567) What happened to the Chabad Megillah of Yud-Tet Kislev?

Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Otwock during the 1930s

Introduction

This article—based extensively on the research by Professor Wojciech Tworek—examines a unique Megillah (Scroll) compiled in 1936 by the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950). It was to be read out aloud and publicly on Yud-Tet Kislev (19^th of Kislev), which is celebrated by Chabad as the Chassidic ‘Festival of Redemption.’ Yud-Tet Kislev commemorates the release and liberation of their founding Rebbe, Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), also known as the Alter Rebbe, from prison in the Petropavlovsk fortress in 1798. 

566) From Manuscript to Print: Redefining the Borders of Rabbinic Authority

 

2024 marks the five hundredth anniversary of the Second Rabbinic Bible printed by Daniel Bomberg and edited by Yaakov ben Chaim Adoniyah.

Abstract

The shift from manuscript to print around 1450 was not simply a technological innovation, but a transformative theological encounter that reshaped the borders of rabbinic reach and authority. This paper examines how the introduction of print during the Renaissance period impacted and changed traditional rabbinic authority. Print indeed stabilised textual transmission through standardisation, yet it also created new tensions. Print inadvertently exposed the hidden disputes among the multiple and variant manuscript traditions, since only one version could be published. More importantly, printers with their editorial interventions and often-arbitrary selection of manuscripts began to displace rabbis as the prime mediators of tradition. Some rabbis, therefore, rejected the new technology, while others embraced the innovation as the printed book signalled the promise of authority and legitimacy. Historically, the material form of the printed book indeed became the decisive factor in shaping the future trajectory of the Mesora (rabbinic line of tradition) since it immediately identified who held authority in the rabbinic world. This paper argues, however, that the printing press also introduced a new and arbitrary rule—unknown before to the ancient line of transmission—He who prints first wins. 

New tensions as printing becomes the locus of rabbinic authority

565) Jewish mysticism: Debates of influence between East and West

A fragment from the Cairo Geniza in the hand of  Maimonides' only son, Avraham ben haRambam

Introduction

This article—based extensively on the research by Professor Ronald Kiener—examines the contested origins of Jewish mysticism, including the neglected question of the role Islamic mysticism may have played. This Islamic influence seems to have been previously missed by the doyenne of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem, who “based largely on manuscripts from Italy and Germany…hardly professes to say much of Judaism in Islamdom” (Hodgson 1974: 2:202, n.1). Scholem’s use of texts predominantly from Europe accounts for his Eurocentric approach to the history of Jewish mysticism. Scholem was not alone because sixty years ago most scholars indeed “looked to Europe in order to provide narrative explanations for the history and development of Jewish mysticism” (Kiener 2011:147). However, scholarship has changed since then, and Moshe Idel, one of the foremost contemporary scholars on Jewish mysticism, starkly declares: 

“Muslim culture is the primary source of influence upon Jewish mysticism” (Idel 1991:33). 

564) Oleksa Dovbush: A Ukrainian Baal Shem Tov?

Oleksa Dovbush 1700-1745

Introduction

This article—based extensively on the research by Professor Boris Czerny[1]—examines some unusual similarities between the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of the Chassidic movement, c.1700-1760) and Oleksa Dovbush (the Ukrainian Robin Hood and rebel leader, 1700-1745). Czerny researched the archives of Kyiv and Lviv, as well as Israel, and analysed texts written in Ukrainian, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish. He also consulted police and court records concerning Oleksa Dovbush to construct his revolutionary biography (Czerny 2018:34). I thank Professor Czerny for gifting me a copy of his book (in French!).