YD 74 who insists that the cross doesn't count as a religious symbol unless a man is attached to it [!!!] and that in any event it has been clarified from Christian and their sources that the Cross is only as a reminder of the crucifixion and is not a religious symbol[?].

Continuation

From here

המשך יבוא

A letter from R' Yonoson Eibschutz regarding a little known polemic in the Emden-Eibschutz controversy

RK is Raphael Kirscheim. I am also puzzled that this letter hasn't been republished to my knowledge even until today.

From Hamagid - 9 May, 1877

המשך יבוא

Wanted:anyone who can decipher a German text in Gothic letters

If someone could give me some idea of what the following scans (my apologies for the poor quality) has to say concerning te friendship between R SR Rapoport and R Z Frankel, I'd be most appreciative.

perhaps this one is a bit clearer: