Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Finally Menukad After 197 Years

יוצֵא הַסֵפֶר הַקָדושׁ מְנֻקָד כֻּלּו בּפַּעַם הָרִאשׁונָה

Degel Machaneh Ephraim - Menukad

התורה ניתנה בלי נקודות וטעמים כדי שתוכל התורה לידרש
בשבעים פנים ולנקוד בניקודין העולין לענין הדרוש

12 Comments:

At June 25, 2008 at 7:33:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's up with all these seforim coming out with nekudos added to them? I can understand why someone might feel the need to add nekudos, but what's up with a sefer like the Degel with nekudos!? If someone needs nekudos to read the Degel they have no business reading it to begin with!

One should at least know how to learn at the bare minimum know how to read without nekudos!

By the way, why did the Lubavitcher Rebbe encourage seforim in square letters rather than "Rashi" script?

 
At June 25, 2008 at 7:43:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

Gutenberg's Foe: Indeed this does sound like the shanda of the century. Perhaps a person should just put aside all the seforim with nekudos and start reading trashy romance novels instead….

 
At June 25, 2008 at 8:02:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where is the quote below from?

 
At June 25, 2008 at 8:03:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

The Likkutim section of Degel Machaneh Ephraim (page 253 of the 1995 Mir/Jerusalem printing)

 
At June 25, 2008 at 9:26:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is the newest printing of Degel?

 
At June 25, 2008 at 9:31:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

Yes. It was last printed in 1995 in Jerusalem and included a nice mafteach in the back here.

The Sudilkover Rebbe continues to slowly and methodically work on his new printing that will correct many of the errors that have made their way into the text over time and add footnotes that will help to better explain the text.

 
At June 25, 2008 at 10:48:00 AM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Although certainly not as dramatic as gutenberg's foe describes it, I do believe that reprinting a Sefer with Nekudos is unnecessary. Anyone who is learning from the original Hebrew/Aramaic will probably be able to work through a Sefer without Nekudos.

I would pose this question to him though: Do you also think translating Seforim into English is wrong? Do you propose to keep Torah from the masses who never received a Yeshiva education and would therefore be cut off from this beautiful heritage otherwise?

 
At June 25, 2008 at 12:11:00 PM EDT, Blogger A Talmid said...

Wow! I can’t believe that people are afraid that more Jews will have access to the teachings of the Degel. The Baal Shem Tov and his talmidim intended that ALL Jews should have access to Torah. The Degel Machane Ephraim and most Chassidishe seforim were written for ALL Jews, not just people who consider themselves great scholars. Remember, if you grew up going to Yeshiva, it may seem very easy to read without nekudos, but for others it can be quite difficult. If for some, nekudos is needed, then so be it.

 
At June 25, 2008 at 12:12:00 PM EDT, Blogger Mottel said...

Gutenberg's Foe, is Chassidus an elitist movement that should only belong to the select few? Why should a Chumash be printed with nekudos? Let us not forget that Sifrei Torah are written without vocalization -Perhaps anyone who needs nekudos to learn Chumash has no business reading it to begin with!

My friend, the Alter Rebbe once said that Chassidus is not meant for any one party, but is rather an inheritance to all of Israel . . . it is this very intellectual elitism that the Ba'al Shem Tov came to comabt.

The Rebbe wanted Chassidus in square letters for the very same reason that Oz V'hadar is reprinting shas: When a person is presented with a fresh, bold and clean typeset, free of broken letters and small, heard to read Italics (Which Ksav Rashi is the Hebrew equivalent of) it is far easier to read from.
Ksav Rashi was used in Venice (by a non-Jew at that!) in order help condense 'secondary' works -commentaries and the like . . . Baruch Hashem today we have enough paper and ink to print with, we need not take away from the clarity and ease of learning to save space.

 
At June 25, 2008 at 2:44:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not a fan of such kind of sforim with nekudoys, but if someone finds them useful - good, they have an option.

What I don't like, when publishers start to print some sforim only with nekudoys (which aren't to my liking) and after that there is no more option of those sforim without nekudoys. This is unpleasant.

 
At June 25, 2008 at 9:59:00 PM EDT, Blogger Neil Harris said...

I think this is exciting news. Thanks for posting it, ASJ.

People being anti-nekudos? Seriously is this what the Klal has come to?

 
At July 1, 2008 at 1:11:00 PM EDT, Blogger A Talmid said...

In Likutei Mohoran 281, it says that even a simple person can learn out things from a sefer that the author never intended. If there are no nekudos this becomes more of a possibility since the same word can be read in different ways.

 

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