Down The Rabbi Hole

This is a short episode that rounds up a few other things that I've done recently:1. I was interviewed by Rabbi Drew Kaplan of "The Jewish Drinking Show" on the Noda BiYehudah's responsum on isinglass (a clarifying agent in beverages, made from the swim bladder of a non-kosher species of fish): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iDlTVVbxfjaWuH9rT0goj?si=fbc49f6dde8843802. 18forty has a series called "18 questions, 40 Israeli thinkers." I was interviewed as part of this series: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WaUGr39CeDjS5H8vCC3n2?si=b7171897a99f46773. From Mizrachi UK: An Early Debate about Electricity on Shabbat - in the Pages of a London Jewish Newspaper: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oFpJEQViUZfLbdkf0Wbj3?si=98ded40d3a6343ffHere's a source sheet for the lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVFH2JNPApe_kRm_Z7T_VPgMBKZAWpyv/view?usp=sharing4. For Mizrachi UK: An Intellectual Portrait of R. Nachum Rabinovich: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wQvivlIrnAKU2uPPKZzjf?si=fcaf2d010cc447bd5. For Mizrachi UK: "They Did Not Change their Names, Language, or Dress" https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NMdRMCLTo3rH9lHBAkRR6?si=0fcc0b8e90dd4d8aI don't recall whether I have podcast this, but I've certainly written about it. Here's my article: https://www.academia.edu/28574595/_They_did_not_Change_their_Names_their_Language_or_their_Dress_The_Life_cycle_of_a_Peculiar_Midrashic_Variant

Today - 27 Adar, 5785/March 27 2025 - is the 150th yahrzeit of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, author of Shu"t Shoel U-Meshiv. In this podcast, we will explore a bit about who he was and the world in which he lived and operated.Here's a link to the map of Shoel U-Meshiv's responsaLink to the teshuvah on the abusive teacher: https://www.sefaria.org/Shoel_uMeshiv_Mahadura_I.1.185.1?lang=biEnglish bio of R. Yosef Shaul Natansohn, by Haim Gertner, for YIVO: https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1496

Some thoughts and ideas on the famous story of the Oven of Akhnai, which appears in tomorrow's Daf (Bava Metzia 59)

An idea developed by the Ketav Sofer on Megillat Esther resonates with something that appeared in Daf Yomi a few days ago and with the life and legacy of Senator Joe Lieberman. The idea of the Ketav Sofer appears here: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14083&pgnum=337 The idea that emerges on Bava Metzia 32b is here: Rashi s.v. אי אמרת https://shas.alhatorah.org/Full/Bava_Metzia/32b.9#e0n6 The link to Rabbi Ethan Tucker's eulogy for Senator Lieberman is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_NTVjFB_FnU?si=8fu-kCINHVPhlHnc&t=5515

Radbaz, R. David Ibn Abu Zimra, addresses the question of what constitutes 'overpaying' to ransom a Jewish captive. This episode gets into the economic and political realities of the 16th century in the Mediterranean basin, including the burgeoning slave trade, and the resulting attention to the great mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim, ransoming captives. Here's a link to the responsum: https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRadbaz_Volume_1.40.1?lang=bi And here's a link to the first part of my series on Rav Ovadiah Yosef's teshuvah on the Entebbe hostages: https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/contemporary-israel/14972/rabbi-ovadia-yosefs-and-the-halakhot-of-hostages-part-i/

Two of the greatest rabbis of the Bavli Jewish community in recent centuries address the status of a new type of fruit that arrived from the Far East. Is it a kosher etrog? The question is addressed in two responsa, one by R. Abdullah Somekh and one by his student, R. Yosef Hayyim, both of Baghdad. Link to the responsum: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=32212&st=&pgnum=379

We generally think of confession and penance as either a private matter between a person and God, or as a matter between the perpetrator and victim of a wrong. But not that long ago there were forms of penance that were very public. What's the idea behind them, and what can they teach us about social healing today? We will be studying and discussing a series of responsa by Maharam Lublin. Here is a link to the responsa: https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1937&pgnum=39

The episode begins with some updates. First, an introduction to the "Book Journey" that I will begin next week. Sign up link: https://18forty.org/bookjourney/ This is an outgrowth of the 18forty podcast episode in which R. David Bashevkin and I discussed the vision and reality of a Jewish polity governed by Halakhah. Here's a link to the episode: https://18forty.org/podcast/elli-fischer-can-israel-follow-jewish-law/ I was also a recent guest on two other podcasts. First, Rav David Silverstein and I discussed the nature of rabbinic authority on Yeshivat Orayta's "Tzarich Iyun" podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/71aX8L9IA2j1QY78dOoGff?si=577b0ae9ed414716 Finally, a few months ago I was hosted by Darcy Walters for an episode of her "Desert Island Torah" podcast. Here's a link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/pod/show/desert-island-torah/episodes/Ep-81-with-Rav-Elli-Fischer-e23me3f The responsum that we study in this episode was penned by R. Yisrael Isserlein, better known as the Terumat HaDeshen. We spend some time discussing when and where he lived, who his influences were, why his rulings are so influential, and what makes his Sefer Terumat HaDeshen so unique. Then we go on to the teshuvah itself, which addresses an issue that is not-quite-halakhah. The setting is almost surreal: Person A allegedly used the crush of hoshanot in shul as cover to maim Person B while maintaining plausible deniability. This is an important matter of social and communal governance, but halakhic standards of evidence seem to set too high a bar to take any action. How did R. Isserlein resolve the matter? Here's a link to the teshuvah in Sefariah, with my translation: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Terumat_HaDeshen%2C_Part_II.210?lang=bi

On the conversation about Rome between Rashi, R. Yehuda, and R. Yosi

In this episode we look at several other passages from the Babylonian Talmud that oddly, anachronistically, and in contrast to sources from Eretz Yisrael, are set in Yavneh. We propose that the Bavli wanted to "bundle" these passages together so that we read them in light of one another. And what does that yield? That the Bavli envisioned the rabbinic leaders of that generation dealing with pressing theological and political issues that arose in the generation after the defeat of Bar Kokhba. We look (again) at the institution of the fourth berakhah of Birkat Hamazon, the successive exiles of the Sanhedrin, and a discussion among the tanna'im about the causes of a terrible disease. This sets the stage for the more famous discussion between Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai and Rabbi Yehuda Bar Ilai concerning attitudes toward Rome.