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Responsa · In print
שו״ת מן השמים
Responsa from Heaven · Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi of Marvège
Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi of Marvège lived in France in the generation of the Baalei HaTosafos, some eight hundred years ago. Before he slept he asked Heaven a question in halachah, and the answer came to him in a dream, most often in the words of a verse or a passage of the Talmud. Must a man immerse in a mikveh before he prays? May a careful person eat meat from the hindquarters, when not everyone who removes the forbidden fat and the gid hanasheh is an expert? Is the halachah like the tefillin of Rashi or of Rabbeinu Tam? All 89 simanim are here, the Hebrew in one column and the English translation and elucidation in the other, each opened by a summary of the question and of the answer from Heaven. The text and numbering follow the edition of Rabbi Reuven Margalios, the one the Rebbe cites; the footnotes draw on his notes, and three sections of his introduction are translated. With them come our own introduction on the author and the “dream question,” the Rebbe’s teachings on the book in boxes beside the simanim, the notes of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi Bleiweiss of Brisk, a Topical Directory, an Index of Subjects and an Index of Sources.
A taste of the book
Siman 5. The immersion that Ezra enacted no longer applies to Torah study and Kriyas Shema. Does it still apply to prayer? Heaven answers that it does, and ties the length of the exile to prayer that is not prepared in purity. Rabbi Yaakov then asks whether these answers truly come from Hashem, and he is answered again.
Siman 55. The thigh must first be cleaned of forbidden fat and the gid hanasheh, and not everyone who does this work is an expert. Should a careful person keep away from this meat altogether? Heaven does not agree, and names the one condition that matters.
Siman 3. Each opinion holds the other’s tefillin invalid. Rabbi Yaakov asks whose view the halachah follows, and learns that the same dispute is held in Heaven. A teaching of the Rebbe on this answer appears beside it.
Siman 1. Women are exempt from both mitzvos. Is the blessing then said in vain? The answer opens with a verse: “Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice.”
Siman 56. The sages of France permit it once the hands are washed and the mouth is cleaned. A Gaon forbids it. Rabbi Yaakov asks Heaven to decide between them.
Siman 72. He asked this as well. The book records the question, and says only that the answer was not found written down.
See it inside
The edition
The Hebrew text in one column; beside it a phrase-by-phrase English translation, with the explanation needed to follow each answer.
The question, the answer from Heaven, how the verse gives the answer, and the halachic background, before the siman begins.
The text and numbering follow his Jerusalem edition of 1957, the one the Rebbe cites. Many footnotes draw on his notes, and three sections of his introduction are translated: whether Heaven may decide a halachah, the authorities through the generations who were guided by a dream, and the author, the manuscripts and the editions.
Who the author was, how a “dream question” was asked, and how a book of answers from Heaven stands beside “It is not in Heaven.”
The Rebbe’s teachings on this book, set in boxes beside the simanim they explain: the tefillin of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, immersion before prayer, and more.
The notes that Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi Bleiweiss of Brisk sent to Rabbi Margalios, with his replies; a Topical Directory, an Index of Subjects and an Index of Sources.
In print
Hardcover · 7 × 10 in
The questions in halachah that Rabbi Yaakov HaLevi of Marvège, one of the Baalei HaTosafos, asked before he slept, and the answers he received from Heaven in a dream — all 89 simanim: tefillin and tzitzis, prayer and blessings, Shabbos and Yom Tov, kashrus, shaatnez, the beard and peyos, dreams, immersion and the time of the Redemption. The Hebrew beside a phrase-by-phrase English translation and elucidation, a summary opening every siman, an introduction on the author and the “dream question,” selections from the introduction of Rabbi Reuven Margalios with his notes, the notes of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi Bleiweiss, the Rebbe’s teachings on the book, a Topical Directory, an Index of Sources and an Index of Subjects.
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Kesser Shem Tov Publishing is the publishing arm of Beis Chabad of Passaic and Clifton, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Torah institution in Passaic, New Jersey (EIN 82-2020077). Our mission is to open the classic seforim of our masters to English-speaking learners. Proceeds from book sales support Beis Chabad of Passaic and Clifton’s Torah publishing and educational programs. More about us.
