Author Archives: amitgvaryahu

About amitgvaryahu

This blog is dedicated for up-to-date reviews of books, papers, and other publications in the field of Jewish studies.

A Quotation of Yerushalmi in a Judaeo-Arabic Manuscript

Posted on February 12, 2013

Few textual witnesses of the Palestinian Talmud exist. There is only one complete manuscript (MS Leiden Scaliger 3), and then another exemplar which includes order Zeraim (and tractate Sotah; MS Vatican Heb. 133), plus an assortment of fragments (now collated … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Footnote

Posted on September 12, 2012

In his book on Minhag in early Ashkenaz, I. M. Ta-Shema hid this in a footnote; I thought it would be of interest to the community. It seems to me that the source of the [Ashkenazi] custom to separate the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Postscript: Jonah Frankel, 1928-2012

Posted on September 2, 2012

The world of Jewish Studies and the Talmud Blog mourn the passing of Prof. Jonah Frankel, teacher, pioneer, scholar and Israel prize laureate. Frankel was born in Munich in 1928 and arrived in Palestine when the Nazis came to power. … Continue reading →

Posted in Postscripts | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Potty Mouth

Posted on May 15, 2012

Looking for material for my MA thesis, “Injuries and Battery in Tannaitic Law” – and thus avoiding working on the actual thesis – I came across this entertaining snippet from the recently published S. Emanuel, Teshuvot Maharam meRothenburg vaHaveirav, §308 (pp. 641-642, … Continue reading →

Posted in Readings | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Karaite Mishnah (and other friends too)

Posted on April 29, 2012

Ofra Tirosh-Becker, Rabbinic Excerpts in Medieval Karaite Literature, 2 Vols. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 2012, 1219 pp., NIS 111. Everyone knows about the Karaites. They need little introduction: Ninth century Jews tired of geonic hegemony, going back to scripture to find law … Continue reading →

Posted in Dissertations, Mishna, Reviews | 3 Comments

And the Epstein Goes to…

Posted on March 7, 2012

(Scroll down for the most exciting Talmud news in 30 years!) As is the custom, the friends and members of the Talmud department convened this Sunday to award prizes and remember the founder of the department – J.N. Epstein – … Continue reading →

Posted in Talk of the Town, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Reading List

Posted on November 17, 2011

To the two things that are certain in life, death and taxes, I would add foiled grand plans. My grand plan was to survey recent dissertations that discuss various aspects of purity in rabbinic literature – it seems that purity … Continue reading →

Posted in Recent Publications, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Demons in the Outfield

Posted on October 16, 2011

Ishay Rosen-Zvi, the man who brought us the new and improved Sotah ritual, has published his second book, Demonic Desires (not to be confused with another book with the same title). Some of the chapters have previously been published as articles, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Total Disaster

Posted on September 14, 2011

The word אסון is quite rare in the Hebrew Bible. It appears in Genesis 42:38 and 44:19, where it refers to Jacob’s fear of Benjamin’s death. It also appears in the oft-quoted and frequently debated law of the two fighting … Continue reading →

Posted in Readings, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Laughing Last

Posted on September 12, 2011

The Oz Vehadar edition of the Yerushalmi has hit the shelves. Apparently it happened last year, but nobody told me. It is nothing short of revolutionary. The edition itself has been circulating for a number of years now, as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments