Rabbi Avraham Yesha'ayahu Karelitz, the "Hazon Ish" (1878-1953), is recognized as the leader who charted the course of Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Judaism in the critical period following the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. He arrived in Israel at a relatively advanced age in 1933, with no source of income, contacts, or rabbinic reputation, and settled in the small town of Bnei Brak, which was then less than ten years old and housed only one yeshivah. Yet, within a few years, the Hazon Ish became the most prominent spiritual leader of Haredi Judaism, and Bnei Brak rapidly became "the city of the Torah", to a large extent thanks to him. In those years, he developed his pragmatic ideological line that he believed should be adopted by Haredi Judaism – not an approach of political isolationism, but rather one of cultural fortification, focusing on the support of religious and educational institutions. In the 1940's, he already achieved prominence in the halakhic polemics relating to measurements, commemoration of the Holocaust, and the use of electricity on the Sabbath. As the establishment of the State of Israel approached, he refrained from giving guidance to the political leaders of the Agudat Yisrael party as to how they should conduct themselves, but he revealed clear reservations about the impending political entity. After the establishment of the state, he waged a stormy battle against the induction of women to National Service, a struggle that in the opinion of some of his biographers led ultimately to his death. At the height of the controversy, in 1952, he met with Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and presented his allegory that has mistakenly been called "the parable of the full wagon and the empty wagon", in which he apparently expressed the supremacy of the Haredim over the secularists. This book is the first monograph on this influential personality. It presents and nalyzes his image and his activities in all of the areas in which he left his imprint. he book discusses the story of his life in both Lithuania and the Land of Israel, the oundations of his worldview and his faith, his polemic against the Musar Movement, is stances on public issues, and selected rulings from his diverse halakhic works. All of these components help to portray his personality and allow for a general assessment of his influence on Haredi society and on halakhic literature until our times.

This book concludes a lifetime achievement for the author in completing the halakhic Midrashim in the Mishna and Tosefta -was not published in Magnes - and in the Jerusalem (Palestinian) and Babylonian Talmuds. In this book, the author has compiled the halakhic Midrashim of the Amoraim in the Babylonian Talmud. The Midrashim are arranged in order according to the biblical text, and their wording is determined by existing manuscripts and parallels found in the two Talmudim and by versions known to the commentators of the Babylonian Talmud. Includes a detailed analysis of the language, structure, and style used by the Amoraim in the Midrashim.

This research hopes to construct fascinating mosaic studies which expand and redefine the boundaries of the discourse of Halakhah Thought. This book gives a new understanding of the Halakhic process through the analytical tools of the philosophy of Halakhah. It invites fresh insights into the Halakhah's dynamic in light of models which come from varied disciplinary fields. In this framework, we will meet some models from philosophy, anthropology, sociology, law, psychology, and education which will shed a new light on our understanding of the concept of Meta-Halakhah. In this book, there are discussions such as "what is the contribution of feminism to the halakhic discourse?" (Tamar Ross); "on Aristotelian logic and Halakhah" (Aviram Ravitzky); "between philosophy of science, language and Halakhah" (Meyer Bouzaglo); "the relationship between the Halakhic language and Kabbalistic language" (Joseph Dan); "on Emmanuel Levinas and Jewish law" (Joel Hansel); "values, world view and Halakhic progress" with Izhak Englard, David Halivni, David Hartman and Aviezer Ravitzky.

This book is dedicated to a wide range study of the different contexts of paradise in different religious and cultural traditions from antiquity to the present. The biblical story tells of 'Garden of Eden (Genesis H - C, X), is where the human story begins and where its basic concepts are defined. In the story of the Garden of Eden the dialogue between the eternal Creator and an ephemeral created man are mentioned for the first time. Also the archetypal division between man and woman, the distinction between innocence and knowledge, the eye opening as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, the shameful hiding, guilt and fear are also present; A distinction between crime and punishment, the naked and dressed/covered, between prohibited and permitted, between controlling and controlled, and the eternal and the temporal. These concepts have all become world cultural infrastructure of the monotheistic religions in many contexts, from the beginning of life to its end. Table of Contents Foreword Introduction A. Garden of Eden in Antiquity Yair Zakovitch, "Is The Tree of Knowledge The Tree of Life?" Nathan Wasserman, "'And the Earth Was Revealed in all Its Beauty': Remarks on the Literary Traditions of Paradise and Creation of the World in Ancient Mesopotamia and in the Bible." Leah Mazor, “The Journey of the Magical River from the Temple to the Sea (Ezek 47, 1-12): The Removal of Chaos and a New Creation.” Rachel Elior, "'The ‘Garden of Eden was the Holy of Holies and theDwelling of the Lord'." B. Garden of Eden in Late Antiquity Serge Ruzer, “Earthly Paradise as Homeland, Jerusalem as Remotest Exile: Inverted Sacred Geography and Linguistics in the Syriac 'Cave of Treasures'.” Sergey Minov, "The question of Sexuality in Paradise as reflected in Late Antiquity Biblical Exegesis - Between the Sages and the Fathers of the Church." Hannah Wortzman, "Seduction and Sin in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve." Nurit Hirshfeld, “From Which Tree did Adam and Eve Eat in the Garden of Eden?” C. Garden of Eden in the Liturgy and in the World of the Sages Dalia Marx, "'And Mystery is Paradise': The Garden of Eden in Jewish Liturgy." AvigdorShinan, "'On Those who Entered theGarden of Eden Alive'." D. Paradise in the Medieval Period Amitai Harosh, "'And from thence it was parted, and became into four Heads' (Gen 2:10): Paradise in the Writings of Salomon Ibn Gabirol." Micha Goodman, "The Law of the Torah as a return to Paradise: Maimonides Perception of the Law." Oded Yisraeli, "The Tree of Life and its Roots – A History of a Kabalistic Symbol." Elisheva Revel-Neher, "Between Heaven and Earth: the Heavenly Ladder in Jewish and Christian Medieval Art." Ithamar Theodor, "The Star of the Cows - the Highest Heaven in the Krishnaite Tradition." E. Garden of Eden in the Modern Period David Fishelov, "'But We Must Cultivate Our Garden': Paradise Lost/Found in Robinson Crusoe and Candide." Yahil Zaban: "'A Place for Love': the Literature of the Enlightenment and the 'Pleasant Place.'" Yehuda Moraly, "A Revolution in Paradise: Representations of Paradise on the Twentieth Century Stage and Screen." Uri Hollander, "Miłosz Enterd the Pardes: On Czesław Miłosz ' s Utopic Perception." F. Paradise in Sociology, psychology and Anthropology Yoram Bilu, "'The Gateway to Paradise' in Beit She'an: Between Personal Symbol and Cultural Tradition in a Holy Site." Chaim Noy, "Touristic Paradises: A Critical Rendering of Modern Vacationscapes." Adam Klin-Oron, "End-of-Days Visions in Twentieth-Century Channeling: From the Age of Aquariusto the New Age." Published in Cooperation with Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies

This book analyzes the influence that Aristotelian logic had on the understanding of methods of halakhic inference. “Methods of halakhic inference” refer to methods of Talmudic inference and argumentation, mainly the thirteen exegetical principles of the Torah, enumerated at the beginning of the Sifra. The thirteen exegetical principles are the most famous methods of halakhic inference. They are considered basic and fundamental rules by which the oral halakhic tradition is related to the Scriptures. No wonder, therefore, that there are dozens of commentaries to this set of rules. The study presented in this book focuses on the logical trend of commentaries on the Thirteen Principles. In these commentaries Aristotelian logic was applied, in a variety of ways. This special way of combining philosophy and halakha has significance not only for the history of the development of Talmudic methodology, but also for the understanding of the ongoing interaction between particular Jewish ideas and tradition on the one hand, and the external “universal” culture and literature on the other. Analysis of the logical commentaries on the Thirteen Principles can demonstrate how the original Greek doctrines were transmitted, mainly through Arabic philosophy, but sometimes also through Christian-scholastic philosophy, to the medieval Jewish sages, and how these Jewish sages applied those doctrines to develop a more sophisticated Talmudic methodology.

The Terminology of the Yerushalmi: The Main Terms analyzes the principal terms in this Talmud for the first time. It treats more than 200 such expressions, based on the systematic scrutiny of all occurrences of each of these terms. The work is aimed at professional scholars and academic students of rabbinic literature, as well as traditional students of the Talmud.

Order In the Bible: The Arrangement of the Torah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish Commentary examines ideas about biblical order in the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Nahmanides against the background of the Midrashic tradition. On the face of it, the arrangement of portions in the Torah is chronological, but close examination reveals more than a few discrepancies. The Midrash sometimes responded by saying that "There is no ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ in the Torah" (en muqdam ume'uhar ba-Torah)-- the order of the Torah is not always chronological. This response left the reader facing unexplained juxtapositions of chapters and verses. In some of the cases, the sages asked, lama nismekha, “Why were these two portions juxtaposed?” Usually, they sought to connect the unconnected stories and verses in the midrashic fashion, by adding to the events of the stories or by taking the second unit as the outcome of the first and deriving therefrom some moral teaching. Occasionally though, we find an attempt to answer the question of juxtaposition in terms that might be considered closer to the peshat method of explication. Moving in the direction of the peshat, medieval Jewish exegetes tried to explain biblical arrangement of both narratives and law based on thematic, associative, or literary links. Their attempts resulted in new ideas about the ordering of the Torah. This book contains hundreds of references to juxtaposition and non-chronological arrangements cited in the writings of the above commentators. These examples are put into the framework of each commentator's general approach to interpretation and his particular sense of biblical order. Dr. Isaac Gottlieb is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and a member of its Institute for Jewish Bible Interpretation.

What are the considerations that move Halakhic decision makers? Which questions must they ask themselves in the process of producing a worthy ruling? How does the Halakhah contribute to the shaping of a person's character? How can the Halakhic decision maker play a conscious rule in this process of education? These are some of the questions raised in this book. The book "Halakhah as an Agent of Change" intends to move forward the discourse about the Philosophy of Halakhah by making a fundamental claim that the existent literature ignores. This claim is that in addition to the Halakhah being a juridical system – and for the religious Jewish person a religious imperative – the Halakhah is primarily an educational instrument and existential event. Therefore, the Halakhah is designed to effect cultural, valuative and educational changes in its devotees. Hence, in order to understand the Halakhah from a philosophical perspective we must make use of philosophical tools that are to be found in Philosophy of Education. In light of this basic insight – which has not received the attention of researchers – this book illuminates both the Halakhic field of studies and the process of Halakhic ruling itself but, also helps us to re-think Halakhic-philosophical studies in the past and intends to contribute to the development of Halakhic philosophy in the future. Furthermore, the book opens a new path for the discourse of the philosophy of Education.

The standard study of Talmud is to accept the given as ultimate, that the sayings and the interpretations recorded therein are faithful to what was actually said. After having checked for the genuine version, for the right GIRSAH, eliminating the scribal errors, the text assumes reliability and serves as a starting point for further discussions and additional deductions. For over forty years, Prof. David Halivni has questioned the given as the authoritative text and argued for the necessity to go back in time and reexamine the veracity of the interpretations. Many of the given interpretations are forced, do not neatly fit the text they interpret and often attribute to the authors of the statements intentions that they did not necessarily share. As a consequence, substitute interpretations were necessary to which the multi volumes of "Sources and Traditions" were dedicated. While the books dealt mainly with the actual Talmudic interpretations, the introductions dealt with the causes responsible for the deviations from the original. It took the writings of a few volumes to become clear that the interpretations, unlike the apodictic statements were not officially transmitted by the Transmitters, the professional reciters and reached the later compilers which are referred to in the volumes as STAMMAIM, anonymous scholars, only through random survival which was not always complete. Sometimes it survived in a truncated form which the later compilers filled in, conjecturing what was missing. The present volume contains all of the introductions which provide the reader not only with the final conclusion but also with the developmental stages which led to that conclusion further strengthening its plausibility.

What is Philosophy of Halakhah? Can the Halakhah be understood philosophically? Is the Halakhah influenced by factors external to it? This book, New Streams in Philosophy of Halakhah points to new directions of research by outstanding scholars in this field. This book has four sections: delineating the field of inquiry; study of the role and function of philosophy in Halakhic discourse; formalism and realism in Halakhic interpretation; sociological, anthropological and gender orientated readings of the Halakhah. In these sections fundamental issues will be clarified including defining the discourse of philosophy of Halakhah, the diverse elements within Halakhah, and the contribution of the Halakhic philosopher to an understanding and clarification of the Halakhah and its significance. Also treated in this book is the issue, whether the Halakhah is characterized only by factors inherent in it or whether also by valuative and philosophical worlds outside of it. What is the weight of external considerations in the shaping of the Halakhah and its decision makers? Can the tools of Sociology and Anthropology enrich our understanding of the Halakhic process? In examining these questions the authors deal with the Philosophy of the Halakhah through critical but also normative lenses. This book lays before the readers the cutting edge of research in Philosophy of Halakhah, and it gives the reader a fascinating point of entry into philosophical-Halakhic discourse.

This is the seventh in the Sources and Traditions - Critical Commentary on the Talmud series.

This book examines the Rabbinic perception of the biblical commandment of pilgrimage-related joy - “You shall rejoice on your festival” - from the Second Temple through the tannaitic-amoraic period. Close analysis of the sources discloses an edifice of early tannaitic halakhah concerning the festivals and pinpoints the development of its underlying conceptual-exegetical approach from early teachings to its present form.