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Rambish- Database of the Month:

May 7th, 2012 by libraryblog

Rambish – Reshimat Ma’amarim shel Bene ha-Yeshivot (Index to Articles in Yeshiva Publications) is a growing Hebrew language database that indexes Torah articles from journals published by individual yeshivot and articles whose main readership is the yeshivah community. It is this particular focus which differentiates Rambish from its punned eponym, the more academically oriented Rambi.

In addition to traditional Search and Browse features, Rambish also provides a fairly detailed abstract of each article and a link to any article that is available in full-text online.

To illustrate: if the user entersשבת  as a search, 468 results are yielded. The results encompass a wide range of topics: saying va-yekhulu on Friday night, returning from the hospital after an emergency, and the concept of “rest” on Shabbat are only a few examples. The journals indexed also vary from the well-known Techumin journal to the smaller Be-Lekhtekha ba-Derekh published by Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh.

Rambish is a collaborative effort, and while right now most of the journals indexed originate from Israeli yeshivot, the owners of the database encourage yeshivot throughout the world to add their publications. As the database grows, it will fill a significant void and make the intellectual fruits of yeshivot throughout the world more accessible.

Posted by Moshe Schapiro

Posted in Databases | 1 Comment »

The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery

May 2nd, 2012 by libraryblog

The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery, by Rabbi Norman Lamm; compiled and edited by Joel B. Wolowelsky. OU Press and RIETS Yeshiva University Press, 2012.

Rabbi Norman Lamm’s latest publication, The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery, is a combination of old and new. The material for the book was put together by Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky based on the treasure trove of Rabbi Lamm’s sermons that have been digitized and made available to the public by the YU Library. However, the format of this book is new and different from Rabbi Lamm’s previous works. While at the end of the volume there are several fascinating essays about days of thanksgiving such as Hanukkah and Yom ha-Atzma’ut, the bulk of the volume is an arrangement of Rabbi Lamm’s ideas and insights as a running commentary on the Purim night prayer service and Megillat Esther. The result is an accessible and exciting read that informs and inspires.

Posted by Moshe Schapiro.

Posted in New books by YU faculty | 2 Comments »

Letters of Chaplain Louis Werfel z”l, YU’s “Flying Rabbi”

April 30th, 2012 by libraryblog

Yeshiva University Archives has received a small collection of letters written by Yeshiva College alumnus and RIETS musmach Louis Werfel, the only Orthodox chaplain killed in action in World War II.  Known as “The Flying Rabbi” because of his frequent flights to visit servicemen in locations throughout North Africa, Chaplain Werfel perished when the plane he was traveling in while returning from conducting a Hanukkah service in Casablanca crashed in the Algerian mountains.

Werfel held leadership roles in both Yeshiva College and RIETS during his time at YU; in fact several of the letters are written on stationery from these student organizations and refer to aspects of his life at Yeshiva.  Others were written during his army service.  The letters are all to members of the Ellis family of Philadelphia, and attest to Werfel’s close relationship with them.  The Archives received the collection from a book dealer, who acquired them through an auction of materials from the estate of Ellis family members.

Werfel’s is one of the 14 names on a monument for fallen Jewish chaplains dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery’s Chaplains Hill last October.   Shortly after Werfel’s death, New York’s The Sun newspaper printed a tribute to him and to military chaplains in general.  This tribute was reprinted in the 1944 Yeshiva College Masmid yearbook, available online at http://archive.org/stream/masmid1944#page/n6/mode/1up.

The letters may be viewed by appointment with the Archives.

Posted by Deena Schwimmer

Posted in Manuscripts and Archives, New to our Collections | No Comments »

Internet Access Unavailable

April 27th, 2012 by libraryblog

Posted in Library Service Alert | No Comments »

Ronald Rubin

April 20th, 2012 by libraryblog

Dr. Ronald Rubin, already a generous donor of rare volumes to the Library’s Special Collections, presented the Mendel Gottesman Library with a very valuable set of four magnificent volumes this week, in celebration of his birthday, the Biblia Rabbinica (Mikra’ot Gedolot), published in Basel in 1618-1619. This edition, the 6th Biblia Rabbinica, was commissioned by the Christian Hebraist, Johannes Buxtorf the elder, and published by his son-in-law, Ludwig Konig. This four volume set is particularly rare since it includes a special separate section for the Haftarot,  not found in most editions.
Buxtorf and Konig hired Abraham Braunschweig, Elia ben Jehuda Ulm, and Mordechai Gumplin, Jewish printing experts to set text and proofread the volumes.  These Jews obtained special permission from the government to live in Basel during the course of the printing, however their sojourn there was not without incident.  Buxtorf and Konig attended the bris of Braunschweig’s son, and were each fined 100 gulden. Braunschweig was fined 400 gulden, and all the Jews who were visiting Basel for the event were briefly jailed, and expelled from Basel after their release.

Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger

Posted in Gifts, New to our Collections | No Comments »

Kuntres Yerah Tov ‘al Birkat ha-hodesh

April 19th, 2012 by libraryblog

Kuntres Yerah Tov ‘al Birkat ha-Hodesh, by Elchanan Adler. Published by the author, 2012.

Kuntres Yerah Tov, by Yeshiva University Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Elchanan Adler, is a short volume, but it is overflowing with scintillating scholarship and fascinating insights into the monthly recitation of the Blessing of the New Moon. Rabbi Adler weaves together lomdus, halakhah and musar in his investigation of the text and background of Birkat ha-Hodesh.

Posted by Moshe Schapiro.

Posted in New books by YU faculty | No Comments »

Finding the Afikomen: Passover in the Library

April 4th, 2012 by libraryblog

Pesach is the holiday of searching: checking for hamets, hunting for the afikomen, and defining Jewish identity and freedom.  An exploration of the library’s collections unearths images in honor of the holiday.
Best wishes for a happy and kosher Passover.

Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger

Posted in Manuscripts and Archives | No Comments »

RAMBI Subject Searching Upgrade

April 3rd, 2012 by libraryblog

Sylviane Stampfer, editor of RAMBI, The Index to Articles in Jewish Studies, recently announced that SUBJECT searching in RAMBI is being upgraded so that searching a subject in either English or Hebrew will retrieve both Hebrew and European language articles.

The change is being introduced gradually and is expected to be completed by the summer. Until then, if a search retrieves articles only in the script of the search term a search under the term in the alternate script is recommended.

Posted in Databases | No Comments »

Sefer Tov Lev ‘al Masekhet Pesahim

March 27th, 2012 by libraryblog

Sefer Tov Lev ‘al Masekhet Pesahim, by Michoel Zylberman. Ḳeren Mikha’el Sharf le-hotsaʼat sefarim she-ʻal yad Yeshivat Rabenu Yitsḥaḳ Elḥanan, 2011.

Rabbi Michoel Zylberman’s first published book contains two works. The first work, Sefer Tov Lev, is a collection of essays covering different topics in Masekhet Pesahim. In the second work, Kuntres Dat Yehudit, R. Zylberman, who is Assistant Director of the Beth Din of America, includes several essays relating to the laws of conversion and divorce. Each essay displays clear, precise erudition, with an eye toward the practical halakhah.

Posted by Moshe Schapiro.

Posted in New books by YU faculty | No Comments »

Sefer Yeme ha-Purim

March 14th, 2012 by libraryblog
Sefer Yeme ha-Purim, by Yonason Sacks. 2012.
Yeme ha-Purim is a collection of Torah essays on halakhic topics relating to Purim by Yeshiva University Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yonason Sacks. The essays display Rabbi Sacks’ clarity of thought and presentation. The joy of Purim and Torah study are combined beautifully in this new volume.
Posted by Moshe Schapiro.

Posted in New books by YU faculty | No Comments »