Friday, March 15, 2013

Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathansohn, the Sho'el U-meishiv's obituary

From the Jewish Messenger May 14, 1875.



11 comments:

  1. In a series in הדרום spanning issues 29-32, R. Moshe Leiter dedicated a study focusing on this great scholar including his relationship with other Rabbis and his view of Hassidism among other things.

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  2. iirc he got involved in a shechita controversy in new york in the 1860s

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  3. Interesting that the writer saw opposition to steam-milled flour for Pesach, and to machine matzos, as "bigotry". That's a strange usage of the term.

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    1. Not strange, it just isn't how the word is usually used today, where it generally is a synonym for racial, religious or similar prejudice.

      But look at the primary definition of Bigotry in the Oxford English Dictionary, and you will see how it is used here in exactly that sense, and also especially in the definition 2b:

      1. The quality or condition of a bigot; obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, practice, faction, etc.; intolerance, prejudice.

      As for Bigot, see how the OED defines it:

      †1. A religious hypocrite; (also) a superstitious adherent of religion. Obs.
      2.
      a. A person considered to adhere unreasonably or obstinately to a particular religious belief, practice, etc.

      b. In extended use: a fanatical adherent or believer; a person characterized by obstinate, intolerant, or strongly partisan beliefs.

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  4. My grandfather once wrote an article about his own grandfather, a leader of the Orthodox community in largely Reform Cincinnati, noting drily that he was remembered "with affection for his bigotry," i.e. his refusal to be swerved from his religious observance. His "rewards were many," said my grandfather, "but the greatest of them, due directly to his bigotry, was that he had children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to whom the religion is as dear as it was to him."

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  5. Whose children? Reb Yosef Shaul had no children.

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  6. Superintendant Chalmers11:07 AM, March 19, 2013

    Dan Klein,
    Cincinatti-related question, if you happen to know anything about this - I've heard that Rav Leizer Silver allowed swimming on Shabbos in the community Y or JCC in Cincinatti, based on the gemara in Shabbos that "is lei gedudei." Do you know anything about this, and do you know if this is written about anywhere?

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  7. I think you once had a piece mentioning that times were often approximated for zmanim . Assuming I looked it up properly shkia was 7:04 in nyc on may 14. Was the custom to not allow for lighting before in listing times

    Midwest

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  8. Sorry, Superintendant, I don't have any info about the Cincinnati pool. Maybe you should ask Principal Skinner. :-)

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  9. I don't remember if the pool issue specifically is mentioned in Rakeffet's bio on R. Leizer, but he does cover the general issue of his percieved lenient stand on the JCC's shabbat activities.

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  10. "I don't remember if the pool issue specifically is mentioned in Rakeffet's bio on R. Leizer"

    It is!

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