In all the things that might be pinned upon Rabbiner Hirsch, perhaps the most irresponsible is to align him with the views of the Netrurei Karta. Now, there is reason to call him adverse to Zionism. Certainly his immediate descendents were cool on the issue. And he clearly invoked the idea of the “three oaths” […]
Read moreI am linking here to the reading of the Megilla by the revered Torah chanter Mr. Benno Weis obm. If you download it, please notify me and I will let his fmily know. The recording is already available on the FSU archives. I will point out some of the beauty of this recording and nusach […]
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In the much celebrated painting of Moritz Oppenheim of the Jewish wedding a jester appears on the steps of the synagogue. The chuppah is performed in the courtyard of the synagogue. Affixed to a wall of that courtyard is a tablet with a Magen David (six-cornered star) and some Hebrew writing. I was once told […]
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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 […]
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Two important minhagim to quickly mention. Before the start of Shemoneh Esrei (the silent Amidah prayer) an appointed member of the synagogue committee will announce either “Ya’aleh Veyavo” if it is the frist day of Rosh Chodesh (in a two day situation) and “Rosh Chodesh” on the second day, or if there is only one […]
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In the early days of the fax machine my father was asked to receive a fax of a sheiloh (halakhic querry) to Rav Schwab Zt’L from Rabbi Snieders of the IRG Shul in Basel. The question being wether to follow the nekudos (annotated pronunciation) of the Roedelheim Machzor which has the gramatically preferable “Zochreinu LaChaim”, […]
Read moreThe year was 1981 and the Torah world was preparing to stand and recite the Bircas Hachamah- the blessing on the sun that can be recited only once in 28 years, when the sun arrives at the point it was hung during creation on a Wednesday morning. Rav Schwab penned an article for the […]
Read moreWhen I was a young Yeshiva student and beginning to learn Torah earnestly, a friend of mine approached me and showed me something devastating in a sefer. The book was quoting the words of the Sifsei Kohen (or “The Shach”, 1621-1662) in Yoreh Deah (91) that states “one must wait 6 hours after eating meat […]
Read moreSorry for the delay. One of the previous posts has sent me on a journey. The post citing the relationship between YU and Breuer’s in polemics piqued my interest in the contentious times that were the 80s, when the Agudah convention drew crowds of Yeshiva bochurim alongside the Balabatim and conflict between brands of Orthodoxy […]
Read moreOnce upon the late-eighties there was an initiative to record the regular songs of the typical shul repertoire (as opposed to “concert pieces” already recorded. Here is an entire Yomim Noraim or Yizkor day morning with Chazan Robert Frankel!
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