Books of Jewish Quotations

[Note dated June 11,2020 -- This article is from 1997 and many of the details are outdated. It is here for historical purposes only.]

Librarian's Lobby
by Daniel D. Stuhlman

March 1997

Books of Jewish Quotations

Several readers asked me to explain the use of some library reference tools that might be helpful when you teach or prepare sermons. There are two cases when you want to find sources-- 1) When you have an idea or concept; 2) When you have the exact words.

When searching for the source of an idea, it is useful to work with a tool that arranges the entries by subjects. Examples are:

Baron, Joseph L. Treasury of Jewish Quotations. New York, 1965.
Rosten, Leo. Treasury of Jewish Quotations. Philadelphia and New York, 1972.

Both of these books have an alphabetic arrangement of subjects plus indexes. They cover the full history of Jewish literature starting with the Bible and continuing with Talmud and rabbinic sources, medieval and contemporary sources. Baron gives a number to each entry. Rosten gives more narrative and explanations for each section of quotes. In the entry for "Rabbi" Baron has 42 entries to Rosten's 13. Rosten tells the reader which are his favorites with a fleuron { § }. Baron makes no evaluations.

Both quote Solomon Schechter, "Unless you can play baseball, you'll never get to be rabbi in America." Baron gives a reference, Time, Oct. 15, 1951; Rosten gives just Schechter's name.

Both books are easy to use. If you want narrative information and explanations of terms, Rosten is the better source. If you want exact sources with hopes to find further information then Baron is the better source. To look up a subject or idea one may flip through the book or use the indexes in the back of the books.

The Wisdom of Israel, by Lewis Browne (New York, 1945), the arrangement is by book quoted. There are sections for Tanach, Apocrypha, Talmudic period, medieval periods, and modern periods. The book has no subject index. Quotes do not always have sources. This book is good for getting a broad overview of Jewish literature, but has limited value when searching for a precise word or idea.

Analytical Concordance to the Bible, by Robert Young (22nd American edition. Grand Rapids, MI, 1970) is based on the English Bible. It is a concordance of words and phrases. Included in each entry are the Hebrew and Greek words with explanations of some words. If you know an English word and you are not quite sure of the Hebrew, this is a useful tool. If the English word has more than one Hebrew equivalent in the Bible, each is listed. The word "Rabbi" does not appear in Tanach. Since this tool includes the so-called New Testament, the entry for "Rabbi" defines the word and gives seven places in Matthew and John where it appears.

To use this tool look up the word using alphabetical order. The words are defined and then the sources are listed in cannonial order (i.e. Genesis, Exodus ...Chronicles). The explanations are long enough for a small encyclopedia. For example the entries for Aaron and Moses are each over 550 words, while the entry for "morrow" gives just the translation "boqer". This concordance gives a portion of the verse that contains the words.

The concordance contains an index to Hebrew words. The words are in transliteration with Hebrew on the right. The possible English translations are underneath.

Hebrew concordances, such as Korkodantsiah hadash by Even Shoshan list all the Hebrew words from Tanach. To use them one must know the root of the word you are searching for. In another column I will deal with Hebrew concordances and specialized Hebrew dictionaries.

If you know a Hebrew word and want to find a quote there are three books to look at depending on the scope of coverage. Otser imrei avot, me-et Tsvi Leriman (Jerusalem,1959) covers the Talmud, midrashim, Tosephta, Zohar, and books of the Reshonim. Otsar divrei hakhamim ve-pitgamim, me-et Aharon Heiman (Tel Aviv, 1956) covers the Talmud, midrashim, Tosephta, Zohar, books of the Reshonim, Kuzari, Rambam, Rashi, Ba'al Turim and more. Both are similar in their typography and directions for use. One just looks up a word. The word is the first word a phrase quoted in the book. The reader is given the word in its context and the source. If you look up emet in either book, - Both give the source as Berachot 12a. Leriman has 12 entries for emet , while Heiman has 18 entries. Both books are equally usable.

The final book for this month is: Otsar ha-agadah, me-et David Gross. Gross uses another format. He has broad concepts as entries. His entry: emet ve-sheker is the equivalent emet of the in the previous two books. Gross gives a quote to put the word into context and the sources are in footnotes at the bottom of each page. Use this tool for checking broad concepts since this is almost the equivalent of the two English quotation books mentioned at the beginning. This three volume work has a smaller coverage, (it does not cover contemporary literature) but covers the rabbinic works in great detail. Gross tries to get every example of the concepts he chooses, while Rosten and Baron are making a judgement and picking the quotes they want in their books. The entry rav ve-talmid is equivalent to Baron's "Rabbi". Gross has almost six pages of quotes with over 264 examples.

If you know the words that you need then, search for them using one of the computer CD ROMs. Dafka and Bar Ilan publish CD ROMS containing the Tanach, Talmud and rabbinic literature. Bar Ilan's disk also includes teshuvah literature, while Davka's disk includes more of the Jewish classics. The HTC Library has both of these programs. They do require a certain amount of skill to learn how to use them to full advantage. One may search for words or phrases using boolean logic (a method of looking up information in data bases using operators and, or, & not), or look up particular pages. While the computer programs are expensive, they are less expensive than owning the printed copies of the actual works.

---

Daniel D. Stuhlman is president of Stuhlman Management Consultants, Chicago, IL, a firm helping organizations turn data and information into knowledge. Visit their web page to learn more about knowledge management. He can be reached via e-mail at: Send e-mail. ©2001 Last revised September 25, 2002

Pesah 1997 exhibit

Originally published March 1997 Librarian's Lobby
by Daniel D. Stuhlman

March 1997

Pesah 1997 Exhibit

I received a request to explain how to use some reference works, such as Encyclopedia Talmudit, Sdei Chemed, Sifrei haKlallim in my column. It is a great idea, but I am not prepared to it this month. Tell me what you would like to know about using media and library resources and I will address the questions in the April or May column. Since Pesah is coming up I wanted to call to your attention two topics-- Pesah information on the World Wide Web and a librarian's viewpoin t about Haggadot.

Pesah information on the WWW Here are some interesting sites that I visited recently containing Pesah information. The OU has their annual Passover guide on-line. http://www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/pesachguide/ As of today [March 1, 1997] they said the site is being beta tested . Version 1.0 is supposed to be ready in a few days. This site is constantly updated and by the time you receive this newsletter, the OU promises a better searching engine than the one I used today.

A bookseller offers some out of print haggadot for sale at: http://www.hollanderbooks.com/haggadot.htm

Two articles on practical halachah can be read at: http://www.shamash.org/judaica/havienu/prhal/ph-24.htm contains the article: The Mitzva of Guarding the Matzo. http://www.shamash.org/judaica/havienu/prhal/ph-4.html contains the article: Gebrokts - Matzah Soaked in Water on Pesach.

Empire Kosher offers the ArtScroll Haggadah free for each three proofs of purchase. For details go to http://www.empirekosher.com/new.htm

Beech-Nut has many kosher for Passover baby foods. For details go to Beech-Nut Product List By Category at: http://www.familyinternet.com/beech-nut/kosher.htm.

Haggadot

Aside from the text that appears in the Talmud, the first haggadot for Pesah appear in the Siddur of Saada Gaon and Mahzor Vitry. The Library's collection of over 250 haggadot includes give-away haggadot from companies such as Carmel and Maxwell House to artistic haggadot worth over $500. The ages range from those published in 1997 to ones over 300 years old. Size range from a few pages in Hebrew to hundreds of pages with the text, translation, and commentaries. Cities of publication range from centers of Judaism such as Jerusalem and New York to small kibbutzim. We have traditional haggadot, haggadot aimed at children, and haggadot with a political agenda.

This range of material is a challenge for the librarian-cataloger. In the Library of Congress Classification system all haggadot are in the liturgy section. The number starts as: BM 675 P4. [BM 675 is for liturgy; P4 is for Passover] The challenge is to arrange the items so that a library user can find the one haggadah they are searc hing for. Some editors make the job easy by giving their version of the haggadah a special name such as, A feast of history, by Chaim Raphael or Why is this night different, by Zev Schostak. They are easily arranged by editor and date. Other haggadot are difficult because they have no distinctive title, editor or da te.

Since the purpose of the haggadah is to retell the story of the exodus, each editor tries to address a community need. For example Jewish chaplains produced mimeographed texts for soldiers to use, translations are prepared into every language that J ews use, and some Haggadot come with visual aids to help in the retelling of the story. Every year new versions appear making collecting Haggadot for individuals interesting and for libraries challenging

One haggadah published this year is: Haggadah from the four corners of the earth. (Edited by Bents Cohen and Maya G. Kellin, Tel Aviv, 1997) It has the Hebrew texts in the middle of each page with translations in English, Spanish, French and Ru ssian surrounding it. While the concept of uniting people of different language groups is great, I found the words too small the read comfortably. You could enjoy flipping through this haggadah, but it is not an easy one to use at a seder.

The Library has on display contemporary Haggadot for circulation and historical and valuable Haggadot in the closed stacks.

Note from June 10,2020. The Library in this posting is where I worked in 1997, Hebrew Theological College.

Story of Two Brothers

Since I no longer have have these Librarian's Lobby articles posted on my website, I am sharing them here. This article, from February 1997, was updated in May 2012.


 Story of Two Brothers 
 February 1997

One of our faculty members came into the Library with a question about the source of a story about two brothers. He said that the story is so old that it must be from the rabbis. He thought that he remembered it from the Talmud, but couldn't quite remember the source. He wanted my help to find the source.

Let me retell the story-- 

King Solomon wanted to find a place build the Temple. A heavenly voice directed him to Mount Zion to a field that was owned by two brothers. One of the brothers was a bachelor and the other was blessed with children. It was harvest time. Under the cover of night the father kept adding to his brother's pile because he reasoned because he thought the bachelor had no children to support him in his old age. The bachelor added to the father's pile because his thought that with so many children his brother needed more grain. The brothers met in the middle of the field and embraced. This field, a manifestation of brotherly love, King Solomon reasoned this was best site for the Temple.

The story sounds like it is very old. Since the events happened in Biblical times hundreds of years before the Talmud, one would reason that the story should be found in the Talmud.
We used a computer search of the Talmud and Midrash. We tried terms such as two brothers and Beit Mikdash but found nothing. We wanted to verify the story to be sure that we weren't imagining the story. We tried Bialik's Sefer HaAgadah and Bin Gorion's Mimekor Yisrael and found nothing.
 
We looked in the index of The legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. The story is found on page 154 of volume 4. We checked Ginzberg's sources. Ginzberg quotes I. Costa in Mikweh Israel, no. 59 which says that Berthold Auerbach refers to this legend in his Village Stories. The HTC Library does not own either of the books referenced by Ginzberg. Ginzberg further speculates that the author may have been drawing upon an oral tradition from the Jews of Russia or Germany. The legend seems to be a midrashic exposition of Psalm 133:1. Ginzberg is not sure of the source.
 
At this point in the search I put a query on the list H-Judaic, which is an internet discussion group for Jewish studies. An answer came back to check Zev Vilnay's Legends of Jerusalem. The Library owns this book. On page 77 Vilnay says Israel Kosta (Mikwah Israel, 1851) [Ginzberg and Vilnay refer us to the same author, but they site his name differently.] in the middle of the 19th century relates a story of the two brothers. Vilnay says the legend first appears in the description of travels by A. de Lamertine, Voyage en Orient, I, 1875.
 
Both Vilnay and Ginzberg are unsure of the exact origin of the legend. The story definitely not from Biblical or Rabbinic times. It may be a variant on a Russian or French non-Jewish legend.
Compare this to the evidence in Tanach. In II Chronicles 3:1 it says that Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah, which was revealed to David. Moriah is connected to Akedat Yitzhak. Midrash Tehilim connects Adam and Noah to Mount Moriah. The site had kedushah [holiness] long before the time of King Solomon. This conflicts with the legend of two brothers. 

The answer to the bibliographic quest is the legend is not rabbinic and even goes against Biblical and rabbinic evidence. This is not the final word on the source of the legend; that requires a bit more research. From this quest we learn that we should be careful about what we call Talmudic or rabbinic.

---

Noah Webster and the First American Copyright Laws

Noah Webster and the First American Copyright Laws

Noah Webster, (1758-1843), who, is best known for his dictionary, was an early advocate of copyright law. He was known as “the father of American scholarship” who worked against the idea that American scholarship was a child of British or European scholarship. His first job after graduating Yale College was a teacher. He used British textbooks and he found them full of errors and not appropriate for American students[1]. They were also in short supply.  The dominate textbook for spelling and grammar was written by Thomas Dilsworth, A New Guide to the English Tongue, published in London in 1740. Spelling was fluid in those days.  There was no American spelling reform yet. 

In 1782 while the Revolutionary War was still over a year from ending, Webster was teaching school in Goshen, New York.  American printers copied Dilsworth’s books without payment of royalties making, the consumer price was much lower than the cost in England. However, because of the difficulties with Dilsworth’s books, Webster decided to write his own textbook. Webster wanted the protection of copyright both for financial reasons and protection of  his intellectual property.   The British copyright[2] law, known as the Statute of Anne, was not the law in America. Copyright legislation is a compromise between the author/creator’s financial and intellectual property rights with the public’s need or desire to have entertainment and edification. Webster’s lobbying for copyright laws was both for the rights of all authors to their intellectual property and for the public to benefit from the creator’s creativity and expertise. Webster was also a businessman and wanted to make a living from sales of his books and articles.

By the time the British colonies became the United States, every state had printing presses that printed newspapers, books, pamphlets, broadsides, etc. These presses played important roles in the dissemination of revolutionary ideas.  For example, Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet, Common Sense. It eventually sold either 150,000 or 500,000.[3]  This short pamphlet was an important document in swaying people’s opinion to the revolutionary cause.

Webster’s version of how he worked to pass copyright laws in 12 of the 13 colonies is told in chapter 7 of, A Collection of Papers on political, Literary, and Moral Subjects.

The first state he convinced was his home state of Connecticut, which passed a copyright law in January 1783.  Webster was the editor of a periodical, American magazine, in which he campaigned for copyright legislation.[4] He emphasized that people have the right to fruits of their labor and thought.

A man who has devoted a most valuable period of his life to the acquisition of knowledge … is indubitably entitled to the exclusive advantages resulting from his exertions and expenses. [5]

Printing British and other foreign material was a common practice until the international copyright agreements of the late 19^th century. It was not only within the law, but there was no common law or moral law against the practice. Printing was primarily a local trade.  Distribution channels were limited and prices for the products were low. Markets and content were largely unregulated. In Europe the early copyright protection was a license.  In exchange for a limited monopoly, cities or states granted a license to a publisher or printer to print and sell their product.  This was also the way other products were sold.  The government used this as both a source of revenue and as a way to control the published ideas.  The Americans were aware of this censorship and were very wary of any government intervention. 

In January 1783 Connecticut passed the first American copyright law.[6] The preamble to the law states that authors should receive profits from the sale of their works to encourage learning and genius. The term was 14 years with an option to renew the copyright by the author or his heirs for another 14 years. The Secretary of State’s office administered the copyright registration. The law covered only the State of Connecticut.  Note—This law was not repealed until October 1812, well after the Constitution gave the federal government the sole authority to copyright law. 

The Massachusetts copyright law was enacted on March 17, 1783. The preamble said the same ideas as Connecticut in different words. The term of copyright was 21 years. The authors were supposed to deposit two copies of their work with the “University of Cambridge.” I assume they meant Harvard University as it was the only university in Cambridge at the time.

All of states’ laws had similar preambles, but the terms varied from 14 years renewable for a second 14 term to 21 years with no renewal.  All the laws said that they were only effective in their state and for US citizens and residents only if their home state had similar laws. Most mentioned that one had to be a citizen or resident to apply for copyright.  South Carolina’s law said that nothing in the statute restricted the importation and sale of any book in a foreign language. North Carolina did limit the importation and sale of books and pamphlets from any other state, kingdom or commonwealth without the author’s permission.  Most states had no provision for international copyright protection. Foreigners could not even apply for copyright.  North Carolina’s law explicitly states the law doesn’t cover any book printed in another country. The law permits piracy when the books come from abroad.[7]

On May 2, 1783 the Continental Congress passed a resolution to recommend the states enact legislation for copy right. The period was “not less than 14 years and renewable for another 14 years.[8]  The Continental Congress had no authority to create a national copyright law.

State	date of law	term	renew term	deposit copies	agency	must be US res
Connecticut	01/1783	14	14		Sec of State	yes
Massachusetts	03/1783	21		2	Un of Cambridge	yes
Maryland	04/1783	14	14			no
New Jersey	5/1783	14	14		Sec of State	no
New Hamp	11/1783	21				yes
Rhode Island	12/1783	21				yes
Pennsylvania	3/1784	14	14			no
South Carolina	3/1784	14	14		Sec of State	yes
Virginia	10/1785	21			clerk of council	no
North Carolina	11/1785	14		1	Sec of State	yes
Georgia	2/1786	14	14		Sec of State	yes
New York	4/1786	14	14			no
Deleware	no law

The campaign for copyright law was struggle between the authors, printers and the consumers.  It was struggle for the authors to spread their message and develop an American intellect.  Between 1783 and 1786 12 of the 13 states passed copyright laws.  (Delaware was the holdout.) Copyright law is a still is a balancing act between groups that want control. The authors want control of their ideas, the publishers and printers want the economic control so they can earn a return on their investment.  They all want freedom of the press so that final laws are not tools for censorship.  Giving the power of copyright control and processing to the government is a compromise that authors and business people are willing to cede for the greater good.  

Webster realized that first federal copyright laws needed revisions.  The laws were revised in 1802 and 1819. After he visited English in 1825, he learned about the British copyright law that extended some of the author rights.  Upon his return he lobbied Congress to change the US law. The law of February 1831 was result. That law extended protection for 28 years.  There was still no protection for works not printed in the United States. 

Below is a sample registration from 1790. Notice the act’s preamble is quoted at the end above the signature.

What is the nature of control?  Creators have the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  In Europe grantors of copyright protection used the opportunity for control of the text i.e. censorship.  The North Carolina law said that the law does not protect “any authors or publishers of books … which may be dangerous to civil liberty, or to the peace or morals of society.”[9]  They didn’t recognize freedom of the press.

A craftsman who creates objects, sells them to compensate for the time, materials, expertise, and overhead that was taken to create the object.  When a furniture builder is making objects one at a time, I don’t think he cares if someone copies the design. In the days before the printing press no one thought of copyright or intellectual property.[10] When mass production enters the scene intellectual property and protecting the genius of the writers becomes the way to ensure profits and enable authors a livelihood. 

Webster was successful in his lobbying efforts.  When the first US copyright was enacted in 1790 many of his ideas were included. The preamble stated, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies…”  In 1802 the act was amended to extend protection was extended to visual arts such as, engravings, designs, etching, and other 2d art works. Maps and charts were already covered in the 1790 act. In 1831 the law was further revised[11].  We have much to thank Noah Webster for including his dictionary, teaching materials and protection of intellectual property.

Bibliography

Copyright Enactments :  laws passed in the United States since 1783 relating to copyright. Washington, Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 1973.

Guindon, Alex.“A Very Short History of Copyright: Adopting the User’s Perspective.” Canadian Journal of Information & Library Sciences 30 (3/4): pages 153–174, 2006

Kendall, Joshua.  The forgotten founding father.  New York: Putnam’s Sons, 2010.

Madison, James  “The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered”. New York: New York Packet, January 22, 1788. Published under pseudonym Publius. Part of the Federalist Papers.

 Warfel, Harry R. Noah Webster, schoolmaster to America. New York, Macmillan, 1936.

Webster, Noah. “Origin of the copy-right laws in the United States” in A collection of papers on political, literary, and moral subject. Pages 173-178.   New York: Webster & Clark, 1843.

---

[1] I t is hard for me to determine what is wrong as compared to what is different from today’s use of English.  For example, in the 18^th century some of the letters were printed differently and pronounced than our practice. For example: ʃhort Leʃʃons = short lessons. Many of the rules of grammar were more rigidly connected to Latin grammar than our usage.   Common nouns were frequently capitalized.

[2] The spelling “copy right” (two words) was used in the 18^th and 19^th century.  I use the spelling of “copy right” when I am quoting a source and “copyright” when the words are mine.

[3] Paine was a proponent of the importance of protecting the rights of authors. Sources differ as to how many copies were sold as some copies were printed and sold without his permission.  Some sources say he renounced copyright and gave royalties to revolutionary causes. However, no copyright law existed to renounce. It is unclear as to how much he earned from Common Sense or if he donated the royalties to the revolutionary causes.

[4] Warfel, Harry R. Noah Webster, schoolmaster to America. New York, Macmillan, 1936.  page 184-185.

[5] ibid.  page 184.

[6] Copyright enactments pages 1-3

[7] This was a big problem for famous authors such as Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.  They fought for international copyright laws.  Today there are some countries who have not signed international copyright treaties. The copying and reprinting of works without royalty payment from those countries is unrestricted by statue.

[8] Copyright enactments page1.

[9] Copyright enactments pages 16-17.

[10] That is not entirely correct.  Even in the Talmud ideas were attributed to earlier teachers.  Attributing ideas to others is a practice that adds authority to the statements.   Ancient teachers were glad that their students spread the ideas and there is no evidence that control of intellectual property was a concern.

 

[11] Copyright enactments pages 27-31.