Writings
Margolies authored over 55 books on Jewish topics. He possessed a photographic memory, and was well versed in all aspects of both the written Bible, Oral Torah (Talmud and its commentaries) and Kabbalah (Zohar etc.). He established the Rambam library.
He wrote on a wide range of subjects; His works were meant for both scholars and laymen alike. All of his writings are in Hebrew.
He wrote on the formation of the Mishna and the Talmud displaying originality in thought, and a wide range of knowledge.
He further wrote on the Kabbalah. Such works include "The Rambam and the Zohar" demonstrating correlations between Maimonides Mishna Torah and the Zohar; Nitzotzei Zohar demonstrating correlations between the Tannatic and Amoraic works (such as the Talmud and Medrashim) and the Zohar.
He was also involved in a controversy with Gershon Scholem over the Rabbi Jacob Emden/Rabbi Jonathan Eybeshuetz controversy. Margulies produced a pamphlet defending R. Eybeshuetz and in response Scholem produced his own disagreeing with Marguleis's conclusions.
He wrote a number of scholarly biographies of major Jewish personalities such as Maharsha, Ohr Ha-Chaim Hakodosh, Noam Elimelech, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban), and R' Yechiel of Paris including valuable annotation clarifying ideas in their works. The biographies focus primarily on their methods of scholarship and not on their personalities. First printed in Poland, they were never reprinted.
He wrote several works concerning the development of a legal system in the newly formed Jewish State (Kavei Ohr, Tal Tichye).
According to Dr. Yitzchok Raphael, his writing is in a terse style designed to concentrate a maximum amount of information in a minimum of space.
Read more about this topic: Reuvein Margolies
Famous quotes containing the word writings:
“Accursed who brings to light of day
The writings I have cast away.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“An able reader often discovers in other people’s writings perfections beyond those that the author put in or perceived, and lends them richer meanings and aspects.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head them, a cherished entry will be “To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one’s own writings in translation.””
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)