משכיל לדוד על מסכת שבת, שבע שנים של שיחות

משכיל לדוד על מסכת שבת

חידושים וביאורי סוגיות במסכת שבת 

דוד מרדכי כהן  ירושלים תשע"ד

Available from author

acohen183@gmail.com

The book has 44 chapters of hakirot dealing with the various sugiyot in masechet Shabbat.  The book is one of the finest of the genre I have seen using this system so beloved by the yeshivot in Israel.  The book is remarkably free of what I call the oy, oy, oy  school (I the little of the littlest must dare to place my head between the two great rocks…).  Rav Cohen has no trepidation in explaining why R. Akiva Eiger disagrees with the Chazon Ish.  All of the chapters are brief and very well edited and each sugiyah stands alone.  Siman tet , an explanation of the systems of the Rishonim in the problem of poking the coals while the pot is simmering on the fire, is exceptionally well written.   The book lacks any bibliography. Having the names of the books and when their authors lived can be a great help in following a discussion with a lot of citations.

Bottom line: If you think that when you finish learning a sugiyah you have to see R. Akiva Eiger or the Pnei Yehoshua, this is the book for you and a valuable addition to your bookshelf.  Personally, I don’t care for pilpul as I would rather spend my time learning the actual material by analyzing the various texts. I wouldn’t have read it if David wasn’t a nephew but I still enjoyed it. ד
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שבע שנים של שיחות

על פרשת השבוע

יהושע לייבוביץ

6^th edition 960 pages 2003

Seven years of discourses on the weekly Torah reading

Yeshayahu Leibowitz

Although I like to think I am acquainted with all of the commentators (Rashi, Rashbam, Arbarbanel, Ibn Ezra, the Targumim, etc.) that Prof. Leibowitz used, I found that in the 800 or so pages of discourses on the Parsha, he consistently has original insights in just about every paragraph.  A true intellectual delight.  About 160 pages are devoted to discussions (question and answer format) of the Meshech Hachma , Rav Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk  (1843-1926).  Prof. Leibowitz considered him one of the three great religious thinkers of the 20^th century (along with Rav Simcha Kook and Rav Yosef Solovechick).   I have never understood any of these authors so I can’t say.  I can only say that these sections are not very interesting and did not add much to the collection.  The editor Ben Zion Nuriel  has done  a brilliant job.   He added a few explanatory footnotes,  all of which were very useful (usually explaining contemporary references to news stories).