Parshat Ki Tisa. The Anointing Oil Revisited.

Parshat Ki Tisa. The Anointing Oil Revisited.

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Parshat Ki Tisa. The Anointing Oil Revisited.  By Chaim Sunitsky In this parsha we have the instructions of how to make anointing oil: וְאַתָּה קַח לְךָ בְּשָׂמִים רֹאשׁ מָר דְּרוֹר חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת וְקִנְּמָן בֶּשֶׂם מַחֲצִיתוֹ חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם וּקְנֵה בֹשֶׂם חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם וְקִדָּה חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְשֶׁמֶן זַיִת הִין All the proportions of the ingredients are clearly explained except the second. Moshe had to take 500 (shekalim[1]) of Mar Dror. Kinamon (probably cinnamon) “its half, 250”, K’ne – 250 and…

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Assorted Matters

Assorted Matters

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Assorted Matters Marc B. Shapiro My next post will take some time to prepare, but there are some other matters that I want to bring to readers’ attention, in particular a few books that I recently received. Due to space considerations, I couldn’t include these in my last post. 1. For those interested in the history of Lithuanian yeshivot, the last few years have been very fruitful. In 2014 Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky’s Ke-Tzur Halamish appeared. This book is a study of the yeshivot…

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The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay

The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: a Review Essay

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The Valmadonna Broadside Collection: Review essay By Eliezer Brodt and Dan Rabinowitz The Writing on the Wall: A catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from the Valmadonna Trust Library, edited by Sharon Liberman Mintz, Shaul Seidler-Feller and David Wachtel, London-New York: 2015, 320 pp. Jews have been collecting books or manuscripts for centuries. A related category that is collected by fewer is ephemera, including broadsides, documents and letters of historical significance. Of late, a few annual auctions have included some of these…

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Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?

Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?

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Keser vs. Kesher: What’s In A Name?[1] By Rabbi Akiva Males   I – The Puzzle Kesher Israel (KI) Congregation has enhanced Jewish life in Pennsylvania’s capital of Harrisburg for almost 115 years. During that time, KI has been blessed with outstanding rabbinic leadership: The famed Rabbi Eliezer Silver[2] first headed the congregation from 1911-1925. He was followed by Rabbi Chaim Ben Zion Notelovitz who served KI from 1925-1932. Rabbi David L. Silver (a son of Rabbi Eliezer Silver) led the congregation…

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An Unknown Picture

An Unknown Picture

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An Unknown Picture Marc B. Shapiro In the post that went up earlier today, I mention that in the future I plan to share an unknown picture of R. Moshe Feinstein and R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. My intention was to include this picture in a future post, but that could be awhile, so here it is.   It was taken at the wedding of R. Moshe Dovid Tendler’s daughter, Rivka, to R. Shabtai Rappaport. The man on the left is…

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Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures

Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures

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Some Unusually “Liberal” Statements by Mainstream Rabbinic Figures Marc B. Shapiro I have found a number of statements by mainstream rabbinic figures that, if one didn’t know better, one would think that they were said by liberal Orthodox figures. For example: ומה אעשה ולבי מרחם על אלמנה [ובפרט בימינו] רחמים גדולים, ואולי אפשר לערער אם אני כשר לדון דין אלמנה, אבל מצד הדין אינני רואה פסול לעצמי. If a liberal Orthodox rabbi made this statement, I think many would say…

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