Oxford Jewish Thought

Before the Exodus, G-d struck Egypt with ten plagues. The plagues contained four aspects: G-d asking Moses to go to Pharaoh to let the people go and warn him of the consequences of the plagues if he refuses; Moses asking Pharaoh to let the people go and warn of the impending plague if he refuses; hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his refusal’ and the actual plague. Similarly, before the plague of locusts, it states (Exodus 10:1-6):

Then G-d said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, (2) and that you may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child how I made a mockery of the… Read More »

INTRODUCTION

PART 1: BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TEACHING, WRITING, DISTRIBUTION, EDITING AND PRINTING OF THE TANYA

The work of the Tanya is a work of Jewish mysticism regarded as the foundational work^[1] of Chabad philosophy (Torat Chassidut Chabad), authored by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe (1745-1813). It was first taught orally over a number of years, beginning in 1782 (5542), and then a second time over a three-year period, beginning on Rosh Hashanah, in September, 1789 (5550). The first three chapters were taught on Rosh Hashanah, and then continuing once a month on Shabbat, and other special occasions. This concluded on 14 November, 1793 (10 Kislev 5554).^[2]

Similar to the teaching of the… Read More »

On the last day of Passover, 1984, the Lubavitcher Rebbe instituted a new custom: the study of a section of Maimonides daily that was aimed to unite the entire Jewish people by studying the same subject of the Torah daily. With this, also began the second significant commentary of the Rebbe on a classical work of the Torah: the legal work of Maimonides, Mishneh Torah. This initiative came after eighteen years of the development of the Rebbe’s commentary on Rashi, that began in October, 1964, after the passing of his mother, Rebetzin Chana. In this essay, I would like to explore a similarity between these two commentaries: an approach that allowed the Rebbe to develop a unique commentary on two classic works of the Torah, despite… Read More »

Rashi wrote commentary on the whole of the Torah, including the Pentateuch, Prophets and Writings, besides on Chronicles that is only attributed to Rashi. The supercommentary of the Rebbe on Rashi was however focused primarily on the commentary on the Pentateuch. The reason for this is as indicated in the reasoning given for the commentary itself: the study of Rashi on Shabbat is based on the clause in Jewish law that the commentary of Rashi may serve in the place of the Aramaic translation of Onkelos in the context of the custom to read each Shabbat the Torah, twice in Hebrew and one with the Targum. Rabbi Joseph Karo writes that a G-d-fearing person should read the Rashi commentary, in addition to the Targum. While the reading of Rashi… Read More »

The commentary of Rashi is based on the level of interpretation of p’shat, as Rashi states in his commentary on Genesis 3:8: ‘There are many Aggadic midrashim, and our Sages already arranged them in their proper order in Genesis Rabbah and in other midrashim, but I have come only [to teach] the simple meaning of the Scripture (p’shuto shel mikra) and such Aggadah that clarifies the words of the verses, each word in its proper way.’ In this statement Rashi acknowledges that he also brings midrashic teachings in his commentary. Complicating the intention of Rashi to follow only p’shat, is the fact that a vast amount of the commentary, estimated seventy… Read More »

The methodology of the Rebbe’s commentary on Rashi appears conventional to other super-commentators whereby a question is asked on a text of Rashi and an answer is proposed in validation and explanation of the comment. A unique feature of the Rebbe’s commentary is, however, the style of the questioning. The Rebbe would not suffice in posing a central question but rather on occasion pose up to twenty questions on a particular, sometimes short text of Rashi,^[1] before proposing a principle, upon which he would be build a new perspective, fundamentally, upon reflection, simple and obvious, that due to its simplicity was overlooked. The reason for having overlooked the answer proposed may have been due to the conventional… Read More »

An interesting style of the way the studies of Rashi were taught was that it was not just frontal teaching but interactive. While the Rebbe had other structured series of studies on different works, including Igeret ha-teshuvah (Epistle of Repentance) in the work of the Tanya by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi,^[1] the work of his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, on the Tanya and the Zohar, Ethics of the Fathers, and in the 1980s on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, the studying of Rashi was unique in that the Rebbe invested effort in making it interactive. This was done in various way and in stages. During 1964-5, it began as frontal teaching without interaction. The Rebbe would choose… Read More »

With the closing of the chapter of the explaining a Rashi based on the system of selecting the beginning and final verse in each Parsha, what method did the Rebbe use to decide which Rashi to dwell on and incorporate in his commentary? On most occasions, the Rebbe would unilaterally choose a comment of Rashi to explain. There are other factors that also had influence on the particular Rashi that would be discussed. On occasion it was related to a topic that was being discussed at that time and fit well with the theme. This can be found in 1966 (Pinchas, 21 Tammuz 5726), when the Rebbe linked the discussion on the Exodus as a case of coming out of danger, which would require a blessing of thanksgiving, to an internal exodus from spiritual… Read More »

Some of the classic Biblical commentaries on the Torah and Rashi developed in one of two ways: either as a solitary written commentary or a series of Shabbat lectures that were later developed into a commentary. The former occurred with Levush Ha-orah commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe (1530-1612), who wrote his commentary on Rashi, beginning after he got married in 1553 and continued over a fifty year year period until its completion in Poznan in 1603.^[1] He would dedicate time to study a section of the Torah portion each week in depth on Thursday or Friday and write down his commentary. The following year he would continue with the next section of the Torah portion and so on. A further commentary that was written in this… Read More »

The biblical commentary of Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105) is the most published and studied commentary on the Torah since the 12^th century. The most extensive supercommentary on Rashi in the 20^th century is a commentary by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. The commentary developed over many years, beginning on the 10^th October, 1964 (Shabbat, Parshat Noach / 4 Cheshvan 5765) and continued as a part of the series, almost every Shabbat when a farbrengen was held, usually introducing the commentary with the standard opening: ‘as is customary to study a comment of Rashi.’ A year after it had started, on Simchat Torah, 5766, before expounding on the beginning and end of the final Torah portion of… Read More »

One of the most well-known piyyutim, of unknown origin, in the High Holidays machzor (prayer book), is known as: ‘ki anu amecha’ (for we are your people). It is recited five times on Yom Kippur, during each of the five prayers: evening service, morning service, mussaf, mincha and ne’ilah, and appears each time in the machzor just before the confession. The piyyut is traditionally sung as a joyous song and in unison, as opposed to being led by the chazzan, as with other piyyutim. In the ‘Companion to the Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, by Raymond Apple, published by the United Synagogue in 1964, it describes this piyyut as follows: ‘Based on a number of Biblical expressions, ‘Ki anu… Read More »

I, and none other

In the Haggadah, it states:

“And the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and with an outstretched forearm and with great awe and with signs and with wonders” (Deuteronomy 26:8). “And the Lord took us out of Egypt” - not through an angel and not through a seraph and not through a messenger, but [directly by] the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory, and by Himself, as it is stated (Exodus 12:12): “And I will pass through the Land of Egypt on that night and I will smite every firstborn in the Land of Egypt, from men to animals; and with all the gods of Egypt, I will make judgments, I am the Lord.”^[1] “And I will pass through the Land of Egypt" - I… Read More »

Oxford houses thousands of Hebrew manuscripts and early printed books. In addition, perhaps less known, however, in the museums around Oxford, are held artefacts and objects of Jewish interest. This includes a charity collection bowl, known as the Bodleian Bowl at the Ashmolean Museum, and a collection of Shofars and Jewish amulets at the Pitt Rivers Museum. In this essay, we will explore the history and significance of amulets in Jewish tradition, through the classic period, as recorded in the earliest works of Jewish law, through the medieval period, when this tradition is ridiculed by Maimonides, until its decline in the modern period. Despite the decline of the use of amulets nowadays in Jewish tradition, as reflected in their presence… Read More »