One area of Jewish law that is of practical relevance but is also of a complex nature: the extensive institutions of blessings that the rabbis ordained to be recited in praise of G-d over numerous details of our daily lives. This includes blessings before and after eating; blessings on Mitzvot, for example before reading from the Torah; and on the wonders and joys of the natural world: upon seeing lightening, hearing thunder, the sighting of a rainbow and many more.
This essay will look at two things: firstly, a variation between two texts in the same standard Mishneh Torah printed edition, and secondly, a variation found in the Oxford Huntington manuscript of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah pertaining to the laws of blessings… Read More »