On Nahum ish Gam Zu’s name
Evry child knows the Gemara Ta’anit 21a, “ואמאי קרו ליה נחום איש גם זו דכל מילתא דהוה סלקא ליה אמר גם זו לטובה ,” “Because whenever something untoward happened to him he would say: “This, too, is for a good purpose. Read More »
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The Karaite ikkarim, or principles of the faith.
This is the list of 10 principles of faith for Karaites printed in the book Petah Tikva (Constantinople 1831), which you can read or download at hebrewbooks.org here . (I know! ) The book was intended for children. Read More » -
Grease
The British Mercury reports (Sept. 1788) of a case where a Jew came into an inn to sell some philosophical tinder boxes. Yes, you read that right. Philosophical tinder boxes. Which means either a phosphorous match or some sort of proto-lighter.The innkeeper, a woman, and two men, ‘asked’ him to eat some pork, which they were eating for dinner. Read More » -
18th and 19th century Jewish word lexicons. Also, ba’alei shem, and Hebrew conversations.
Here’s an interesting excerpt from a 1754 lexicon of Hebrew terms used by Jews and translated into German. The Hebrew is transliterated into German for the ease of readers, who may not even know how to read Hebrew. Read More » -
Miscellanies on 18th century American Jews
Couple of interesting passages about Jews in the United States from 1794 and 1795.The first concerns burial practices observed in Charleston. Read More » -
Just how mock is a mock wedding?
Dr. Hirsch Jakob Zimmels printed various decrees and responsa issued by the London Beth Din during the tenure of Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschell. These accounts from the Beth Din’s ledger were printed in the Jubilee Volume for Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie. Read More » -
An appeal to readers – please donate
Dear Readers,Necessity has compelled me to appeal for donations. If you enjoy On the Main Line, please donate something, whatever you can in accordance with your capability and how much you feel I’ve given you. I am doing this once again because my family and I need me to use my blog as a platform to generate much-needed income. Read More »
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The statue of Rabbi Isaac Ger Graanboom
Yesterday I received an unexpected, but most welcome comment on an a post I did nearly a year ago about the famous family of Swedish converts, the Graanbooms, who were important members (and rabbis) of the Amsterdam Ashkenazic community in the 18th and 19th century (link ). Read More » -
The unwanted Samaritan Pentateuch notes in Bibles distributed in Jerusalem in the 1820s.
Recently I’ve been posting some interesting material from the journals kept by Joseph Wolff, a Jewish-born missionary active all over Asia in the 1820 – 40s, distributing tracts and Bibles (including Hebrew, Arabic and Persian translations of the New Testament) all over.He spent considerable time in the Holy Land in 1822. Read More » -
The 17th century tunes for two Passover Seder songs.
In 1644 Johann Stephen Rittangel published a Haggadah with Latin translation and commentary, called Liber Ritum Paschalium. Rittangel was without a doubt one of the most proficient Christian Hebraists of his time, so much so, that later scholars were divided as to whether he was born Jewish. Read More » -
Portrait of the artist as a young mapmaker.
Here’s the famous self-portrait of Ya’akov ben Avraham Zaddik (aka Jaacob Justo) in his 1621 map of the land of Israel printed in Amsterdam. You can read his entire inscription by clicking the image below to enlarge it. See the complete map here . Sort of makes you wonder about “all of our grandfathers. Read More » -
A proverb about London among Polish Jews, 1822.
An almost unending fount of interesting material is the Missionary Journals of Joseph Wolf, which I’ve quoted many times before (see here , for example, for a bit about how the rabbis of Jerusalem stood for Rabbi Yaakov Emden’s granddaughter when she walked into a room). Read More » -
A rare approbation from the Gaon of Vilna
Here’s something that’s not found in abundance. It’s the Vilna Gaon’s haskamah to a work printed in Koenigsberg in 1764, Darke Noam by R. Shmuel ben Eliezer of Kalwaria, on the Rabbah bar bar Hannah aggados . As you can see in the little rhyme in the beginning, the Gaon signed because the other rabbis signed. Read More » -
Serious about crime
This is from the Gentleman’s Magazine August 1801: Read More » -
Comments
Blogger did something to the comments recently. Aside for the fact that I don’t like the default font (I’ll see if I can change it) two people told me that they can no longer comment. Gosh, thanks Blogger. But I want to know if this is a more widespread problem. Read More » -
On the original “Kosher Jesus” by R. Chaim Volozhiner’s grandson, Universalist Dreamer.
Kosher Jesus , Shmuely Boteach, etc. As already noted by Dr. Marc Shapiro, Rabbi Elias Soloweyczk (Soloveitchik) wrote a sort rabbinic commentary on the Book of Matthew [and also Mark]. Although it was written in Hebrew (titled Kol Kore ), I haven’t seen it. However, I have seen the French and German translations. Read More » -
“I concede the omission of the first yekum purkan.” – on Orthodox reform in the 19th century.
A very interesting topic that to my knowledge has never been fully explored is reforms which the Orthodox at times adopted, or were instituted or permitted by Orthodox rabbis. Read More » -
They destroyed the tea, sacré bleu!
Here’s a really interesting paragraph from Isaac de Pinto’s pamphlet against the American Revolution. This is from the English translation (of course) called Letters on the American Troubles , printed in London 1776. Read More » -
Sneaky Olomeinu!
Hehehe. I suppose inquiries can be directed to Torah Umesorah . Hat-tip to be given with permission. Read More » -
R. Chaim Yoseph David Azulai’s controversial position on divorce as it was discussed in the Parisian
Pre-Revolution, divorce was not legal in France, in accordance with Catholic belief and, of course, the morals of a society shaped by that belief. French Jews, however, were allowed autonomy in matters of marriage, and therefore they were allowed divorces. In 1775 a banker named Samuel Peixotto (b. Read More » - Load More
