Sometime in the mid-1400s, Rabbi Shlomo Duran of Algiers penned a remarkable teshuvah directed at a group of conversos in Spain. These individuals, who had been forced to embrace Christianity since the 1391 persecutions, had managed to maintain their Jewish faith in secrecy. Their question centered on how they could refrain from the worst forms of chametz on Pesach without drawing the suspicion of the authorities—an endeavor fraught with challenges. This teshuvah touches on many halachic elements regarding chametz and reveals the Marranos' historical struggles in mid-fifteenth-century Spain.
The Marranos’ Secret Pesach
In the 1850s, a groundbreaking innovation was introduced in Galicia: machines to facilitate matzah production. What followed was a fierce and dramatic conflict that shook the Jewish world. Pamphlets were published on both sides, each defending its position with vigor, leading to intense debates over halachah, minhag, and economic policy. In this class, we jump into the heart of the controversy as it played out in the late 1850s—the first phase of this conflict—and then explore how later Chabad sources engaged with this issue.
The Machine Matzah Controversy
The Alter Rebbe’s unique script for safrus has a rich and winding history. It has been inked, shelved, revived, and debated—and everyone seems to have an opinion. So, what is the story behind this ksav? What sets it apart? Why do some embrace it wholeheartedly while others remain unsure? This class explores its historical trajectory, some of its writing nuances, and the ongoing conversation around its adoption.
Links to images:
Megilah of Rebbe Maharash in Aguch library:
https://hebrewstam.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post_120.html
Megilah attributed to Rebbe Maharash, Carlebach family:
https://yeshivasstam.com/maharash
Tefillin of the Frierdiker Rebbe:
https://hebrewstam.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-post_19.html#comment-form
Tefillin attributed to Reb Reuven Sofer, Gurary family:
https://hebrewstam.blogspot.com/2016/01/blog-post_21.html
The Story of the Alter Rebbe’s Script
In the mid-12th century, the Almohads swept across North Africa and Spain, driven by a vision of a strictly unified Muslim society. For the Jewish communities under their rule, the choice was stark and unforgiving: convert, flee, or face death. Many outwardly embraced Islam while secretly maintaining their Jewish faith. A rabbi from afar denounced these covert Jews, insisting that their hidden devotion was meaningless. Rambam, however, fiercely rejected this view. In his Igeres Hashmad, he offered a scholarly and compassionate perspective, guiding his brethren through one of the most harrowing dilemmas in Jewish history.
Rambam, the Almohads, and the Secret Jews
In the 1170s, the Jewish community in Yemen faced an existential crisis: a radical ruler forced them to convert to Islam, an apostate Jew spread anti-Jewish propaganda, and a self-declared Messiah sowed confusion. In response, the Rambam penned one of his most powerful letters, offering guidance and encouragement. As we approach the 44th Siyum HaRambam, we revisit this extraordinary letter, its historical context, and its enduring lessons.
Rambam to the Rescue: His Legendary Letter to Yemen
In the 1470s, a series of outrageous blood libels were leveled against Jewish communities in the Germanic lands, including one in Regensburg. To secure their acquittal, the Jews of Regensburg needed an enormous sum of money—far beyond their means. The rabbis gathered in Nuremberg to strategize and ultimately turned to Rabbi Yosef Colon in Pavia with a pressing question: Could they obligate all Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire to contribute to helping the Jews in Regensburg? Rabbi Yosef Colon’s response is a masterful work of Talmudic analysis and a sobering reflection on the historical realities of the time.
The Regensburg Blood Libel
On the fifteenth of Shevat, 1348, in the city of Tudela, a man named Yosef performed kidushin with a young woman named Belita. What began as a seemingly ordinary wedding ceremony quickly became a shocking controversy. People who were present asked Belita whether she was truly consenting, and instead of her confirming, it was her father who spoke on her behalf. Further investigation revealed that Belita had previously stated her refusal to this marriage not once but twice, and, in fact, was already married to her uncle Avraham. To complicate matters, she was also engaged to a third man! On the eve of the Black Death sweeping through Europe, this tangled web of relationships turned into a halachic dilemma that ultimately reached the desk of Rabbi Yehudah, son of the Rosh.
The Scandalous Marriage, 1348
Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderes, the legendary rabbi and leader of Barcelona, received countless questions during his tenure, many of which have been preserved to this day. In this class, we discuss six compelling cases of tax disputes. They reveal remarkable insights into the political and economic realities of the time, the dynamics within Jewish communities, and their interactions with the surrounding non-Jewish world.
Taxes and Tensions: The Story of Jewish Tax Disputes in Medieval Spain
The book known as Yosifun, cherished in traditional Jewish circles, and the books of Josephus, preserved in Greek and Latin by non-Jewish hands, spark challenging questions about authorship, reliability, and reconstructing the Jewish past. This class explores how rabbis throughout the ages evaluated these works, their role on the Jewish bookshelf, and how to navigate the apparent discrepancies between their accounts and the teachings of chazal.
Josephus
The Books of Maccabees tell the dramatic story of the Chanukah revolt and the heroism of the Jewish fighters. But who wrote these books, and why were they left off the Jewish bookshelf? We’ll discuss the history of these texts, explore their reception among Jews throughout the ages, and probe the role they played—or didn’t play—in shaping Jewish memory of the Chanukah story.
Lost Lights of Chanukah: Exploring the Books of Maccabees
When a shipwreck in the 1500s left families wondering about the fate of their loved ones, rabbinic authorities debated whether the wives of the missing passengers could remarry. This centuries-old question resurfaced in 1912 with the famous sinking of the Titanic, reigniting the discussion of applying Halachah in tragic circumstances.
The Titanic Question: The Halachic Dilemma of Men Lost at Sea
We kick things off with seven fascinating stories from the teshuvos of medieval Spain, where we discover shul seats being treated like real estate: bought, sold, inherited, mortgaged—and sometimes the center of heated disputes. Then, we shift our focus to Ashkenaz, where this phenomenon is noticeably absent, suggesting a very different set of attitudes and conventions about shul seats. Finally, we dive into how the poskim tackled some of these disputes, applying Halachah to their contemporary realities.
Benches, Bargains, and Bickering: Shul Seating in the Middle Ages
In the 1630s, pioneering Jewish immigrants in Brazil asked when they should daven for rain, given that their seasons were reversed from those in Europe. Their question sparked a fascinating rabbinic debate that takes us back to a dramatic showdown in 14th-century Toledo, which continues to resonate today. Join us as we explore how Halachah navigates the balance between tradition and reality.
The Climate Clash: Rain, Rabbis, and Rulings for the Southern Hemisphere
In 1848, a man in Jerusalem on a journey to Judaism was devastated when told he must desecrate Shabbos because, despite undergoing a bris, he wasn’t yet considered Jewish until completing the final step of immersion. His heartbreak ignited a halachic controversy, which we’ll explore in this class. We’ll uncover the identities of the key figures involved and delve into the moving story of a man willing to sacrifice everything for his newfound faith.
The Warder Cresson Story
As we mark the 60th anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s sichos on Rashi, we will dive into how the Rebbe engaged with some of the earliest print editions and medieval manuscripts of Rashi’s commentary. These unique editions often reveal variant readings of Rashi’s words, each with its own story to tell. Through this journey, we’ll gain a deeper appreciation for Rashi’s foundational commentary—and the Rebbe’s unique approach to understanding it.
Links to the relevant manuscripts and prints:
Vatican Library, Urb. Ebr. 8
https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Urb.ebr.8
Vatican Library, Vat. Ebr. 47
https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.ebr.47
Reggio de Calabria 1475
Guadalajara 1476
https://www.hebrewbooks.org/21188
Rome, circa 1470
Berliner edition
https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH990020823920205171/NLI
The Rebbe’s Rashi: Insights from Manuscripts and Incunabula Editions
Why has the Chabad community favored esrogim from Calabria? In this class, we’ll explore the backstory, diving into the halachic debates about grafted esrogim and why they matter. We’ll also take a closer look at the big discovery in 1955—when it turned out that even Calabria esrogim weren’t completely immune to grafting—and what that meant moving forward. We’ll unpack the history and the questions that still linger today.
Rooted in Tradition: The Calabria Esrog Story
From the Cairo Geniza, we uncover an ancient Judeo-Arabic rabbinic essay offering unique insights into the history and development of the Jewish calendar, particularly the observance of the second day of yom tov outside the Land of Israel. As we delve deeper, this document emerges as part of a broader debate, addressing the Karaites’ opposition to the two-day yom tov tradition. By comparing this text with Rambam’s perspective, we’ll gain a deeper understanding of this critical issue and a window into a pivotal moment in Jewish history.
Lost in the Geniza: An Anonymous Teshuvah on the Two-Day Yom Tov Debate
In this class, we will analyze four beautiful piyutim that we chant on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, uncovering some structural oddities along the way. As we raise questions and examine older prints and medieval manuscripts, we’ll uncover a story of mysterious censorship. While we’ll piece together what happened, understanding why it happened will prove to be more challenging.
Links:
Machzor, Lublin 1551
https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH990011638640205171/NLI
Bodleian Library, MS. Michael 619
Bodleian Library, MS. Heb. e. 39 (Geniza)
https://hebrew.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/fragments/full/MS_HEB_e_39_4b.jpg
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Hébreu 631
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105392732/f25.item
Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 321
Bodleian Library, MS. Michael 627
Bavarian State Library, Cod. Hebr. 69
Basel University Library, MS. R II 2
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Hébreu 621
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105420719/f70.planchecontact
State Library Berlin, MS. OR 4200
The Vanishing Verses: Curious Cases of Textual Tampering in Our Machzor
In this episode, we’re diving into fascinating early 16th-century woodcut images and priceless medieval machzor manuscripts to see how they portray the mitzvah of blowing the shofar. We’ll explore the unique details in these images that reveal interesting minhagim of the time, though some might leave us with more questions than answers. Let’s uncover the stories these images tell about our tradition.
Links:
Book on Jewish Confession (Nuremberg 1508)
https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/freimann/content/thumbview/6515799
Der Juden Spiegel (Cologne 1508)
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1911061m/f39.double
Luzzato Machzor
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-luzzatto-high-holiday-mahzor-1
Machzor – Bavarian State Library
https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb00034975?page=82
Kaufmann Machzor - Hungarian Academy of Sciences
http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms388/ms388-012v.htm
Machzor – Cambridge University Library
https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-00662/127
Machzor – Austrian National Library
Art of the Blast: Shofar Blowing Customs in Medieval Manuscripts
In the 1860s, European Jewish communities faced a unique halachic challenge: the arrival of new chicken breeds from distant lands. As these exotic fowl entered the marketplace, rabbis debated their kosher status, igniting an adjacent discussion on how and why the turkey became accepted as kosher.
Fowl Play: The Great Turkey-Chicken Debate of the 19th Century
