Features On The Jewish World

One of the first to foresee the impending Holocaust, Rav Herzog wrote countless letters to European Jewish leaders warning about the coming cataclysm and urging them to leave but, sadly, his entreaties went largely unheeded.

For this column, I thought I would share two Pesach Seder plates hailing from Germany that are in my personal collection.

Leeser is best remembered for his extensive English translations and prolific writing for the American Jewish community, having authored numerous books and translations, edited a newspaper and full translations of the siddur and Tanach in an era where books written by Jews in English were nearly non-existent.

There is an ongoing debate amongst scholars as to whether the earliest text of Dayenu was created before or after the destruction of the Second Temple.

The map is rather rudimentary, with just a border and a few place names, but its appearance in print was a major achievement, anything other than text was very labor-intensive to include in the printing blocks of the day and thus costly.

Over and above his public welfare efforts on behalf of milk pasteurization and preventing tuberculosis, Straus’s largesse and contributions were by no means limited to Jewish institutions and causes.

The challenges of making aliyah on a short timeline and in the midst of lockdown were many, but Tali says, Once we made the decision, Hashem carried us on His back to our new life...

Another well-known example that I obtained recently is the first edition of the Shu"t Meshiv Davar, containing the responsa of R. Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1816-1893), best known by his acronym the Netziv, who served as rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva for decades.

Wilson recognized in American Jews a spiritual force that had adapted itself to the American spirit and made broad contributions to the advancement of the welfare of the nation and of the world.

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The U.S. government offered to spare the lives of both Rosenbergs if Julius provided the names of other spies and if they admitted their guilt, but they refused, saying that they were innocent and would not bear false witness.

For this column, I thought I would share some interesting items relating to Purim that are in a museum or are from my personal collection.

It appears that while the original responsa presented here was the original response that was sent, in preparation for printing many changes were made and effort was made to make the text easier to understand.

The scope and variety of Purim celebrations over the past few centuries are truly remarkable, and I present here some of my favorite such Purim announcements and invitations from my extensive collection of Purim materials.

The fragment I sold was from the commentary of the Ralbag, Levi ben Gershon's (1288-1344) commentary on the book of Iyov, with handwritten annotations and additions in the Ralbag's own handwriting!

The religion of the von Trapp family is the subject of some discussion among critics, with some claiming that they were Jewish.

While nearly every correspondence of the Rayatz was collected and published for posterity in his Igrois Kodesh, this letter appears to be unpublished and the discussion within lost until now.

Havdalah and Kiddush are therefore flip sides of the same coin; the essence of Kiddush is to distinguish between the mundane (weekdays) and the holy (Shabbat), and the essence of havdalah is to differentiate between Shabbat and weekdays.

What I found most interesting about this letter that Rav Meir Shapiro also wrote down for himself many inscriptions. One side lists an outline for a sermon or shiur he was giving, with a brilliant array of sources jotted down in brevity, stringing together a concept and theme for his lecture.

Some rabbanim through the centuries have encouraged Jews to mark Purim Katan specifically with a joyous feast... One of the great supporters of Purim Katan observance was the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

While I wasn't able to find confirmation as to his appearance at the event, it is worth noting that R. Kahaneman kept a relationship with the Rayatz's successor, R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, and there are records of their meeting and friendship until the passing of the Ponovezher Rav, in 1969.

Some of the older men were telling grand tales of where they were and what it was like attending previous Birkat HaChamah ceremonies, but the story that I will never forget was told by a 92-year white-bearded rabbi, who merited to attend his fourth(!) such service.

The New World was ripe for change, isolated from the old communities in Europe and with a steady stream of immigrants, it wasn't long before efforts to create change in the Jewish tradition were being pushed.

There can hardly be a subject that might, at first blush, be considered more unsuitable for cartoons than the Holocaust. Yet they played a more crucial role in provoking anti-Nazi sentiment, generating support for the victims of the Shoah, and engendering publicity regarding the Holocaust, than hundreds of essays, articles, and newspaper reports ever could.

On December 14, 2023, Sotheby’s in New York City held a sale comprising the third and final part of the Abraham Halpern (1936-2017) collection of Judaica... The sale results of this recent offering were a more modest affair. Here are the highlights.

Though safely outside Iran when the revolution broke out in Jan 1979, Habib returned to Iran to be with his community and lead them through the turmoil.

Though his struggle to remain faithful to Judaism while being true to his art remained a source of conflict throughout his life, the Hebrew-speaking Israëls was evidently a Zionist.

Titles pages weren't in use in printed book until decades later, but the opening page features a beautiful floral border.

He was pedantic about textual matters, became a renowned spokesman for the traditional Jewish interpretation of scripture, and played a crucial role in providing basic materials to support the religious needs of an English-speaking community largely unfamiliar with Hebrew.

A small piece of paper with his handwriting that I sold this week was a result of an unusual scenario which he wrote about in his Mor Uktzia (siman 218 in his commentary on Shulchan Aruch).