Hagahot

Friday, June 25, 2010

Hebrew

Prof Shimon Sharvit has written many studies on the language of the Mishnah, and should be best known for his critical edition of Mishnah Avot. Bar Ilan University has just published a festschrift in his honour, and it contains several articles that look (from their titles) quite interesting. I'm wondering what Doron Ya'akov's article on the 'perpetual plural' in Hazal is about. Shamma Friedman continues to discuss 'hashash' (see his article in Leshonenu 50). Moshe Halamish contributes to the discussion about 'yadekha ha-mele'ah, ha-petuhah, ha-kedoshah veha-rehavah' (presumably, on the Hassidic tradition that reads 'ha-gedushah').
Of medieval significance are the studies by Mordechai Mishor (on grammar in Ashkenaz), Amos Dodi (on a 15th century Spanish siddur which contains the Mishnah tractate Tamid) and Hayyim Cohen (on pronunciation of 'Bore peri ha-gafen' in Ashkenaz - or was that gefen?).

Prof Jordan Penkower pointed out to me that the Jewish Study Bible is now available online here.

The Tammuz issue of Ha-Ma'ayan is now online. I haven't found anything there that interests me, but I'm sure that others will.

Monday, June 14, 2010

French

There is an upcoming conference in Jerusalem on Jewish languages. Program here. Most research in Jewish languages is post-medieval, so a lot of it doesn't interest me. But there is a session on Judeo-French, including a lecture by Cyril Aslanov about the Troyes Lament.

Speaking of Judeo-French, Kirsten Fudeman's book on that medieval language and its uses is about to be published (still available for pre-order on Amazon) by Penn Press.
And speaking of France, Nouvelle Gallia Judaica has published another volume of articles. Judith Olszowy-Schlanger's article, 'Deux ketubbot comtadines du Moyen Âge et leurs formules juridiques', sounds interesting.

The other lecture at the languages conference that should be of interest to Talmudists is the Shlomo Morag Memorial Lecture, being delivered by Yohanan Breuer. His lecture is devoted to the fascinating Hilkhot Re'u, a Hebrew translation of the Babylonian Aramaic work Halakhot Pesukot. A doctorate was written about it by Samuel Morell at JTS many years ago, and it is certainly worthy of a fresh look.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Shavua ha-Sefer

I haven't made it to Shavua ha-Sefer yet this year (nor last). But in this virtual age, you don't need to leave your house. My friend R. Eliezer has a breathless account of all the new books, and he is even offering his services (for a small fee) in making your purchases for you.