380) Appropriating penitence?

 

Introduction

This article, based extensively on the research by Professor Talya Fishman,[1] explores the origins of the extreme teshuvah, or penitential practices of the Chassidei Ashkenaz (also known as the German=Ashkenaz Pietists). This intensely ascetic, pietist and mystical movement was founded by R. Yehuda HeChassid and flourished in Germany and France during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Were some of their self-punishing penitential practices appropriated from the surrounding Christian culture or were they purely of Jewish origin - or somewhere in between?

379) Dealing with a Talmudic view that there is “No Messiah for Israel”

Introduction

The Babylonian Talmud, particularly, is authoritatively quoted as the foundational text to support and bolster almost any argument within Jewish law and theology. But what happens when a talmudic view seems to fly in the face of principles that are held as true, fundamental and essential to the very faith itself? A case in point is the statement by R. Hillel that “There is no Messiah for Israel”:

R. Hillel says: ‘There is no Messiah [coming] for Israel, as they [the prophesies relating to the Messiah] were already fulfilled during the days of Hezekiah’. Said R. Joseph [in response]: 'May R. Hillel's Master forgive him! When did Hezekiah live? In the time of the first Temple. Yet Zechariah, prophesying during the time of the second Temple, said: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, shout, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king comes unto you”’[1]  (b. Sanhedrin 99a).

378) The first Yiddish translation of Rashi’s Commentary – outreach, business venture, or disingenuous?

 

Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf in Rashi?

Introduction

In 1560, a Yiddish Chumash (liturgical Hebrew Bible) was printed in Cremona, Italy, the city later to become famous for its Stradivarius violins. The edition was produced by Yehuda ben Moshe Naftali, known as Leb Bresch, and it included the first published Yiddish translation of Rashi’s Torah commentary. Yiddish Chumashim were known as “Teitch[1] Chumashim”. I draw extensively on the research by Professor Edward Fram from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.