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  The Shofar is blown during the repetition of the Amidah. There are several opinions mentioned in the rishonim as to just what to blow.   The source for this practice is the Talmud hRosh Hashana 17a. “Say before Me (G-d) the malcios, zichronos and shofaros on Rosh  Hashana…MAlchios, to make Me your King, Zichronos […]

Yesterday I encountered a comfortably familiar explanation of Rashi in Sukkah 51b. In explaining what a “bimah” is, Rashi calls it an “almemar“. The commentary called “Hametargem”  (printed in the rear of every Vilna Shas) explains that this is “an old word used in all places of Aschkenaz, and has roots in the Arabic”. To my […]

(“Eretz” was the way many German Jews referred to Israel for short.) The story of Torah im Derech Eretz in Eretz Yisrael is a long and complex history that is bigger than me and this little blog.   Dr. Marc Shapiro – in his book on Rav Yechiel Y. Weinberg zt’l- recounts the story of the Hildesheimer seminary considering a […]

People, even well-meaning Jews, students of the Torah, consider these portions the least stimulating and the least relevant section of the Torah. It is not like the ethical or legal areas of the Torah that helped shape the conscience and the values of all societies it has touched to date. It is technical and does […]

Elsewhere, we have written extensively about the implications of the closing phrase of the kedushas hayom within the Shabbos Amida.  Specifically, the minhag is described as that of Frankfurt: ” Veyismechu vecho ohavei shimecha”. The firm halachic foundation and history that this nusach stands on was covered in the very first volume of Rabbi Hamburger’s […]

The Kehilla has maintained a section in a cemetery in Clifton, N.J. almost since its inception. Jews who arrived in the United States during and after the war were encouraged to join burial societies to ensure themselves a plot for their hereafter. But those that belonged to an organized community such as our Kehilla were already covered.   This week […]