Sunday, August 08, 2010

Who am I?



EDIT: This is Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer, founder and rector (rosh yeshiva) of the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, painted in 1890: link. Below is a more commonly seen image, a photograph:

13 comments:

  1. looks like mendele mocher sforim....

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  2. Good guesses. I'll reveal later.

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  3. 19th century Imam Asaad Muhamid Khashogi?

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  4. Is it Abraham pirkowitz the famous Karaite

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  5. My guess is Iraqi probably Baghdadi, or someone from Calcutta or Bombay, with your attempt to fake us out being the quasi-Hassidische garb. However, both beard (full all the way up) and glasses, plus a slightly Indian-miniaturesque/ Mughal cast to the illustration leads me to suspect that this is something eastern. I'm the one who opined Karaite, Asian Muslim (not seriously) or a Sassoon above. It is not Firkovitch for sure.

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  6. The Maharit Elgazi? I guess I'll have to wait until after Yom Kippur to find out the answer. It's almost Elul, and I have to get back to Yeshiva...

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  7. NAPA"L? [Norman P. Luzzato, lesser-known brother of SD.]


    DF

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  8. For the life of me I don't know why my comments keep disappearing. I've twice posted the solution, and both comments disappeared.

    Good guesses, but this is Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer, painted in 1890: link.

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  9. he seems to look much happier in the photograph with his more modern modern apparel and smaller head covering. but i'm sure the diffrences in countenance is owing just to the excrutiatingly long time it took to sit for a painted portrait.

    (selfish self-promotion: my blog is back up at http://agmk.blogspot.com

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