Ari Kinsberg is one of the great young scholars of American Jewish History (under 40), as he has spent several years researching and editing the two-volume magisterial Hebrew Printing in America 1735-1926: A History and Annotated Bibliography (see Seforim blog reviews here and here).

In honor of Purim 5767 [2007], Ari has recently written about Judah Wistinetzky (1844-1908) and the latter’s Ayelet ha-Shahar, given as mishloach manot gift to his friends. For those of us who have not yet seen a copy of Ayelet ha-Shahar, Kinsberg provides a description of the small volume and also provides some biographical background to Judah Wistinetzky, highlighting the latter’s American connections. (For example: Did you know that he had arrived in America several years prior to publishing Sefer Hasidim in 1892?!?)

See here for Ari Kinsberg’s “A Litvish Maskil and His Literary Mishlo’ah Manot,” where he also provides a brief biography of Wistinetzky, based on Hebrew Printing in America (vol. 1, p. 376).