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Author Archives: Ophir Münz-Manor
A Payytanic Quiz for Hanukkah – “The Answers”
Hanukkah is almost over and it is time to publish the “answers” to the quiz. I put answers in quotation marks since it is not always clear what the payytan meant or was referring to, but this is the case, … Continue reading
A Payytanic Quiz for Hanukkah
Hebrew liturgical poems (piyyutim) only rarely relate to halakhic matters. However, we do have one intriguing piyyut for Hanukkah that enumerates laws concerning the candle lighting during the days of the feast. This piyyut is attributed in Genizah manuscripts to … Continue reading
Rabbinics in the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
The international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature will be held next week (July 22-26) in Amsterdam. As always, many sessions will be devoted to rabbinic literature; most notably this year are two multi-session units that will focus on … Continue reading
Two Unusual Traditions in Piyyutim for Shavuot
Shavout is just around the corner and I present in this post two most unusual traditions that appear in piyyutim for the holiday: Were Hillel and Shamai brothers? On June 8, 1951 Menachem Zulay published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz two late … Continue reading
Posted in Piyut, Readings
Tagged Abraham, Binding of Isaac, Censorship, Elazar Birabi Qilir, Hillel, Piyyut, Shammai, Shavuot, Shulamit Elizur, Tarbiz
3 Comments
Piyyut and Modern Hebrew Poetry – The Passover Connection
It is well known that modern Hebrew poetry makes extensive use of the Bible and to a lesser extent of rabbinic literature. What is less known is the role of liturgical texts and poetry in the modern poetic corpus. In … Continue reading
Tu Bishvat as Judgement Day in a Poem by Aharon Mirsky
Tu Bishvat (the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat), which is celebrated today, is also known as the New Year of the Trees. This festive date appears for the first time in tractate Rosh Hashana (The New Year) of the … Continue reading
Posted in Piyut, Readings
Tagged Aharon Mirsky, Hillel, Leonard Cohen, Mishna, Rosh Hashna, Shammai, Tu Bishvat, Unetane Toqef, Yom Kippur
4 Comments
Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 3)
The third and last (albeit slightly belated) installment of the series on Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 1, Part 2). In the days of the Geonim (i.e., the Babylonian sages that followed the rabbis of the Talmud), individuals and communities sent … Continue reading
Posted in Piyut, Readings
Tagged Elazar Birabi Qilir, Hanukka, Pesiqtah Rabbati, polysystem, Rav Hai Gaon, Responsa
15 Comments
Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 2)
In the first part of this series I discussed an intriguing “historical” tradition in a piyyut by Elazar Birabi Qilir. In this second part I turn to an interesting juxtaposition of the cosmos and the Tabernacle in another piyyut for … Continue reading
Posted in Piyut, Readings
Tagged Elazar Birabi Qilir, Hanukka, Jacob of Serugh, Moshe Hadarshan, Narsai, Numbers Rabbah, Pesiqtah de Rav Kahana, Tabernacle, Yannai
3 Comments
Hanukkah and Piyyut (Part 1)
Hanukkah begins today and since I have been working for some years now on Hebrew liturgical poems for this feast, I thought it would be nice to share with the readers of the Talmud Blog some interesting bits and pieces … Continue reading
A Sign of Confusion? The Hometown of Elazar Birabi Qilir
Archeological sites in Israel feature signs that explain the findings and elaborate on their historical context. Many of these signs quote texts that are relevant to the site in most cases from the Bible and rabbinic literature. To my joy, … Continue reading
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