rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: Medieval Theory of Vision
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2013/07/medieval-theory-of-vision.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Sunday, July 28, 2013. Medieval Theory of Vision. This post may have relevance to a book I am working on, so if anyone has any ideas or comments or explanations I would very much welcome them. The ancient Greeks were basically divided into two camps of how vision works. One camp held with the theory of Emission. The opposing view held that miniature replicas of objects entered into the eye. This is the intromission theory. מה ראה אמר רב רא...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: July 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Tuesday, July 31, 2012. Daf Yomi - Democratisation of Torah. Has posted about why he will not continue with daf yomi this next time. He points out the costs, both in terms of family time, and in terms of real Torah learning. The main/best/only thing that daf yomi has going for it is that people actually do it. How often have you planned or thought about learning something, only to give up soon after beginning (or even before beginning)?
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: October 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Tuesday, October 23, 2012. I know that Purim is still a long way away, but I just discovered this fact (in the very interesting book Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg To Schottenstein. Nowadays, a spoof of a current event has to be made within a few hours, or at most a few days, otherwise it loses its bite. However, it wasn't always so. A parody of Habakuk Ha-Navi - which translates as "The Book of the Bottle Prophet"). Links to this post.
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: June 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Thursday, June 28, 2012. Rav Dushinsky Saves Jerusalem? I was looking at a book entitled "HaTekufah ve-Bayoteha" - "The Era and its Troubles" by Rav Yosef Avraham Wolff. He became a chasid of the Chazon Ish, and was responsible for creating the Beis Yaakov educational philosophy which allowed for the the current Kollel system. My problem is that I cannot find any reference anywhere to such a story. Has anyone heard this story before? This ...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: Invalidating a Beit Din
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2013/07/invalidating-beit-din.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Saturday, July 27, 2013. Invalidating a Beit Din. Rabbi Gordimer continues to accuse Rabbi Zev Farber of heresy. (To be honest, I'm not sure that he is wrong - it seems to me that Rav Farber has crossed some unwritten line, but that may be the topic of another post). However, in his latest post Rabbi Gordimer goes a step further. He writes:. But aside from that, to invalidate an entire institution based on the writings or thought of one in...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: August 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Thursday, August 30, 2012. Rav Elchanan Wasserman on Daf Yomi. I was looking in a book of collected ideas of Rav Elchanan (Kovetz Maamarim ve-Iggrot). There is a one line comment there about daf hayomi:. דף היומי הוא רעיון נהדר, אבל אפ אין חוזרים על הדף הרבה פעמים, הלא בפירוש הגידו חז"ל סנהדרין צ"ט ע"א) שהוא כזורע ואינו קוצר. Also, while on the topic of reviewing Shas (Talmud) he writes:. אדם מישראל צריך למצוא פנאי לחזור ש"ס בכל שנה. 8211;...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: Biblical Kangaroos
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2013/07/this-post-is-inspired-by-scientific.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Monday, July 22, 2013. This post is inspired by the scientific writings of Dr Isaac Betech (pediatrician). The statement by YSO. That Kangaroos were known by both the Torah and by Chazal. Confused me at first, because it seemed to pose a difficulty to the mishna. But Baruch Hashem, using scientific methodology we have been able to clearly resolve all difficulties and show that Hashem is the Boreh Olam! Rishon le-Tziyon points out that from...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: December 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Sunday, December 30, 2012. Blessing for Birth of Down's Syndrome Baby. Last week (and again this week) Rav Shlomo Aviner. Publicised a p'sak halacha that parents should recite two blessings on the birth of a child with Down's Syndrome, both shehechiyanu and dayan ha-emet. Shehechiyanu for the Birth of a Child with Down's Syndrome. Q: If someone has a baby with Down's Syndrome, does he recite Shehechiyanu? After all, he is sad. Wrote a grea...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: September 2012
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Saturday, September 22, 2012. Is this Torah-true Judaism? I was looking at Rabbi Zamir Cohen's book The Coming Revolution. Today In it he claims that Louis Pasteur developed his cure for rabies after first reading a French translation of the Talmud. Cohen writes:. If someone is bitten by a mad dog [affected with rabies], he should be fed the lobe of that dog's liver.". About Rabinowitz I only know what google tells me. Apparently Dr...
rabbisedley.blogspot.com
rabbisedley: February 2013
http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too). Wednesday, February 13, 2013. I was always puzzled by the Gemara. Which speaks of Yochanan the High Priest becoming a heretic after 80 years in the job:. Believe not in thyself until the day of thy death? For lo, Johanan the High Priest officiated as High Priest for eighty years and in the end he became a Min? He must have been at least 100 when he gave up being a frum Jew and became a Christian instead! By Rabbi Norman Solomon. Then (thou...
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT