Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Torah in a box

Here's an interesting letter from the Debrecener Rov of Boro Park in Hamaor (5748/ 1988), about the computerization of Torah:


A follow-up in the next issue.
Posted by at

12 comments:

  1. Yoav5:51 PM, July 25, 2012

    I'm surprised they published the follow-up. He says that the Be'er Moshe (i.e. the sefer authored by R. Stern) has "דברי הבל ושותא רינוקא ופסקי הלכות שיש
    בהם להכשיל את הרבים"

    http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=28038&hilite=1c853b41-74f7-42fa-a772-3c6111c2cf6f&st=%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9F&pgnum=25

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:57 PM, July 25, 2012

    This comment seems like it was said 20 years too early.

    I was still in diapers then, but I can't imagine what in the world he was talking about back then when windows was still 2.0 and personal computers still all that common. What kind of Torah programs did they have then?

    ReplyDelete
  3. S.6:01 PM, July 25, 2012

    I assume it is referring specifically to the Bar Ilan database which was not yet on CD-Rom in 1988, but was already available in universities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah_database#The_Bar-Ilan_Responsa_Project

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:38 AM, July 26, 2012

      The question is whether he would take this line with otzar hachochmah or hebrew books. Take the disdain for Kehati as an example.

      Delete
  4. Baruch8:04 PM, July 25, 2012

    I agree with Anonymous that this comment is very surprising given the year. It's also tragic/comedic for obvious reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Katchkelle8:38 PM, July 25, 2012

    Very interesting, I'm just wondering who a added to the Debrecener rov the name 'shmuel' 15 years after his passing... In other words, the letter was not written by the Debrecener rov!

    ReplyDelete
  6. chusid1019:01 PM, July 25, 2012

    This is not Debrecener, in fact I know this guy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ovadya10:43 AM, July 26, 2012

      Ditto.

      If he was trying to impersonate the Debrezener, you'd think he at least knew that the Be'er Moshe never signed "Shmuel".

      Delete
  7. Dan Klein3:06 AM, July 26, 2012

    Actually, this sort of complaint is nothing new. Replace "kompyuter" with "Mishneh Torah" and you have a typical reaction to Rambam's project ca. 1180.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yehoshua4:48 AM, July 26, 2012

    Dan Klein - "haha!"

    In response to these article...heh...If only it would be that easy. Talmidei Chachamim think cause I have a computer I can suddenly pull up every little thing in a second...Far from the truth. Especially if you only have Hebrew Books ... The advantage is is that you have more seforim to work with. Granted Otzer HaChachma and Bar Ilan one can search easier...But in any case you still need to put in a lot of work...

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  9. Anonymous9:41 AM, July 26, 2012

    The essential processing of the information is lacking on the computer. This isn't the first nonsensical Ma'acha'ah to be made yet.

    ReplyDelete
  10. MP2:55 PM, July 26, 2012

    I wonder, did whoever wrote that check out p.2 of the journal (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=28037&st=&pgnum=2)? :)

    Oh, and whatever you do, don't give him or his family an ArtScroll book as a gift!

    ReplyDelete

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