Dans tous les écrits de la jurisprudence de nos sages juifs du Moyen âge, on peut trouver une trace de science, de système, çà et là; niais dans les écrits de quelques uns cette Tendance est tellement prononcée qu’on peut les considérer comme complètement systématiques, scientifi­ques, et modernes. Ainsi le grand Maimonide, Juif d’Espagne, fut le premier qui codifia scientiquement les lois contenues dans “l’Océan du Talmud”, et celles qui proviennent du dévelop­pement postérieur au Talmud. Mais Maimonide a méconnu l’ordre et le classement adopté dans le Talmud. En classifiant toutes les lois, il n’a pas suivi l'ordre du texte, mais, au contraire, il les a arrangées d’après un nouveau système qu’il a fait lui-même. Dans son grand et fameux livre le “Michné Torah,” il omet aussi toute la discussion, et toute l'argumentation du Talmud. Il ne nous donne que le résultat du débat: c’est le verdict, la “Halakah.” Comme il dit lui-même dans l’introduction, il l’a fait ainsi de façon que le lecteur, soit-il juge ou étudiant, sache la loi sans devoir lire toute la discussion du Talmud.C’était très bon; mais le savant, l’érudit, que ferait-il? Ceux qui veulent rechercher et aller à la source de chaque chose, où trouveront-ils une explication scientifique, c’est à dire systématique, qui suivra l’ordre du texte? Pour cela, il fallait attendre notre Provençal Ménahcm Méiri.Ménahem ben Salomon ben Méir (d’où le nom “Méiri”), ou comme il s’appelait en pro­vençal “Don Vidal Salomon,” naquit en 1249 (l’année 5060 du calendrier juift, dans la ville de Perpignan en Provence. Bien que nous sa­chions très peu de son père, nous avons quelques vieux manuscrits qui indiquent qu’il était un Juif savant et pieux, et surtout un homme libéral. Dans son adolescence, Méiri devint l’élève du Rabbin Reuben ben Hayyim de Narbonne, qui fut bien connu dans les cercles talmudiques de son âge. C’est lui qui a aide Méiri à atteindre plus tard, la position de “Rab­bin et guide de la Communauté de Perpign…

Dear Editor, In the last issue of Commentator, Mr. Earl Klein decries the attempts of the administration to emulate the European Yeshivoth in the development of Yeshiva University, rather than comparing it with American universities. He bemoans the fact that while Yeshiva is “a far improvement” over the European Yeshivoth, it “still differs from the American college or university.” It is understood that such notions are directly contradictory to the ideals of this institution as set down by its founder and by its present President. And when such remarks are printed in the official organ of the student body, they warrant immediate refutation. The public must know that Mr. Klein’s views are not necessarily shared by the student body of Yeshiva. Mr. Klein’s proposed system of extra-curricular activities, including varsity shows, would necessitate the elimination of that little but sorely needed “extra time” put into the Talmud studies at night and other free time. Mr. Klein evidently disregards lamdanus as a prerequisite to ordination as a rabbi. I vigorously oppose Mr. Klein’s ideas because I sense the imminent danger in his attempts to reduce the status of Yeshiva to that of an advanced “Talmud Torah,” with the Yeshiva department becoming a neglected second to the College. This plea for the extirpation of the Yeshiva spirit and the institution – in its stead, the institution of the spirit of the typical American college – is both harmful and contrary to the basic precepts of Torah-true Judaism in general, and the guiding spirit of this institution in particular. It attacks the foundation of Yeshiva University because it upsets the equilibrium necessary to effect the synthesis upon which is built the spiritual structure of Yeshiva. One in the position of Mr. Klein should know that the leaders of a religion and nation cannot be built by a heterogeneous mixture of Latin, basketball, and varsity shows, with a dash, here and there, of the teachings of the basic doctrine…

PREFACE: In this study of the life and works of Menahem Ha'Meiri, one of the comparatively recently discovered "Rishonim" (Talmudists of the Middle Ages), I will attempt to present not so much a comprehensive biography of the man as a summary of his works and opinions, showing how he was affected by his environment, how he affected others and his proper place among the Rishonim from the historical perspective. In this case it is the lack of information about Meiri's personal life that prevents me from giving a detailed biographical picture of the man. In the case of one like Meiri, however the paucity of strictly biographical material is excusable when we realize that he put his life and energy into his works and major decisions. It is from a study of his system, his attitudes towards philosophy, certain methods of interpreting the Bible and other paramount problems in Jewish religion and theology that contemporary scholars have come to know and respect Meiri. It is through these works and decisions that Meiri has won immortality, and it is because of these that he is so avidly studied by logic-loving students of the Talmud.Menahem ben Shlomo (Solomon) ben Meir, most popularly known as Meiri (after his grandfather Meir), was born on the third of Ellul, 5060 (1249 C.E.) in the Provencal city of Perpignan, which today is in France. In Provencal, Meiri was known as "Don Vidal Solomon," the "Don Vidal" serving as an honorary prefix to names of people of respectable station.Little or nothing is known about Meiri's early life and family. Gross, in his *Gallia Judaica* (history of French geography famous in Jewish history), however, writes about some manuscript found in Perpignan which indicates that Meiri's father was a city clerk, a fact which carries much weight since the position of city clerk was, in those days, reserved for the intellectuals. This would also mean that Meiri's father had a secular education, also a fact of great importance. Gross also records discove…

בשו"ת עמק הלכה ה"א סי' מ"ג כתב מו"ז הכ"מ זצ"ל ליישב מחלוקת המג"א והגמ"י בענין קבורת נפל ביו"ט שני של גלויות, ואמר שם אשר בעיה הגמ' בגמ' סנהדרין דמ"ו ע"ב בענין קבורה אי הוי כפרה אי בזיון דלרוב הפוסקים דס"ל הקבורה מן התורה דע"כ סוגיא זו כר' שמעון אתיא דדריש טעמא דקרא, דיש קרא דקבר תקברנו והגמ' מיבעיא אי משום כפרה אי משום בזיון. וא"כ המג"א ס"ל דכיון דאגן לא ס"ל כר"ש לענין דרשינן טעמא דקרא ממילא הוי נפל כשאר מתים להקבר ביו"ט שני, והגמ"י בשיטת הרמב"ם אזיל דב"ל כר"ש כמוכח מדבריו

The new editorial staff of the Masmid 1949 has just been announced. It will consist of Matthew Katz, editor-in-chief; Norman Lamm and Bernard Ducoff, literary editors; Cy Shavrick, business manager; Alvin Krasna, photography editor; Al Morgenstern, art editor; and David Halpern, technical editor. Assisting them will be Boris Rackovsky and Chiel Simon, assistant business managers, and Erwin Ruch, assistant art editor.Work on the 1949 Masmid is already underway, and the literary section has completed its plans for the magazine. The editors intend to include a series of research articles on topics such as “The American Jewish Scene.” Volunteers are asked to contact the literary editors immediately, as articles will be assigned over the summer vacation.

What is the place and significance of progress in Traditional Judaism? This problem assumes additional importance in our own generation, when the rush of events, the increased momentum of life and the rapid growth of new and more complex sciences and philosophies leave the Traditional Jew in a maze of perplexity, striving to reconcile his faith with the newer systems of thought and lacking clearly defined criteria for the successful adaptation of Traditional Judaism to the contemporary intellectual environment. The very nature of the problem posed is difficult to treat. We cannot deny the existence of a progressive motion in Judaism without denying history, logic and science. At the same time, we cannot postulate unlimited change of any part of Judaism; to do so would be to reduce “Judaism" to a meaningless catch-word, and to strip Torah and Halacha of their very essence."Progress" in Judaism cannot be investigated as an isolated phenomenon. 'The examination of this problem must he based upon an understanding of the very form in which the dynamics of Halacha Judaism are manifested, both within Halacha itself and in the relation of Halacha to other systems, ideas, and concepts. This relationship is the substance of Jewish Philosophy. The preliminary phenomenon, the form of the dynamics of Judaism, is “conflict." To study these phenomena, their interrelationship and their application to the approach of the Traditionalist to modern life is the purpose of this essay.One of the most important aspects of Judaism[1], and one which can be said to set it apart from most other religions, is its constant engagement in conflicts of various sorts. Judaism is not a system at rest; it is a system in motion. The thinking, observing Jew cannot be intellectually or religiously static, because his very religion is based upon the resolution of a conflict, invites conflicts with other systems of thought, and predicates the path to ultimate Halachic perfection upon conflict. We are so a…

In attempting to introduce some semblance of order, from the critical point of view of modern technology, into the current Polemics in the world of Halacha concerning the use of the incandescent bulb on the Shabbat, we must bear in mind, at the very outset, one important fact: that, at the present stage of the game we can come to no definitive conclusion. The entire problem is exceptionally delicate, because of the great stress laid in the Halacha on the laws of Shabbat and particularly on the laws concerning fire, and we must not forget that we are, figuratively as well as literally, playing with fire. Let no one be "moreh heter"—act lightly, because of the conclusions of one Rabbi or one authority. Let me briefly review for you the fundamentals of the laws of Shabbat as delineated by the Sages of the Mishna and the Talmud. The מלאכות שבת, the types of "work" which are forbidden on Shabbat (and the term "work" is used here in a technical sense, not in the layman's sense, just as the term "work" has a special technical meaning for the physicist) are derived from the types of work needed for the building of the Mishkan, since both passages—relating to Shabbat and Mishkan—are סמוכות, next to each other. The number of such categories of work is 39, the ל״ט מלאכות שבת. These 39 major categories are known as אדות, and each אד is subdivided into minor categories known as תולדות, the requirement being that each Toladah be similar to its Av in some certain specified manner. Let us now single out four of these Avot which will be of special interest to us. We have הדערה, making a fire, and extinguishing a fire. On הדערה the Torah issued a special prohibition, aside from the general sentence. "Thou shalt not make a fire in any of thy dwelling places on the day of the Shabbat!" Another Av Melachah is __________, which literally means "cooking", but, as we shall see later, has certain other and more inclusive connotations. The fourth Av Melachah I wish to mention is __________,…

Le Flambeaue, dixie me anniversaire. Table des Matieres: Editorial, par le Redacteur _______________________________________________5, Renan, etait-il Judeophobe ? Par Maurice Lamin_______________________________________________6, Napoleon et le Sanhedrin, par Joseph Erushalmy_______________________________________________10, L’Ecolc Rabbinique de France, par Salomon J. Kohn_______________________________________________12, Esquisse de Jacques Halevy, par Gilbert S. Rosenthal_______________________________________________14, Variations sur un theme en S mineur, par F. Weindling --------------------- 15, Les influences bibliques sur Emile Durkhcim, par S. Wexler----------------- 16, Marcel Proust nous depcint une famille juivc, par T. Kronengold ----------- 19, Pocmc, par Jules Ehrman --------------------------------------------------- 24, Bernard Lazarc — Une biographic, par Philip Silverstein ------------------- 24, — Le Paria dans Le Fumier de Job, par Arthur Abramson ______ 26, Bibliographic de quelques oeuvres franchises traduites cn hebreu, par Jack. Adelman 28./Le Juif moderne d’apres "Israel” de Henry Bernstein, par Charles Spirit --- 30/Reflexions sur 1’Art et le Judaisme, par Norman Lamm ---------------------- 36le flambeau, la publication franfaise de, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, CONSEILLER, Profcsscur Sidney D. BRAUN, REDACTEUR EN CHEF, Jules EHRMAN, REDACTEUR ASSOC1EJack ADELMAN, Washington Heights, New York 33, N. Y.sun adultere, il est chatie par son fils et fi- nalement vaincu, demeurant seul comme son peuple. Cependant, arriviste qu’il est, il continucra probablemcnt a avoir ses sue- ses, alors que le fils qu’il admirait meme en champion antisemite est une figure tragi- que. Nous rejetons naturellement son anti- semitisme aussi grossier que celui des autres gentlemen s’adonnant a ce jeu. Mais s’il y a de la verite dans la remarque de Gutlieb que "pour persuader a 38 millions de chre'.icns que la presence, parmi eux, de 60,000 juifs constituait un peril nati…

Twentieth century man is a lonely creature. This startling realization seems, on the surface, to be contradicted by a multitude of facts. Let us look at some of these facts. For one thing, statistics seem to refute the notion of loneliness. Numerically, the human family is larger than ever before in history. There are in the world today some two and one-half billion people. How can man be lonely among so many of his kind? How? Because in the language of Bacon, “a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures.”For another, the vast increase in urban life would seem to eliminate a sense of loneliness. Does it? Do our huge cities with their teeming millions make neighbors of us? Are the jostling multitudes that are belched forth from the industrial neighborhoods companions on their way home? Does a packed subway train consist of fellow travelers or merely of fare–payers? Oh, how desperately alone man can feel even in a populous city!Someone must be thinking now how strange it is to regard our generation as lonely. Has not the world of men been contracted? Have we not gotten closer to each other? Is not one continent as near the other as once upon a time one avenue was to the next? Do we not sit side by side in the family of nations? Lonely in such a world? How preposterous!Think, my friends, on the other hand, of the iron curtains that separate us; of the suspicion and fear that are all about us; of the ominous detonations of atomic weapons that deafen our ears and scare our hearts. “Oh, how lonely we are in the world,” said Thackeray, “you and I are but a pair of infinite isolations with some fellow islands a little more or less near to us.”Has Scripture nothing to say on this matter? It most certainly has. Almost at the very beginning of the Bible – in the second chapter of Genesis – when God contemplates His supreme handiwork, Man, Scripture records the divine judgment: “It is not good that man should be alone.” Long before the psychiatrist foresaw…

A. Significance of the Book: 1. Literary – one of the rare legacies of the human race, Job aims at the heart of the reader. The elements of tragedy, pain and sorrow move through the melancholy lines with rhythmic ease. George Foote Moore calls it “one of the greatest poetical works of the world’s literature.” Tennyson: “Great as the summer midnight, as the world with its seas and stars. There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal merit.” Despite the difficult syntax and rare words in the Book, few can resist the combined emotional and esthetic onslaught of its literary attack. 2. Philosophical – the Book is primarily the study of Man's encounter with Evil. Even more than the emotional consequences are the philosophical or theological ones. It therefore aims at the mind of the reader. How shall Job reconcile G-d’s Justice with His seeming Injustice? Why is the pious man the one to suffer, while the wicked prosper? The discussions between Job and his friends lead us to one of the most profound researches into the nature of Evil. Its results have been the source material for all great thinkers since. 3. Religious – the Book of Job aims at the soul too. Whereas the philosophical material is concentrated in the center of the Book, with its debates and rebuttals, the religious interest is in the prologue and epilogue, where the matters of Faith, the Greatness of G-d and the Smallness of Man are discussed. The Book records the vindication of the unorthodox against the accepted beliefs. Job was not always popular with our Rabbis, but nevertheless the High Priest used to read it in the Temple on Kol Nidre night, and the Prophet Ezekiel, himself a Priest, mentions Job, with Noah, as prototypes of great Zaddikim. B. The Story of Job and Organization of the Book: 1. The Prologue – the Book of Job has a Faustian touch to it. As in Faust, the Devil, or Satan, is a protagonist in the play – for that is what Job seems to be, a play or drama which centers…