This is where I hope we can exchange important information and thoughts regarding minhag, Jewish thought and German Jewish history. These are all topics that I enjoy and have had some exposure to. There are some excellent sites in the Frum blogosphere that handle these subjects with very capable academic authorship. I don’t have much […]
Read more
Last week, I introduced a new approach to the Mishnah of Raban Gamliel, the son of Rabi Yehudah Hanasi: Yafeh Talmud Torah im Derekh Eretz Our idea was that the PErek begins with Rebe advising one to choose a “straight” path. This path is the one that is honorable for the one who does it, and in the […]
Read more
It is the most ironic thing – in the way that it should be a clear sign of Hashgocho (Divine Providence)- that the Yahrzeit of Rav Breuer zt’l will always fall out in the week in which we will read the second Chapter of Avoth. The chapter in which Raban Gamliel, the son of Rabi […]
Read more
When I was a teenager, Mr. Joseph Katzenstien z’l gave my father a recording of the Shul choir, which was recorded in a concert in 1955. Today, via Googling, I discovered that this was released as a record at the time. Recently, his daughter gave me the original magnetic reel from which this record was pressed.I […]
Read more
Below is something I posted on social media a few months ago, and I now possess a scan of the book mentioned therein through the Fair Use Act and the generosity of the NLI librarians. (I am looking for collaborators to bring the music to life…) In the 1930s, a Berlin cantor published a book […]
Read more
Hello. Tishri kicked off what will hopefully be a year of redemption for the nation and the individual. Tehi Shenas Pidyon Hashevuyim. Some interesting points. We had three sets of three-day Yomtov, and Pesach will do the same by falling out on a Sunday. Cheshvon is a full thirty days and has FIVE Shabbos in it! The […]
Read more
The Gemara in Maseches Rosh Hashana asks, ‘Why do we blow Shofar? “Why?” The Gemara retorts in surprise, “For the Torah has so commanded!” “This is what we mean to ask: Why do we blow when we are seated and again when we stand?” (The Shofar is blown before we commence the Musaf service at a time when we are not […]
Read more
Of course, there will always be detractors—especially people online who see anything done in support of Donald Trump as devious. In truth, in my Golus mind, I am also uncomfortable with the Jewish world aligning itself with any political party- since our needs can not be trusted to any one party. Nevertheless, I realize that […]
Read more
The world of Jewish political enthusiasts was energized by the appearance of a fresh-faced young man, an online influencer, and an outspoken advocate and party to a lawsuit against the recent wave of anti-Semitism that has terrorized Jewish students at some of America’s finest and oldest universities. Shabbos (Shabsi) Alexander Kestenbaum, a recent graduate of […]
Read more
I can think of two stories about a Siddur. Naomi Grunfeld, daughter of the notable Dayan in London, penned a story about an old Roedelheim siddur, as she heard it from her mother, and put it in the Yated Ne’eman over a decade ago. The story is here, and a scan of the article is […]
Read more
This post is long in the making like most things I plan to do – that quickly become victims of procrastination. Things just hit a peak so I am sitting down to write this at a school bball game. A renewed interest in Minhag Aschkenaz is emerging in the broader Jewish communities and Yekkes outside […]
Read more