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Chiddush
Chidush ( he, חִדּוּשׁ; also transliterated as chiddush, hiddush or hidush), sometimes used in its plural form, chidushim ( he, חִדּוּשׁים), is a novel interpretation or approach. Historically referring to Torah topics, the term is widely used in rabbinic literature to describe a form of innovation that is made inside the system of the halakha, as distinguished from shinuy, an innovation outside tradition. Etymology comes from the Hebrew root word ( he, חדש), meaning . The usage of the word in this context originated from the language of Talmudic analysis and argumentation in the Gemara. It passed into Yiddish, where it is at times used informally. In rabbinic literature Nachmanides states that it is an "obligation imposed upon us to search through the subjects of the Torah and the precepts and bring to light their hidden contents". What "powers" Chidushim? MaaYana Shel Torah asks regarding "VaYayLech Moshe" (31:1) - where did he go? and answer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Zusia Friedman
Alexander Zusia Friedman ( he, אלכסנדר זושא פרידמן) (9 August 1897 – November 1943)Seidman, Hillel. "Alexander Zusia Friedman", in ''Wellsprings of Torah: An Anthology of Biblical Commentaries'', Vol. 1. Nison L. Alpert, ed. Judaica Press, 1974, pp. xii–xxiii. was a prominent Polish Orthodox Jewish rabbi, communal activist, educator, journalist, and Torah scholar. He was the founding editor of the first Agudath Israel Hebrew journal, ''Digleinu'' (Our Banner), and author of ''Ma'ayanah shel Torah'' (Wellsprings of Torah), an anthology of commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, which is still popular today. He was incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto and deported to the Trawniki concentration camp, where he was selected for deportation to the death camps and murdered around November 1943. Early life Friedman was born in Sochaczew (Sochatchov), Poland in 1899. His father, Aharon Yehoshua Friedman, was a poor shamash (synagogue caretaker); his mother sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talmudic
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. The term ''Talmud'' normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (), although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud (). It may also traditionally be called (), a Hebrew abbreviation of , or the "six orders" of the Mishnah. The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (, 200 CE), a written compendium of the Oral Torah; and the Gemara (, 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term "Talmud" may refer to eith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. The term ''Talmud'' normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (), although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud (). It may also traditionally be called (), a Hebrew abbreviation of , or the "six orders" of the Mishnah. The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (, 200 CE), a written compendium of the Oral Torah; and the Gemara (, 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term "Talmud" may refer to eith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbinic Literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term ''Sifrut Chazal'' ( he, ספרות חז״ל "Literature f oursages," where ''Hazal'' normally refers only to the sages of the Talmudic era). This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash ( he, מדרש), and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms ''meforshim'' and ''parshanim'' (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts. Mishnaic literature The Midr'she halakha, Mishnah, and Tosefta (compiled from materials pre-dating the year 200 CE) are the earliest e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidor Grunfeld
Isidor Grunfeld (1900–1975), also known by his Hebrew name Yeshaya Yishai ha-Kohen Grunfeld, was a '' dayan'' (rabbinical judge) and author who was associated with the London Beth Din (rabbinical court). He is best known for several popular works on Jewish law, and for his translations of the works of Samson Raphael Hirsch. Biography Grunfeld was born in the Bavarian town Tauberrettersheim. He was one of his father's eleven children. His mother, Caroline, was his father, Joseph's, second wife. His father drove cattle and dealt in agricultural products. His parents were both descended from noted rabbis. He was educated in German ''yeshivot'' and acquired a legal degree after attending Frankfurt and Heidelberg universities between 1920 and 1925. He married teacher and Bais Yaakov educator Dr Judith Rosenbaum on 22 November 1932. She had been encouraging the Jewish girls to aspire to a career in teaching. He worked as a lawyer in Würzburg until 1933, when the Nazis' rise to power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gematria
Gematria (; he, גמטריא or gimatria , plural or , ''gimatriot'') is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher which is used. Hebrew alphanumeric ciphers were probably used in biblical times, and were later adopted by other cultures. Gematria is still widely used in Jewish culture. Similar systems have been used in other languages and cultures: the Greeks isopsephy, and later, derived from or inspired by Hebrew gematria, Arabic abjad numerals, and English gematria. Although a type of gematria system ('Aru') was employed by the ancient Babylonian culture, their writing script was logographic, and the numerical assignations they made were to whole words. The value of these words were assigned in an entirely arbitrary manner and correspondences were made through tables, and so cannot be considered a true form of gematria. Aru was very different from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesillat Yesharim
''Mesillat Yesharim'' or ''Mesillas Yeshorim'' ( he, מסילת ישרים, lit. "Path of the Upright") is an ethical ('' musar'') text composed by the influential Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746). It is different from Luzzato's other writings, which are more philosophical. ''Mesillat Yesharim'' was written and published in Amsterdam. The earliest known manuscript version, written in 1738, was arranged as a dialogue between a ''hakham'' (wise man) and a ''hasid'' (pious person). Before publication, it was rearranged to have only one speaker. The dialogue version often sheds light on the more well-known version. ''Mesillat Yesharim'' is probably Luzzato's most influential work, widely learned in virtually every ''yeshiva'' since formal study of musar texts was introduced to the yeshiva curriculum by the Mussar Movement of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter. Aim of the work The aim of this work extends beyond the achievement of the perfection of human character in Divine service. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geonim
''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community worldwide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the ''Resh Galuta'' (exilarch) who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands. ''Geonim'' is the plural of (''Gaon) , which means "pride" or "splendor" in Biblical Hebrew and since the 19th century "genius" as in modern Hebrew. As a title of a Babylonian college president it meant something like "His Excellency". The ''Geonim'' played a prominent and decisive role in the transmission and teaching of Torah and Jewish law. They taught Talmud and decided on issues on which no ruling had been rendered during the period of the Talmud. The Geonim were also spiritual leaders of the Jewish community of their time. Era The period of the Geonim began in 58 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Ibn Migash
Joseph ibn Migash or Joseph ben Meir HaLevi ibn Migash or Yosef Ibn Meir Ha-Levi Ibn Megas or José ben Meir ibn Megas (early 1077 – c. 1141) ( he, יוסף בן מאיר הלוי אבן מיגאש) was a Rabbi, Posek, and Rosh Yeshiva in Lucena (actually Spain). He is also known as Ri Migash (), the Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Joseph Migash". Biography Joseph ibn Migash was probably born in Seville (though Steinschneider believes it was Granada). He moved to Lucena at the age of 12 to study under the renowned Talmudist Isaac Alfasi. He studied under Alfasi at Lucena for fourteen years. Shortly before his death (1103), Alfasi ordained Ibn Migash as a rabbi, and - passing over his own son - also appointed him, then 26, to be his successor as Rosh Yeshiva (seminary head). Joseph ibn Migash held this position for 38 years. Rabbi Abraham ben David, in his work '' Sefer ha-Kabbalah'' (Book of Tradition), mentions Joseph ibn Migash, a grandfather who had the same name, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hebrew Transliteration
The Hebrew language uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel diacritics. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. For example, the Hebrew name spelled ("Israel") in the Hebrew alphabet can be romanized as ' or ' in the Latin alphabet. Romanization includes any use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words. Usually, it is to identify a Hebrew word in a non-Hebrew language that uses the Latin alphabet, such as German, Spanish, Turkish, and so on. Transliteration uses an alphabet to represent the letters and sounds of a word spelled in another alphabet, whereas transcription uses an alphabet to represent the sounds only. Romanization can refer to either. To go the other way, that is from English to Hebrew, see Hebraization of English. Both Hebraization of English and Romanization of Hebrew are forms of transliteration. Where these are formalized these are known as "transliteration systems", and, where only some wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notarikon
Notarikon ( he, נוטריקון ''Noṭriqōn'') is a Talmud, Talmudic and Kabbalah, Kabbalistic method of deriving a word, by using each of its initial (Hebrew: ) or final letters () to stand for another, to form a sentence or idea out of the words. Another variation uses the first ''and'' last letters, or the two middle letters of a word, in order to form another word. The word "notarikon" is borrowed from the Greek language (νοταρικόν), and was derived from the Latin language, Latin word "notarius" meaning "shorthand writer." Notarikon is one of the three ancient methods used by the Kabbalists (the other two are gematria and temurah (Kabbalah), temurah) to rearrange words and sentences. These methods were used in order to derive the esoteric substratum and deeper spiritual meaning of the words in the Bible. Notarikon was also used in alchemy. The term is mostly used in the context of Kabbalah. Common Hebrew abbreviations are described by ordinary linguistic terms. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Ben David
Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and ''Mishne Torah'' of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key and important links in the chain of Jewish mystics. Biography RABaD's maternal grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak b. Yaakov Ibn Baruch of Mérida (1035–1094), who had compiled astronomical tables for the son of Shemuel ha-Nagid, was one of five rabbis in Spain renowned for their learning. Concerning the oral history of his maternal grandfather's family and how they came to Spain, the RABaD wrote: "When Titus prevailed over Jerusalem, his officer who was appointed over Hispania appeased him, requesting that he send to him captives made-up of the nobles of Jerusalem, and so he sent a few of them to him, and there were amongst them those who made curtains an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
