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The Sun in Dad’s Photography

Admin August 21, 2017

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The 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 […]

The Tekios Demeumad

Admin September 17, 2018

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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 […]

The Words We Use: Preserved Judaeo-German

Admin March 29, 2022

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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 […]

Third-Wave Revival of Aschkenaz

Admin April 2, 2024

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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 […]

Three Hours; Our Way in Meat and Milk

Admin August 11, 2017

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When 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 […]

TIDE in Eretz?

Admin May 23, 2023

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(“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 […]

Tzav: A PErspective on Korbanos and a Chidush

Admin April 2, 2020

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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 […]

Understanding the Roedelheim Part 1

Admin June 29, 2017

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I recently encountered an article by the late Jonah Frankel, an authority on piyut who is known for editing some volumes of the “Goldschmidt Machzor”. The article was written over a decade ago on the occasion of 200 years since the publishing of the Heidenheim siddur. The article points out the lack of attention scholars […]

Understanding Your “Opponent”

Admin May 20, 2019

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Here is a memory from my days in elementary school in the mid-eighties. Rabbi Avi Weiss had just returned from Poland, where he bravely protested the opening of a monastery on the grounds of Auschwitz, which is essentially the largest Jewish graveyard in the entire world. The school called an assembly and Rabbi Weiss was […]

Veyismech …Ohavei Shimecha. Yet Another Thought

Admin November 17, 2022

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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 […]

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