Archeological evidence for slavery in Egypt

 

Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft

Here's a listing in Adressbuch von Frankfurt for the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG) in Frankfurt. Above it is the address for the Israelitische Gemeinde, i.e. the Israelite Community. Israelitische means Israelite. Gemeinde means Community. So I assume this is the general non-secessionist community. It was on Allerheiligenstraße 75. (Thank you to Uwe, the kindly archivist at the museum for finding this.)

You'll see below that a listing for the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft without an address. Religionsgesellschaft means religious society. I believe that it is pronounced: Israel Etisheh  ReligiOngezelshaft

But I found on the German Wiki that the street of the original IRG is Schützenstraße, which is two blocks from Rav Hirsch's home on Schöne Aussicht. Schützenstraße means protection street or something like that. This address also appears in the Klugman biography. The shul was on the corner of  Schützenstraße and Rechneigrabenstraße.

Artists' rendering:

Rav Hirsch would have walked up this street to get to shul. 

German Wiki

Der erste Synagogenbau der deutschsprachigen Austrittsorthodoxie entstand um 1853 in der Frankfurter Schützenstraße. Der Nachfolgebau Friedberger Anlage 5–6 (1905–1907 erbaut) war einer der geräumigsten jüdischen Sakralbauten Europas. Erst 1928 wurde die Frankfurter Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft eine eigenständige Körperschaft.

The first synagogue built by the German-speaking Orthodox secessionists was erected around 1853 on Schützenstraße in Frankfurt. Its successor, located at Friedberger Anlage 5–6 (built between 1905 and 1907), was one of the most spacious Jewish places of worship in Europe. The Frankfurt Israelite Religious Society did not become an independent corporation until 1928.

Consultation with Rav Hirsch?

A kindly archivist at the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt located Rav Hirsch's address for me:

 Schöne Aussicht 5, Frankfurt   [pr. Shahne Awesecht]. This address also appears in the Klugman biography.

(means beautiful view)

Sprechst.  c.3--4 Uhr Nm. means Consultation hours approx. 3-4 pm.

Imagine meeting with Rav Hirsch during his consultation hours!

I don't know what the p or subscript 2 signifies. Maybe it's an apartment number.

His building was torn down. Today there's this:

https://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/wertvoll/adressbuch.html.

It's on this corner:

View of the Main from Rabbiner Hirsch's apartment

More of the family:

Update:

A commenter (Shuster) referred me to his blog that provides some more information on Rav Hirsch's residence. 

See here

He provided a link to another directory that shows this address:

 Hinter Schoenne Aussicht 1 (trans. behind Schoenne Aussicht 1)

New Edition of Siddur

 I just bought the new Hirsch Siddur. They did a terrific job. The width is a bit less than the thick paper version so easier to carry, but the pages are thick enough to turn, unlike the thinner paper version. Most importantly, the font is bigger. In a few sections like the end of Amidah, the font is tiny. I would have preferred that it all be kept the same. 

I  appreciate the occasional Minhag Ashkenaz instructions such as informing the reader that birchos hatorah should come before korbonos. Also, the word lishma in birchos hatorah is in brackets. 

The cover is attractive too. 

So what you have here finally is an English language siddur that approximates German minhag that isn't such a strain on the eyes or fingers. For example, tallis and tefillin are before korbonos where they belong. As for birchos hatorah being there too, there's a note that tells you so, so there's a bit of page flipping. Baruch shimei is shown as being only in some communities, etc. There's many changes from true German minhag of course, such as the bracha concerning heretics. But this is the closest I have seen yet to a siddur in English that can be used by Minhag Ashkenaz people. 

Time lapse Manhattan

 

If you ask me, they should have stopped around 1800. 

East End

Ostend (German pronunciation: [ˈɔstʔɛnt]) is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt IV. The name means "East End". wikipedia

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Frankfurt’s Ostend ("East End") developed to the east of the city ramparts on ground used as gardens and fields. As of the mid–19th century, a residential area emerged here for members of the middle class working in trading, small businesses, and handcrafts.

When the Frankfurt ghetto was liberated around 1800, a large part of the Jewish population chose to move to the East End. Many families settled close to existing religious and social institutions, kosher shops, and Jewish neighbors. From 1850 on, the Jewish Community and the newly-founded IRG began to have new buildings constructed. Around 1895, almost a quarter of the population of the East End was Jewish.

https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/en/visit/detail/jewish-eastend-frankfurt

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The Frankfurt Zoological Garden, the East Harbor, the former Großmarkthalle and the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management are some of the well-known institutions in the Ostend. The European Central Bank has also built their new seat close to the Großmarkthalle at the Main river. The Hoch Conservatory are also located in the Ostend. (wikipedia)

The area seems to go as far north as the Jewish cemetery where R Hirsch's kever is located and as far south as the Main river. Seems to me that the area is roughly 1 km by 1 km. From the Friedberger Anlange where the new IRG shul was located to the Zoo where the Realschule was  located is about 200 meters. From the Zoo to the Main is 400 meters. The whole city is 95 square miles. Boston and San Francisco are 50 square miles. NYC is 300 square miles. Chicago is 220 square miles. 

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 Israelite Religious Society (IRG)

by the end of the 19th century there were two separate Jewish communities in Frankfurt, the main community (also known as the Israelite community) and the small separatist group, known as the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (Israelite Religious Association, or IRG). The IRG was strictly orthodox and had its own synagogue from 1907 at the Friedberger Anlage

https://metahubfrankfurt.de/en/jmf/stories/community-schism-in-the-19th-century

Friedberger Anlage

Friedberg facility

You can get a tour of the East End

 https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/en/visit/detail/jewish-eastend-frankfurt

Frankfurt before and after WWII

 Before the war:

Haus Wertheim, Frankfurt

Film from 1930s:

After the destruction and then the rebuilding:

The day old Frankfurt fell

Before and after:

The Germans did a good job on the rebuilding, but the city is nowhere near the same. Before there was much stone construction. Now it's largely concrete. 

Rav Hirsch's apartment building is shown below. I can't tell if this is wood or stone, but it does contain some nice design work. The rebuild is similar in size, but it's a kind of simple concrete construction.

Rav Hirsch's actual building:

Building now on the site:

You see it here too:

Old Frankfurt stone:

New Frankfurt cement:

A weekly newsletter with insights from Gedoley Ashkenaz Parshas Yisro 5786

Click to read:

A weekly newsletter with insights from Gedoley Ashkenaz Parshas Yisro 5786

R. Hirsch and the Details of Mitzvot Rav Yitzchak Blau

 Shiur #09: R. Hirsch and the Details of Mitzvot

In last week’s shiur, we noted that R. Hirsch rejects practical or hygienic explanations for mitzvot, as well as historically contextual explanations.  He is also critical of explanations that ignore the details of mitzvot or the Oral Law’s elucidation of the mitzvot.  In this shiur, we will move from the general overview to concrete examples of his method.

Ta’amei ha-mitzvot (rationales for commandments) play a major role in R. Hirsch’s commentary on the Torah, in his Horeb, and in a long essay he wrote on “Jewish Symbolism” that appears in the third volume of his Collected Writings (Feldheim: New York, 1984).  In that essay, he explains the commandments of brit mila, tzitzit, tefillin and the mishkan.   The difference between R. Hirsch’s and Rambam’s approach emerges quite sharply.

Rambam explains that tefillin and tzitzit belong to a category of commandments that remind us to acknowledge God and to love and revere Him (Guide of the Perplexed 3:44).   He views circumcision as a commandment intended to weaken sexual desire and to provide a bodily marker of Jewish identity (Guide of the Perplexed 3:49).   Questions such as why circumcision must take place during the daytime or why we put on the tefillin shel yad (the tefillin worn on the arm) before the tefillin shel rosh (the tefillin worn on the head) do not interest him in the slightest.  Indeed, as we saw in the last shiur, Rambam writes that we should not search for reasons for the details of mitzvot (Guide of the Perplexed 3:26).

In contrast, R. Hirsch insists that an adequate explanation must work out the details as well.  According to his understanding, the tefillin shel yad represent dedicating our actions to God, while the tefillin shel rosh represent dedicating our thoughts to God.  We lay phylacteries on the hand first to demonstrate that in Judaism, religious actions are more significant than theoretical speculation.  We have already encountered the primacy of practice as an important theme for R. Hirsch.   

In the same vein, seemingly technical details teach important messages.  The four passages in the Torah that mention tefillin comprise the text that is found inside the boxes of the tefillin.  All four passages are in one compartment in the shel yad but in four separate compartments in the shel rosh.  R. Hirsch writes that this indicates that our thoughts incorporate a variety of distinct and important themes but those disparate themes must be united in one purposeful life of Jewish practice.  We place the parchment in batim (literally = houses, the term in halakhic literature for the boxes of the tefillin) because a house symbolizes stability and permanence.   Those batim must be square because while nature can produce round items, only the human being called upon by tefillin is capable of producing square objects.   

The Torah explicitly says that tzitzit remind us to adhere to the commandments.  R. Hirsch points out that humanity adopted garments as a result of the first sin.  Thus, garments appropriately remind us to keep God’s word.  The fringes of the tzitzit unite the white of universalism with the blue of Jewish particularism.  Each fringe has a knotted section and a part that hangs loose to symbolize that the Torah restrains humanity but also allows for human freedom to flourish. 

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Minhag Ashkenaz Minyan in Lakewood - from Yeshivas Frankfurt A.M A weekly newsletter

Minhag Ashkenaz Minyan in Lakewood - from Yeshivas Frankfurt A.M A weekly newsletter

K’hal Yotzei Ashkenaz of Lakewood, now in its sixth year of perpetuating Mesoras Ashkenaz, hosted its second annual Melave Malka this past Motzaei Shabbos Bo. The event was once again ably chaired by the inimitable Mr. David Klugmann, a prominent member of the Kehilla and son of the unforgettable Mr. Julius Klugmann z”l. 

The Kehilla’s Mara d’Asra, Rav Rafael Bachrach, delivered the first address. He quoted the Gemara, which praises Moshe Rabbeinu for involving himself with the Atzmos Yosef while the rest of Klal Yisroel were occupied with collecting the spoils of Mitzrayim, citing the pasuk in Mishlei, “Chacham lev yikach mitzvos.” The Rav explained that while collecting the spoils was also a mitzvah, special credit is given for the performance of less popular mitzvos, hence the special praise accorded to Moshe. So too, K’hal Yotzei Ashkenaz is a truly unique Kehilla — just one minyan following this mesorah among hundreds in Lakewood, and one of only a handful throughout the rest of America — and those who participate certainly fall into this category of Chachmei Lev. 

Rav Uri Deutsch, Rav of Forest Park, then spoke, drawing on recollections from his youth in the legendary Munk’s Kehilla in Golders Green. He praised how Yahadus Ashkenaz, despite changing times, continues to unapologetically preserve its mesorah —maintaining Botei Knessesios that are paragons of kovod and kedusha, and are reserved exclusively for tefillah, while learning takes places in a separate Beis HaMedrash; upholding absolute reverence for the Rav; and seamlessly weaving tzedakah and chessed into the avodas Beis HaKnesses. He also noted that Motzaei Shabbos Bo, which contains the mitzvah of Vehigadta l’vincha, is a particularly fitting time to celebrate a Kehilla that places such a strong emphasis on mesoras avos. 

Longtime Lakewood resident and Z’kan HaKehilla, Rabbi Avrohom Shereshevsky, was named the Amud HaKehilla honoree, as the Kehilla recognized his dedication as a stalwart member from inception. The Rav concurrently bestowed upon him the title of “Chover” in recognition of his contributions and stature. 

Chazzan Elie Winsbacher, who played an integral role in the establishment of the Kehilla and serves as one of its Yomim Noraim chazzanim, was presented with the Amud HaTefillah award. 

The Rosh HaKohol R’ Aaron Gruenebaum followed with a closing appeal, after which the Kehilla’s Chazzan Chaim Gordimer led the Kehilla in a rendition of Shir Hamaalos. Following bensching, R’ Avi Katzenstein offered words of appreciation on behalf of the board, thanking the many volunteers for their dedication, with special mention of the family of R’ Zeev Rothschild z”l for their ongoing support of the Kehilla. 

A special reprint of the Kehilla’s periodical, Shomer Tziyon HaNe’emon HaChodosh, Chalokim 1–2, was distributed to all attendees. Additional copies of volumes 1-4 as well as the minhagim kuntres are available by contacting the Kehilla at 917-588-5601 or info@ashkenazlkwd.org

About K'hal Yotzei Ashkenaz Founded in 2020, K’hal Yotzei Ashkenaz is dedicated to preserving the rich Nusach HaTefilla and Minhogim of Frankfurt, and is proud to offer daily minyanim, a vibrant weekday and Shabbos morning kollel, and regular shiurim. Drawing inspiration from the Breuer's Kehilla in Washington Heights, the kehillah ensures the continuation of this sacred mesorah for future generations.

It comes back to haunt you

Regarding the recent disturbance in Bene Brak, former Prime Minister Bennett, who deceived the public to get the job, made a declaration:

“Everyone who was involved in this incident will be thrown into jail as quickly as possible. And I say in the clearest terms: under my leadership there will be no place for anarchy or violence. Everyone will serve, everyone will enlist, everyone will uphold the law — and that is how we will unite the State of Israel.”

What you are hearing there is a dictator. He learned that goyish mentality in the military. He is deciding what you should do with your life. He intends to enforce it using force, i.e. guns, soldiers, billy clubs, stun grenades, prisons, and torture chambers.

How do Jews come to talk like that? The Zionists violated the Talmudic edict not to take the land by force. Since Ha-Shem helps you go in the direction of your choosing, the entire society is built on militarism.

And what does it lead to? Bnei Brak City Council Director-General Yisroel Ehrenstein describes it:

“They brought in forces not connected to the area who behaved in a disgraceful manner,” he asserted. Referring to municipal security camera footage, he claimed to have seen instances in which residents who were not involved in any disturbances were treated harshly. “They take a woman who is simply standing on the side, trembling in fear, and throw her to the ground. It’s horrifying,” he said.

 “I saw how they acted toward an eight-year-old child when a stun grenade exploded near him, a woman being humiliated, and a young boy wearing tefillin returning from cheder being taken even though he did nothing,” he said.

You looked away when the Zionists, including the so-called Religious Zionists, violated the Three Oaths described in the Talmud. Now it comes back to haunt you. You looked away when the military and police brutalized the Arabs. Now it comes back to haunt you.

It's time to realize finally that the state of Israel is not Jewish, it is not anything you should identify with or anything you should be happy about. They are coming to destroy Haredi life, which, despite its many flaws, is the only real Jewish life. Modern Orthodoxy is a fraud really. They let you get a parnassah but that's necessary so you can save up enough money to buy a million dollar 3 bedroom dump in Israel. They let you study a slightly broader range of Torah, but that's only so you'll study the heretical works of the religious Zionists like Mr. Kook. Aliyah is the only Modern Orthodox avodah, and it's not a real avodah. It's secular if you are coming to the Medinah and not to do mitzvos in the land, which is what nearly every Modern Orthodox oleh does.

Rav Hirsch foresaw all of this. 

"Israel should be one nation, an entire nation that should have no other foundation for its existence, survival, activity and significance other than this Torah. It is to see the realization and devoted observance of this God-given "fiery Law" as its one contribution in world history for the edifice of human salvation. What the Phoenicians sought to bring about with the keels of their ships, what the ancient Greeks sought to achieve with their chisels and what the ancient Romans sought to attain with their swords, Israel is to accomplish with its Torah. Nay more, Israel is a nation that became a nation only through and for the Torah, a nation that once owned a land and existed as a state only through and for the Torah, and which possessed that land and that statehood only as instruments for translating the Torah into living reality. This is why Israel was a people even before it possessed land and statehood; this, too, is why Israel survived as a people even after its land was destroyed and its statehood lost, and this is why it will survive as a nation as long as it does not lose this only מורשה, this sole foundation for its survival and significance. That is the kind of nation that Israel, that all of us, should be."

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch "The Character of the Jewish Community," Collected Writings, Vol. VI, p. 35 

Is Israel Surrounded by Enemies?

 The argument for drafting Haredim is that Israel is surrounded by enemies so the whole country needs to be in the army.

Is Israel surrounded by enemies? Here's a graphic of deployment of American military hardware and personnel in the Mideast. It's all there to attack Iran on behalf of Israel:

In other words, America on behalf of Israel is being supported by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, and Iraq. That's seven Mideastern Arab countries plus Egypt, the biggest of them all. There are only 10 Mideastern Arab countries in total. That's 7 of 10, plus Egypt, which is in Africa. Only Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon are not assisting, even though they aren't obstructing.

Thus, the most wealthy Arab country assists Israel. The most populated Arab country, with the biggest army, assists Israel. 

During the 11 day war, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE all assisted in defense of Israel, by shooting down drones and missiles, sharing intelligence, etc.

That is not what you call being surrounded by enemies. It's more like being surrounded by friends. If you want to say they only do it for the money, so be it. You still don't need Haredim in the army. You only need to keep paying off the Arab states. 

The attempt to draft Haredim is an attempt to stamp out Haredi life, to turn all Jews living in Israel into secular Zionists. Rav Hirsch opposed Zionism, opposed putting land before Torah:

"It was not the land that Moses had been commanded to proclaim to his people at the outset of his mission as מורשה, as the inheritance they were to preserve (Ex. 6,8). The Law, to be translated into full reality upon that soil, was to be the true מורשה, the one true, everlasting inheritance, the one true center around which the nation and its leaders were to gather as one united community. Herein lay the goal and the destiny, the character and the significance of the people."

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch "The Kehillah," Collected Writings, Vol. VI, p. 62

"Israel was not given the Law so that it might win political independence and national prosperity; rather, Israel was given political independence and national prosperity so that it might be able to observe the Law. תורה, the Law, remains the eternal, unchanging goal, the purpose of the national existence of the Jew. This purpose does not vary with the degree of independence or prosperity that the Jewish nation enjoys at any given time. Freedom makes it easier for Israel to observe the Law; prosperity enables the people of Israel to accomplish its mission more fully. Political pressure will make observance of the Law more difficult, and lack of independence will leave the fulfillment of Israel's mission incomplete. But all of Israel's apparent fate signifies only a greater or smaller allotment of means for accomplishing the mission assigned to it by the Law of God. Israel's mission as such remains unchanged, and hence also remains the one unchanging bond that unites the larger Kehillath Ya'akov as a whole, as well as each small Kehillah that exists only as a daughter branch of the great, total Kehillah." 

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch "The Kehillah," Collected Writings, Vol. VI, pp. 64-5

R' Hirsch: Decluttering Midrash -- Boruch Clinton

 R' Hirsch: Decluttering Midrash - by Boruch Clinton

Modern kabbalists seem to enjoy using ambiguous statements from Tanach or Chazal to strengthen their theological or ideological positions. Although to be fair, which of us, in moments of weakness, hasn’t done that kind of thing ourselves?

No matter who’s quoting a particular source and no matter what his agenda might be, using it as a proof text requires evidence. It’s not good enough to say “well the words could mean what I’m saying.”

Some of those associations have been so widely repeated as to become widely accepted as the passage’s authoritative meaning.

One good example is the use of Job 31:2 in support of the startling (and theologically challenged) assertion that a human soul is somehow a piece of God. Here’s the verse itself:

ומה חלק אלוק ממעל ונחלת שדי ממרמים

Look at the reward given me from above by God, and the inheritance of the Sufficient One from the heights

The kabbalists who (mis)use this verse conveniently ignore the first word (ומה), violently shift the contextual meaning of חלק from “reward” (or “portion”) to “part”, and assume the existence of the word של (as in חלק של אלוק). And even then, there’s no indication from what’s left that the remaining words are even discussing human beings and their souls.

In other words, the source itself simply doesn’t support the remarkable claim that claims to rely on it.

One of the many benefits of learning Rabbi Hirsch is watching how he’ll often casually quote a source in a way that reminds you how there’s something less there than meets the eye. Or, put better, how a passage doesn’t need - or tolerate - anything more than its simple, straightforward reading.

Here are two wonderful examples.

Dreams and Visions

The Gemara (Yoma 69a) famously describes a fateful meeting between the High Priest Shimon Hatzadik and Alexander the Great:

כיון שראה לשמעון הצדיק ירד ממרכבתו והשתחוה לפניו אמרו לו מלך גדול כמותך ישתחוה ליהודי זה אמר להם דמות דיוקנו של זה מנצחת לפני בבית מלחמתי

When he (Alexander) saw Shimon Hatzadik, he dismounted from his chariot and bowed before (Shimon). [Alexander’s officers] said to him ‘a great king like you should bow to this Jew?’ [Alexander] said to them: ‘The image if this man led me victorious in my battles.’

One could be forgiven for assuming that the Gemara wants us to believe that Alexander was miraculously shown Shimon Hatzadik in dreams before each of his successful battles. I know that that’s how I always understood it. The problem is that the Gemara itself says nothing of the sort.

Rabbi Hirsch, in Volume II page 432 of his Collected Writings, has a different approach:

And to the astonishment of this princes and troops, Alexander, seeing Simon thus arrayed, dismounted from his chariot and bowed low before Simon, the Jewish High Priest, explaining to his men that he saw in Simon the embodiment of the ideals that had inspired his own military campaigns.

This description of the event contains a far reaching insight into world history and an organic connection to the source that, to me at least, feels both practical and meaningful. But more to our point, it remains faithful to the words themselves without the need to clutter them with apparently unsubstantiated miracle stories.

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Clinton goes on to give more examples. I believe he is demonstrating here an incredibly important feature of Rav Hirsch's Torah which is that he somehow makes it idealistic yet down to earth. This applies not just to reading of Midrash but to practice itself. In Horeb, he makes the entire halacha approachable. He makes the entire religion sensible whereas many rabbis make it seem unapproachable and even hard to believe.