Shabbat review

Picked up a leaflet at shul, illustrating the centrality of Gaza in the Talmud and rabbinic Judaism. E.g., Avoda Zara 20a, where they find it written that it is forbidden to relinquish Gush Katif. And historical tidbits, like the fact that R Israel Najara lived in Gaza. But they didn't mention another famous Gazan.

I read an old article by Yedidya Dinari on menstruants and holiness in Judaism. He tried to track the development of the idea that niddot should not enter a synagogue or look at a Torah scroll. The late lamented Ta-Shma wrote a short article on this topic, as did Jeffrey Woolf in the second volume of Kenishta, and Evyatar Mareinberg as well, I assume (unfortunately, I can't read French). It is apparently an example of an unofficial tradition, perhaps stemming from sectarian beliefs, that exerted subterranean influence on Halakha for centuries.

I started reading an article by Amos Goldreich, on Tikkunei Zohar and Shabbat, from the new BGU book on Shabbat. I didn't get it all, but it's about pessimism on Shabbat, and I can identify.

And I read a little about Solomon Skoss (1884-1953), who published some Judeo-Arabic books and was an amateur bee-keeper.

Sorry I haven't posted anything significant in the past few days. Some personal issues, and no exciting ideas. We'll see how it goes. I'm reading Talya Fishman's latest article, and it seems interesting.