Books by Morris Faierstein
Hebrew Union College Press, 2024
The subject of this study is every Yiddish work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that... more The subject of this study is every Yiddish work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that is directly or indirectly related to the Bible. The survey begins with the Mirkevet ha-Mishneh, the first published Yiddish book, which is a biblical concordance, published in Cracow, 1534-36, and concludes with the two competing translations of the entire Bible into Yiddish by Yekutiel Blitz and Joseph Witzenhausen, published in Amsterdam, 1676-86.
De Gruyter (Studia Judaica, 131), 2024
Sefer Brantshpigl is an important Yiddish religious/ethical work first published in Cracow, 1596.... more Sefer Brantshpigl is an important Yiddish religious/ethical work first published in Cracow, 1596. It was reprinted six more times into the beginning of the eighteenth century and is an important source for the social and religious life of Central/East European Jewry in the Early Modern period. This volume is the first complete translation of this text into English with annotations and scholarly introduction. The author, Moshe Henochs Altschul-Yerushalmi was a member of what has become to be known as the secondary intelligentsia. Little is known about his life, other than that he lived in Prague. His son, Henoch Altschul, was the Shamash of the Jewish community of Prague from 1603–1633. He examined all aspects of Jewish social and religious life in seventy-six chapters. Each chapter discusses a specific topic. Not only does he describe what is good and critiques what he finds to be lacking, but he buttresses his arguments with citations from the whole range of rabbinic literature. One aspect that is particularly interesting is his citation of kabbalistic sources in his arguments. He cites kabbalistic sources more than sixty times and even devotes a whole chapter to the kabbalistic night ritual of Tikkun Hazot.
SUNY Press, 2024
This is the first comprehensive of the Dybbuk concept that has its origins in Safed, in 1571. It ... more This is the first comprehensive of the Dybbuk concept that has its origins in Safed, in 1571. It explores the concepts that form the basis of the Dybbuk concept, and why it first appears in Safed. The subsequent history of first hand accounts of Dybbuk possessions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are explored. The appendices contain English translations of the relevant primary documents. Many of these documents have been translated for the first time.
Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk is one of the most interesting and challenging figures of Hasidism ... more Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk is one of the most interesting and challenging figures of Hasidism in the nineteenth century. His search for truth and battles against falsehood and spiritual compromise are the subject of many legends, hagiographical stories, and anecdotes. Though he was irascible and demanding, he inspired the loyalty of disciples who went on to become the dominant leaders of Hasidism in Poland from the middle of the nineteenth century to the destruction of Polish Jewry in the Holocaust. R. Menahem Mendel left no surviving writings. His descendants and disciples moved away from the radicalism of his teachings and adopted more conventional and conservative theological positions. As a result, there was little incentive to preserve and publish his teachings.
The goal of this work is twofold. First, to present a biographical study of what is known about R. Menahem Mendel that is based on historical research, instead of repeating myths, legends and stories without regard to their historical veracity. Secondly, to collect, translate, and analyze those teachings and sayings by or about R. Menahem Mendel that are consistent with what we know about his life and teachings, and are also accessible to a broader audience.
The essays in this volume cover three areas of research conducted over a period of twenty-five ye... more The essays in this volume cover three areas of research conducted over a period of twenty-five years. The first group of essays is related to the history of Safed and more particularly, the life and activities of Rabbi Hayyim Vital. For the most part, they expand upon topics that emerged from my editions (Hebrew and English Translation) of Rabbi Hayyim Vital’s mystical diary, Sefer Hezyonot. The essay on the first published account of a Dibbuk possession is a bridge to the second area, the relation of Kabbalah and early Modern Yiddish Literature. The larger theme of these few essays is a beginning attempt to show that kabbalistic themes and concepts were more widely disseminated and popularized than has been realized. For example, one essay shows that a Yiddish work aimed at a popular audience published in 1596 already has an extended discussion of the kabbalistic ritual of Tikkun Hazot. This is not a theoretical discussion; rather the author strongly encourages his readers, ordinary Jews, to perform this kabbalistic ritual. The last group of essays is largely concerned with a continuation my earlier work on Kotsk-Izbica Hasidism and the tensions between Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk and his erstwhile friend and disciple, Rabbi Mordecai Joseph of Izbica. Two essays discuss aspects of the teachings of the first and last leaders of Habad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson.
Papers by Morris Faierstein
Religious Studies Review, Apr 1, 2006
and the influence of Cho's and Yoido's social ministries on Korean society. Unfortunately, too ma... more and the influence of Cho's and Yoido's social ministries on Korean society. Unfortunately, too many grammatical and stylistic irregularities will distract western readers. Still, this volume provides important self-critical reflections and should be read alongside other treatments of Yoido Pentecostalism such as that by Menzies, ed., David Yonggi Cho: A Close Look
CCAR Journal, 2024
The recent fiftieth Yahrzeit of Abraham Joshua Heschel z"l called forth a wide variety of article... more The recent fiftieth Yahrzeit of Abraham Joshua Heschel z"l called forth a wide variety of articles, lectures, and reminiscences about Professor Heschel z"l and his life, in a variety of forums and formats. The majority of them followed a similar thematic path; a brief nod to his
Studia Biblica Athanasiana, 2013
This article is a Hungarian translation of my article, "Why Do the Scribes say that Elijah must ... more This article is a Hungarian translation of my article, "Why Do the Scribes say that Elijah must come first? in JBL 100, 1 (1981): 75-86.
New York University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2005
A survey of the Sephardi contribution to the Kabbalistic center in Safed during the sixteenth cen... more A survey of the Sephardi contribution to the Kabbalistic center in Safed during the sixteenth century.
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Books by Morris Faierstein
The goal of this work is twofold. First, to present a biographical study of what is known about R. Menahem Mendel that is based on historical research, instead of repeating myths, legends and stories without regard to their historical veracity. Secondly, to collect, translate, and analyze those teachings and sayings by or about R. Menahem Mendel that are consistent with what we know about his life and teachings, and are also accessible to a broader audience.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110461039/html#contents
Papers by Morris Faierstein
The goal of this work is twofold. First, to present a biographical study of what is known about R. Menahem Mendel that is based on historical research, instead of repeating myths, legends and stories without regard to their historical veracity. Secondly, to collect, translate, and analyze those teachings and sayings by or about R. Menahem Mendel that are consistent with what we know about his life and teachings, and are also accessible to a broader audience.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110461039/html#contents
Garden ofEden and its inhabitants. It first came to the attention of scholars in the nineteenth century when it was included in A. Jellinek's midrashic
collection, Bet ha-Midrash.' Scholars who studied this text believed that it
might be a part of Moshe ed Leon's Hebrew writings. It also attracted the
attention of Gershom Scholem who devoted significant efforts to proving that this text was indeed a part of Moshe de Leon's Hebrew writings. Scholem's efforts were described and analyzed in an important article by Leore Sachs Shmueli.? More recently, Avishai bar Asher has expanded on Scholem's studies and has shown that this text was indeed a part of de Leon's oeuvre. The task of this study is to present a previously unknown Yiddish version of this text and publish the original Yiddish text along with an annotated English translation. It was first published in Hanau, 1620, in a small collection of Yiddish texts relating to the Garden of Eden entitled, Sefer Olam ha-Ba. This small pamphlet was reprinted a further four times in the course of the next century.
URL - http://readingreligion.org/books/prince-press
Sefer Hezyonot: Yomano ha-Mysti R. Hayyim Vital (Ben Zvi Institute, 2005).
Jewish Mystical Autobiographies: Book of Visions and Book of Secrets (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paulist Press, 1999).
From the Mirkevet ha-Mishneh to Blitz and Witzenhausen
The subject of this study is every Yiddish work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that is directly or indirectly related to the Bible, and includes not only translations of biblical books, but also adaptations, reworkings, and paraphrases of biblical texts, appearing in diverse literary styles, by a wide variety of authors. King David, for example, is presented in the Shmuel Bukh as a combination of medieval chivalric hero and
rabbinic scholar. The story of Jonah is retold through a midrashic lens, and analogizes Jonah’s journey to that of the soul from conception through life, death, and return to its heavenly source. Some authors take great liberties with the biblical text. The author of the paraphrase of Isaiah only includes what he considers to be prophetic utterances and disregards the rest of the book. Another author decides that the second half of the
Torah is too legalistic and not worth retelling, so he ends his commentary after the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. As for the Five Scrolls, Lamentations is too depressing so he ignores it. There are also surprising
inclusions in these volumes, such as the books of Judith and Susanna from the Apocrypha, and the very colorful medieval version of the Book of Ben Sira, which is considered by modern scholars to be a parody.
Table of Contents:
1 Yalta – The Third Rib: Redaction and Meaning in Bavli Berakhot,
Chapter 7
Ido Hevroni, Shalem College; Kogod Research Center for
Contemporary Jewish Thought, Shalom Hartman Institute
53 An “Edge” in Space or an “Edge” in Time: The Commandment of
Pe’ah in Tannaitic Midrash Halakhah
Aaron Amit, Bar-Ilan University
77 “For Your Work Will Be Rewarded” – On the Development of the
Sign Tradition
Brachi Elitzur, Herzog College
127 Nafīs al-Dīn’s Samaritan-Arabic Translation of Thirteen Verses
from the “Song of Moses”
Ali Watad, Beit Berl College
157 The Earliest Published Yiddish Tehinnot (1590–1609)
Morris M. Faierstein, Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University
of Maryland
207 The Societal Role of the Man of Spirit According to Martin Buber
Admiel Kosman and Yemima Hadad, Institut für Jüdische Theologie/
School of Jewish Theology, University of Potsdam
261 Leo Baeck’s “Individuum Ineffabile”
Introduced by David Ellenson and Paul Mendes-Flohr; translated by
Gabriel E. Padawer and Bernard H. Mehlman, with Alisa Rethy