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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 […]

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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Because I haven’t written in a long time and it is almost Purim, I want to put a few thoughts together. This year we observed Rav Schwab’s Yahrzeit on Purim Katan as it was in the year he passed away. Elsewhere I wrote a Remez beween Rav Schwab’s name and Lag B’omer (which is alluded to in the Rema […]

It feels like this month slipped away since so much of Elul was shared with the American summer vacation months. Until schools were underway (I am in Jewish Education), it was already a week until Rosh Hashanah. Let me add a note about our beautiful minahgim. We know that KAJ blows Shofar in Elul at Shacharis and Mincha. Three Tashrats are […]