In 1817 a slender – almost forgotten – volume was published in the famous Hasidic town of Mezhibuz. The sixteenth-century work was entitled Sefer Ha-Hayim (The Book of Life) and had been penned by Rabbi Hayim ben Betzalel of Friedberg while he was in quarantine during the plague of 1578.
Join the Maggid of Melbourne as he ponders what triggered the 1817 edition.
Could it be related to the First Cholera Pandemic?
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Credits
Rabbi Levi Cooper – Pardes Faculty and A Shot of Torah Podcast Host
Adam Titcher – Executive Producer
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Levi teaches Bible, Hasidut, Maimonides and Midrash at Pardes. Originally from Australia, Levi holds an LL.B., LL.M. and Ph.D. from the Law Faculty of Bar-Ilan University, and is a member of the Israel Bar Association. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Law Faculty of Bar-Ilan University and post-doctoral fellow in the Law Faculty of Tel Aviv University. Click here to read more. You can find books written by Levi by clicking here
