Tuesday, April 28, 2015

?"די באבע האט געהייסען "אלישבע















They tell the story of a Jew, who is ל"ע prematurely on the עולם האמת, who once went to the late Klausenberger Rov with a kvittel. One of the names of his daughters was נעמי. This was a Chassidishe Yid, not some Harry from Flatbush, so I guess the KR realized that this was out of the ordinary. The KR asked him: די באבע האט געהייסען נעמי? Like, why did you give such a name?! Chassidishe Yidden are bichlal allergic to modernities such as modern names, it doesn't take much avodah. On the other hand, most Yeshivaleit in America have names like Ahuva, Avigail and Elisheva; it makes them feel like like those Hasids.  Or maybe it's the women that are to blame. They're kinda grossed out by names like Shprintzie and Rashi. But that's a relatively new idea. In the old days people were named for their bubbes and zeides. So I was kinda surprised to see that Rebbetzin Kahaneman, o"h, daughter of Reb Shlaymke Berman, granddaughter of the Steipler, was named אלישבע. And get this: she was named for her Bubbe, Rashe Leah... They made Elisheva out of Rashe Leah, something about some of the same letters. Apparently the ציונים did a number on the Jews in Bnei Berak. It sounded too גלותי to have such a name, even if you were a daughter of the Steipler's son-in-law. I say this without chas veSholom speaking about the nifteres herself, who was a real choshuv'e פרוי

More Pics Here

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Scary looking dudes at the Greineman levayah
























The whole Greineman clan has been in the shadows ever since you-know-who made him persona non-grata. He was a young 40-something talmid chochom who defied the establishment and told them to vote for a Charedi mayor in Bnei Beraq, not a מזרחי'ניק. After that he also didn't join the attempted lynching (for lack of a better term) of Rav Moshe Landa. So he was באזייטיגט - as they say in Yiddish, and the only way you heard about him was if you made it your business to get to know him. For those of us in חו"ל you didn't see much of him. You may have known a bit about the politics, but not much more. So I was kinda surprised about the unusual בכיות and what looked like quite sincere pain and crying at the levaya. A lot more than what you usually see. Not the standard R' Shmuel Auerbach funeral grimace, but pain and hurt. So I asked around and found that I wasn't the only one who saw it as such. Apparently the "hiskashrus" that his talmidim had to him was quite strong. Like nothing we ever see in those circles. They outdo chassidim in that sense. So much so that after יציאת נשמה one of the talmidim cried out: העולם נגמר!

Reb Chaim left 12 sons.

More Pics from levaya

A little less scary looking at the בית הקברות but still very impressive.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Like, if I would go away and N E V E R write again.... M O S T of you - even those who say they've been loyal readers from Day 1 - wouldn't skip a beat. Just saying.

Busy season is over for me, so I figured you'd be banging the doors down asking for new סחורה. After all, it's almost three months that the posts haven't been coming down on a regular basis.

I guess everybody's expendable.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

65 Pitt Street, NYC























The site where Weinberger and Streit was launched. Rabbi Moshe Weinberger was Rov in Beis Medrish Hagodol Anshei Ungarin and was forced to leave his post as a result of having opened his bakery. He continued baking hand shmurah matzoh at this location through the 1940s, well after his partner Aron Streit relocated to Rivington Street in 1925.