This is an illustration from a larger poster paying tribute to the Jewish composer, Zavel Zilberts, special call number DR8-R22. The poster’s from Lodz, 1918; it’s in Yiddish, which is why I didn’t photograph all of it. What caught my eye–and hopefully also caught yours–was that the music is written right-to-left. Makes sense, given that […]
This is from the wedding of Julius Lorsch and Rebecka Cahn, special call number DR6-R36. A Hochzeits-Hagada, dated 1911, Fulda. I like the little photos stapled to the top here. Julius has a very traditional German Yekkish käppchen, and Rebecka looks like she has those over-the-ears buns that were in style in the 1920s. Julius […]
Regard, if you will, this photograph of a Torah scroll. That’s a Metro card under there. A Metro card is the same size as a credit card. This is a real handwritten originally-kosher sefer Torah, and it’s smaller than a credit card. It’s three inches high. Here’s another picture: Speechless? I was. When I took […]
Today we have a Shtar Halitza, which we might translate Contract promising release from levirate marriage. If you recall, Torah says that if I marry Reuven and he dies childless, I have to marry his brother Shimon in order to have children in Reuven’s name. If Shimon isn’t keen on that idea, he does halitza […]
DR8-R12b is a Tribute to Nathan Marcus Adler, from the Jewish community of Hanover. (Check out Wikipedia; he has an epic hat, and even more epic sideburns.) The Tribute is dated 1879, the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination (according to the JTS catalogue). As well as the numerical date, it has a nice Hebrew chronogram: […]
Today’s picture is of someone’s bar mitzvah invitation, from the early 1980s. Note how the invitation is printed with blue stripes and trimmed with fringe trim exactly like the scarfy tallitot beloved of Reform shuls. Can’t decide if this is sort of cool or dreadfully cheesy. The point of bringing you this, though, is that […]
February 27, 2013 – 16:04
DR6-L16 contains two items: a flyer and a wedding invitation. IMPORTANT EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR HACHNOSAS KALOH Dear Brothers and Sisters: I beg you with great respect. I am a refugee in this country. I have fled from the Iron Curtain (Budapest), where I had my own Beth Hamedrash. Now, I have to marry off my […]
February 25, 2013 – 14:18
And now, dessert! Menu item 13: Frozen Squishies, אשישי קפאין. Explanation 13: Song of Songs 2:8 says סמכוני באשישות, sustain me with raisin-cakes. Jastrow says that ashisha comes to mean any pressed kind of food, also a jug or contents thereof. So this might be a frozen raisin-cake, or it might be an ice-cream cake […]
February 24, 2013 – 19:35
Today, drinks. Menu item 10: Wine. Explanation 10: Psalms 128 says “Your wife shall be a fruitful vine.” Menu item 11: Beer. Explanation 11: מכי רמו שערי באסינתא, From the time they put barley into the asinta, Ketubot 8a. Ketubot 8a is discussing the early formation of the wedding-meal liturgy. Today, the standard practice is […]
February 23, 2013 – 19:35
Back to the menu at this wedding feast. Menu item 4: מרק, soup. Explanation 4: תמרוקי הנשים. This one is a pun on Esther 2:12, וששה חדשים בבשמים ובתמרוקי הנשים “six months with scents and ointments for women.” Menu item 5: דג גדול, a big fish. Explanation 5: Song of Songs 2 says ודגלו עלי […]
