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 and frees me to go and marry Uri.

If you think about it, levirate marriage brings up some pretty unholy tensions. If Shimon wants to marry me because I’m awesome, that’s kind of icky because I’m his brother’s wife. On the other hand, if Shimon wants to marry me only to do his holy duty of getting a child on me, that’s pretty miserable for me. So in general it’s much better that we should do halitza and just not go there.

Halitza becomes the standard expectation (read this article, A Writ of Release (Weisberg & Sarna), for a lot of background and interesting stuff), but if I don’t have halitza, I’m not free to marry someone else. Religiously speaking. So, if Shimon doesn’t want to give me halitza, I can’t marry someone else. This gives Shimon a horrible amount of power over me, and many men took to requesting extortionate fees from their brothers’ widows.

So, communities had an idea! Before I get married, I should get a contract from Shimon and Levi and all my beloved’s brothers, promising that they won’t do anything of the sort.

Here’s the contract that Jeanette, daughter of Nathan Marcus haCohen Adler, had with the brothers of Ascher Anschel Stern:

זכרון עדות שהיתה לפנינו עדים ח”מ ברביעי בשבת שלשים יום לחדש ניסן שהוא ראש חודש אייר שנת חמשת אלפים ושש מאות וחמש עשרה לבריאת עולם למנין שאנו מנין כאן עיר המבורג איך שבאו לפנינו האחים כ”ה יהוד’ המכונה ליב וכ”ה יעקב שי’ בני המנוח מה”ו מאיר שטערן ז”ל ואמרו לנו הוו עלינו עדים כשרים ונאמנים וקנו מאתנו בק”ג אג”ם וכתבו בכל לשון של זכות ויפוי כח המועיל ואף חתמו ותנו ליד מ’ יענטא תי’ בת הרב בק”ק לאנדאן והמדינה מה”ו נתן אדלער הכהן אשת אחינו הרב בק”ק פה מה”ו אשר המכונה אנשיל להיות לה בידה לעדות ולזכות ולראיה

On April 19th, 1855, in Hamburg, the brothers Yehudah, known as Leib, and Yaakov, sons of Meir Stern, appeared before us, and instructed us to be true and fit witnesses, and we took from them a symbol of acceptance, and wrote in fit and legal language and signed and delivered to the hand of Miss Yenta, daughter of the rabbi of the community of London and the Empire Nathan haCohen Adler, the wife of our brother, rabbi of the community here, Ascher, who is known as Anschel, for her to keep as proof.

[Note the Ashkenazic spelling of "London". This isn't standard; the usual way is לונדון because the Sephardim got there first and established the spelling. These Hamburgers were evidently very Ashkenazic.]

It’s also interesting that the lady is Yenta. The family tree wonks at Geni.com think that the woman who is married to Ascher-Anschel Stern and the daughter of Nathan Adler is named Jeanette. Certainly she could have used both Yenta and Jeanette, but why aren’t both on the document? Did she start using Jeanette at some time after her marriage?

איך שרצינו ברצון נפשינו הטוב שלא באונש והכרח כלל כי אם בלב שלם ובנפש חפיצה ובדעה שלימה ומיושבת והננו מודים בנפשיכם היום כמודים בפני ב”ד חשוב וראוי בהודאה גמורה שרירא וקיימא דלא להשטאה ודלא שלא להשבעה ודלא להשנאה ודלא למהדר ביה מן יומא דנן ולעלם.

That we desire, of our own free will, not coerced or forced, but with a whole and complete heart, a free soul and a complete, settled understanding. And these declarations shall be as those made before a great bet din, absolutely fitting testimony, valid and binding, not a joke, and not a shavua, and not with intent to be bad for her, and not with intent to benefit her, from this day and forever.

איך שאם ח”ו יעדר וימות אחינו הרב בק”ק פה מה”ו אשר המכונה אנשיל הנ”ל בעלה של מרת יענטא הנ”ל בלי זרע קיימא ותהיה אשתו מרת יענטא הנ”ל זקוקה לחלוץ.

That if, God forbid, our brother the aforementioned rabbi of this community here Ascher who is known as Anschel, husband of the aforementioned Miss Yenta, should pass and die with no viable issue, and the aforementioned Miss Yenta should be in need of halitza.

אזי מתי שתתבע אותנו לחלוץ לה מחיובים אנחנו לפוטרה בחליצה כשרה והגונה בחנם שלא נקח ממנו* ומכל ב”כ אפילו שוה פרוטה בעולם תיכף ומיד אחר כלות שלשה חדשים להעדרו של אחינו הרב בק”ק פה אשר המכונה אנשיל בעלה הנ”ל ח”ו כשתהיה ראוי לחלוץ. ובלבד שהיבמה תלך אחר היבם וכל זמן שלא נפטרנו בחליצה כשרה בחנם כנ”ל תהא היבמה נזונית מניכסי מיתנא ומוחזקת בהן.

That when she should request of us halitza, we will be bound to free her with a fit and valid halitza ceremony, freely, and we will not take from him ["Him" is probably a typo, compare the text in the Nachalat Shiva, siman 22, some thirty years later than this document] or from her representative even the value of a pruta, ever. As soon as three months have elapsed since the passing of our brother the aforementioned rabbi of this community here Ascher who is known as Anschel, her husband, God forbid, when she is free to conduct halitza. This provided that the woman comes to the man. While we have not freed her with a fit, freely-granted halitza as above, the yavamah will be sustained from the estate of the deceased and shall control it.

Wives in Jewish law don’t inherit automatically, brothers do; this stipulation makes it inconvenient for them to withold halitza.

כל הא דלעיל קבלו עליהם האחים כ”ה יהוד’ המכונה ליב וכ”ה יעקב שטערן שי’ הנ”ל בחרם חמור ובשבועה דאוריתא ובת”ך בפועל ממש על דעת רבים שלא יהא התרה והפרה כלל כי אם על דעת אשת אחיהם מרת יענטא תי’ הנ”ל בביטול כל מודעות ובפיסול כל עדי מודעות עד עולם בכל לישנא דאמרי רבנן דפוסלין ומבטלין בהון מודעות. ושטר חליצה זה לא יפסול ולא יגרע כחו בשום ריעותא וגריעותא בעולם מכל מה שהפה יוכל לדבר והלב לחשוב ולהרהר.

All the above the aforementioned brothers Yehudah, known as Leib, and Yaakov Stern, accepted upon themselves [various phrases meaning that this is Serious Business] that it shall never be annulled or revoked except by the will of the wife of their brother, Miss Yenta, in annulling all admissions and invalidating all witnesses to admissions, eternally, in language used by the rabbis to annull and invalidate such admissions. And this shtar halitza shall not be invalidated nor its strength lessened by any means at all ever, by anything the mouth can say or the heart think.

ויהא הכל נידון ונדרש לטובת ולזכות וליפוי כח בעלת השטר. וידה על העליונה ויד המערער על התחתונה. ויהא כח לשטר זה כאלו נעשה בב”ד חשוב דלא כאסמכתא ודלא כטופסי דשטרי וקנינא מן האחים כ”ה יהוד’ המכונה ליב וכ”ה יעקב שי’ בני המנוח מאיר שטערן ז”ל למרת יענטא תי’ בת הרב בק”ק לאנדאן והמדינה מה”ו נתן אדלער הכהן נר”ו אשת הרב בק”ק פה מה”ו אשר המכונה אנשיל נר”ו בן מה”ו מאיר שטערן ז”ל על כל מה דכתוב ומפורש לעיל במנא דכשר למקניא ביה. הכל שריר וקים.

And all this is to be judged and interpreted for the good and the benefit and the strengthening of the holder of the shtar. And her hand is above and the hand of any appellant below. And the strength of this shtar shall be as if it were made by a great bet din, and is is not asmachta and not a mere formalism. And we made kinyan from the aforementioned brothers Yehudah, known as Leib, and Yaakov, sons of Meir Stern, on behalf of Miss Yenta, daughter of the rabbi of the community of London and the Empire Nathan haCohen Adler, the wife of our brother, rabbi of the community here, Ascher, who is known as Anschel, son of Meir Stern, concerning all that is written and expounded above, with an appropriate instrument; all is valid and binding.

I find it interesting how hard this document insists that it REALLY IS REAL AND PROPER OKAY. That sounds to me like the language of something aware that it’s standing on shaky ground, something trying rather too hard to sound real. It seems like it’s trying too hard to say “I am enforceable, dammit! Don’t you dare ignore me!”, which I think was probably its main problem. It’s not something I’m aware of being done today.

Weisberg and Sarna seem to suggest that the State of Israel’s declaring halitza mandatory has something to do with it, that and the Holocaustic wiping-out of most communities where it was done. Also I think perhaps longer life expectancies, smaller families, and rising divorce rates have made refusal to grant a get more of a problem. It’s a similar problem; rabbinic courts these days tend to lack enforcement methods, so if a guy says “Shan’t” there’s not a lot you can do about it.

The catalogue number for this piece is SCN DR10-R36, and it says that Jeanette is Yenta bat “Edgar haKohen”, an error which I trust will be fixed post-haste. A little further into the drawer, DR10-R43 contains both of Johanna bat Shraga’s wedding documents, her ketubah and her shtar halitza from her groom’s brothers–I didn’t photograph them because they’re in completely impenetrable handwriting–doubtless Jeanette’s ketubah is somewhere, but I don’t know where.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

At Whole Foods the other week, I found this…It smells exactly like an etrog, but it looks like no etrog ever. Sniff it and become Cthulu!

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

Image copyright Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Used with permission. Click to see larger version.

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 this kid is still alive. I googled him, just out of curiosity, and he went on to be something perfectly ordinary, real estate or something I think. And is married and has kids and lives somewhere in New Jersey.

And this is the case for a great many of these dispatches–they are things belonging to people who were once quite ordinary, getting along with their lives, but now they’ve turned into history.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

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 (if that isn’t horribly anachronistic) or it might be iced punch.

Menu item 14: Stewed fruit.

Explanation 14: Proverbs 31 says Give unto her the fruit of her hands.

Menu item 15: Tree fruit

Explanation 15: This is a non-rabbinic one; the citation is the proverb “The fruit does not fall far from the tree.” Why a sudden non-rabbinic thing? I have an idea, which we’ll get to.

Menu item 16: Grapes

Explanation 16: (Sow) grape seeds with grapevines, says Pesachim 49a.
Here’s the context. The Talmud is talking about the desirability of marrying certain kinds of people (social commentary like whoa; go learn that whole section, it’s fascinating), and says:

תנו רבנן: לעולם ימכור אדם כל מה שיש לו וישא בת תלמיד חכם, וישיא בתו לתלמיד חכם. משל לענבי הגפן בענבי הגפן, דבר נאה ומתקבל. ולא ישא בת עם הארץ – משל לענבי הגפן בענבי הסנה, דבר כעור ואינו מתקבל.

That is, it is taught in a baraita that one should sell everything he has and marry the daughter of a Torah scholar [and do remember that it is sages writing this], and marry his daughter to a Torah scholar. This is like planting grapes among grapevines; it is fitting and fruitful. And one should not marry the daughter of an ignoramus; this is like planting grapes among scrub, it is distasteful and not fruitful.

So serving grapes at the wedding is commenting that this is a fitting and fruitful match involving a Torah scholar.

Menu item 17 (note that 17 isn’t written י”ז as it usually is, it’s written טוב; I think that’s rather nice): Black coffee.

Explanation 17: I am black and comely, says Song of Songs 1.

Menu item 18: Champagne.

Explanation 18: This is another bit where you really really need to go learn the whole section of Talmud (Shabbat 67a). It’s just fascinating; it’s talking about things which are and are not forbidden on account of being darchei ha’emori–irreligious shtick non-Jews do, unfitting for Jews. For instance, peeing in front of a pot to hasten its cooking is forbidden because it’s darchei ha’emori, but putting a chip of mulberry wood in it is fine.

Saying “Wine and life according to the rabbis!” is another thing that’s not forbidden. Rashi seems to be saying that “Wine and life!” is a general thing the non-Jews say when drinking wine, but if you add “according to the rabbis” that makes it kosher.

So the champagne course here wishes the couple a blessed and frum life.

Note that the family have put in a lot of effort to get the number of menu items up to 18, to the extent of quoting a non-Jewish proverb for item 15. I assume this is because 18 is the number associated with life, luck, etc.

ABD Wasserman said “I don’t know; was Chai a thing then?” and the answer appears to be yes it was; not the yud-chet symbol people wear on necklaces and whatever, but the idea that 18 is a good number, especially for donations, seems to have been around since the early chasids, if not before. So 18 is probably no coincidence, and is yet another symbolic element on this menu.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

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 אהבה, his banner over me was love. I guess it’s just a play on dag, diglo, and gadol.

Menu items 6, 7, and 8 are meaty items, grouped together with the phrase from Genesis “And they shall be one flesh.”

Menu item 6: בשר, meat.

Explanation 6: Genesis 2 says ויאמר האדם זאת הפעם עצם מעצמי ובשר מבשר, the man said of the woman, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

Menu item 7: Baby birds

Explanation 7: Psalm 128 says בניך כשתלי זיתים, your children shall be like olive shoots. A touch macabre, perhaps?

Menu item 8: לשון צלוי, roast tongue.

Explanation 8: Proverbs 31 says ותורת חסד על לשונה, the Torah of lovingkindness is on her tongue.

Menu item 9: ושלישים על כלו

Explanation 9: The menu says: אם שלש אלה לא יעשה לה. These are two verses from Torah: And officers (shalishim) over the whole, explained by another verse which explains the three (shalosh) obligations of a husband to his wife. But what does shalishim mean in a food context? Potatoes and two veg? A family joke? Some sort of sauce? From context, it’s something that goes with meat dishes…any ideas?

Tomorrow, the drinks courses.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

(Repeat of an old post, seasonally relevant)

The original stone tablets were written by the finger of God, etzba Elohim.

Nowadays we write their less cumbersome representations, the Torah-scrolls, with quills, but what most people today don’t know is that ideally you don’t use a quill to write sifrei kodesh.

You’re supposed to use the index finger of your dominant hand — why the index finger? because Jewish tradition holds that there is a vein in the index finger leading directly to the heart; this is why in the wedding ceremony we put the ring on the index finger — you grow the nail, and then you shape it into a nib and write with that.

As well as representing the etzba Elohim, this also brings the scribe closer to the mitzvah. The Torah-scroll represents the marriage contract between God and the Jewish people; now, Jewish law states that one may contract a marriage by emissary, but it is obvious to all that it is better to attend one’s own wedding in person, since there is something rather glaringly inappropriate about contracting this closest of bonds by means of an intermediate agent. Similarly, writing a Torah-scroll with a quill, an intermediate agent, is permitted, but it is much better, if one can, to perform the act in person.

Most scribes today aren’t particular about this method of beautifying the mitzvah, and indeed it is hard to observe.

One reason quills are a decent technological substitute for fingernails is because they have very similar mechanical properties, both being made largely from keratin, rendering them tough but flexible, easily shaped but holding that shape. We’ve seen before in these pages that quills need frequent sharpening if they are to write well, and the same is true of fingernails. We’re used to cutting our fingernails, because they grow faster than we wear them down, but if you use your fingernail to write on parchment, it will wear down faster than your body can replace it, and you will run out of pen.

Since the invention of acrylic nail-tips, which are attached to the shortened nail, some scribes have been experimenting with using these prosthetic fingernails as writing tools. Interestingly, it’s following this line of thought that plastic nibs have recently been developed. Like nail-tips, these nibs are attached to one’s regular writing instrument and are designed to be longer-lasting than the original.

I’ve said before that plastic nibs definitely have their place, but they just aren’t capable of the subtlety of the keratin-based originals. Acrylic nibs are ingenious, but they really aren’t ideal. It follows that the careful scribe is forced to observe prolonged rest periods in which the fingernail must re-grow. One may, if pressed for time, use the other fingers of the hand, but this often results in reduced writing quality, given the lesser dexerity of the fourth and fifth fingers, so the truly careful scribe will plan his work such that he does not need to do this. This generally means he writes Torah one day a week and does some other job the rest of the time while his nail is re-growing.

This is why it takes such a long time to write a sefer Torah. If fingernails didn’t wear down with use, it would be possible to write a sefer Torah in an hour or so.

For consider this. We know that Moshe Rabbeinu died on Shabbat afternoon (R. Yosé in Seder ‘Olam Rabba 11), and we also know that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote thirteen Torah-scrolls on the last day of his life (R. Yannai in Devarim Rabba Vayyelekh §9).

Now, writing on Shabbat is a Biblically-forbidden activity, which Moshe Rabbeinu would not have done. But writing with one’s non-dominant hand is only prohibited on a Rabbinical level, at a much later date, which means that in Moshe Rabbeinu’s time it would have been permitted. So, we know that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote thirteen Torah-scrolls with his non-dominant hand in one day. (Clearly, had he been using his dominant hand, he would have been able to write far more Torah-scrolls, perhaps as many as forty.)

We also know that Moshe Rabbeinu had an unusually fast rate of keratin production, because his face had horns, which are, like fingernails, made from keratin. Normal people don’t produce keratin fast enough that they have horns; the best most of us can manage is hair and nails. But Moshe Rabbeinu was special. That’s why his Torah-writing wasn’t hampered by his fingernails wearing down, and how it is that he was able to produce thirteen sifrei Torah on one Shabbat.

Interestingly, the cantillation phrase traditionally used for the words etzba Elohim is a very rare one (occurs only once in Torah) called karnei Moshe – “the horns of Moses” – and this is why.

Wasn’t that educational?

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

Today we have some public health notices from 1923 (DR5-L73 and 74).

Images copyright Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Used with permission. Click to see larger image.

“Either you’ve washed your hands and nails with soap and water, or you mustn’t eat or touch your eyes. Contagious diseases are in dirt!”

Thanks to Alex Casser for translations from Yiddish.

‘Dam, tsfardeya, kinim’–the third plague is the worst! Check yourself for lice! Typhus comes from lice!”

Also observe the interesting font, how the lamed doesn’t rise above the line of type, nor the kuf descend below it.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

I photographed this one (DR5-L8) because the first line of English at the top made me laugh: IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL JEWISH PEOPLE, TO BE INSPIRED — yes, this does correspond rather directly and unfortunately to the way a lot of Jewish leaders think.

The full English is IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL JEWISH PEOPLE, TO BE INSPIRED AND TO UNDERSTAND THAT ALTHOUGH MANY JEWISH PEOPLE ARE CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS OF MANY LANDS AND COUNTRIES, BUT MUCH BETTER IT WOULD BE TO LIVE IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL! In shouty capitals.

The rest of it’s in Yiddish. This side talks about how in Jerusalem, six hours after sunset, people gather to recite Tikkun Chatzot, mourning the destruction of the Temple (every night!), and exhorts New Yorkers to do the same. Wikipedia says “The Tikkun Chatzot is an individual service; a minyan is not needed for performing it, although some have the custom to recite it with a minyan. At midnight, one sits on the ground or a low stool, takes off his shoes, and reads from the prayer book.”

The other side talks about Shabbat, and kashrut, and family purity, and the importance of sending your children to Jewish schools, so not much new there. No date on this; twentieth-century sometime.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.

Image copyright Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Used with permission. Click to see larger version.

Image copyright Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Used with permission. Click to see larger version.

Image copyright Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Used with permission. Click to see larger version.

I’m dispatching it here because I liked the multimedia aspect. You can see the poem part is handwritten on paper, but then the paper is pasted to a satin frame, and the join is covered by fabric leaves and ribbon roses.

Note how the leaves have held their green colour but the roses, once red or pink, have faded almost beyond recognition. Lightfast red dyes were jolly hard to do before advances in chemistry in the nineteenth century.

Anyway, something to consider for you fabric artists.

The call number’s nsh2, from drawer 4 again.

Mirrored from hasoferet.com.