Eshet Chayil [A Woman of Valor] is a hymn which is customarily recited on Friday evenings, after returning from synagogue and singing "Shalom Aleichem" and before sitting down to the Shabbat evening meal. A twenty-two verse poem with which King Solomon concludes the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 31). The poem has an acrostic arrangement in which the verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in regular order. The poem describes the woman of valor as one who are is energetic, righteous, and capable.

According to Aggadic Midrashim (interpretation of the non-legal portions of the Hebrew Bible), the poem was originally composed by Abraham as a eulogy for his wife Sarah. According to Kabbalah, the poem is a reference to the Sabbath Queen, the spiritual soul-mate of the Jewish nation. Commentators hve interpreted the poem as a reference to the Shechinah (Divine presence), the Shabbat, the Torah, wisdom, and the soul. Using Jewish women as the vehicle through which to describe these spiritual manifestations is a tribute to her.

R. Tzvi Hirsch Ferber (1879–November 1966) was a renowned Talmudic and Torah scholar, gifted orator, prolific author and tireless community builder. A man of outstanding knowledge and talent, he was an exemplar of old-world Lithuanian Torah scholarship and sagacity. Born in Kovno, Lithuania, R.Ferber studied in the prestigious Slabodka yeshiva, as well as under such Talmudic and Mussar giants as R.Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, R. Yitzchak Blazer and R. Naftali Amsterdam. He came to Manchester, England in 1911, where he founded a yeshiva along with R. Yehoshua Dov Silverstone.

In July 1913, he accepted a call to become Rabbi of the West End Talmud Torah Synagogue in Soho, London, a disorganised community comprised of working-class Jewish immigrants of Eastern European origin. In a short span of time, R. Ferber successfully centralised the unorganised Jewish activities and religious life of the community into one institution. Active in communal affairs, R. Ferber established the Chesed V’emeth Burial Society in 1915. He helped found the London yeshiva and was for many years the honorary secretary of the London "Vaad Harabonim" (rabbinical council) and chairman of the Association of London Rabbis ("Hisachdus Harabonim"). A member of its World Rabbinical council, R.Ferber gave valuable assistance to the Agudas Yisroel movement. He closely collaborated with R.Dr M Jung and R. Dr V Schonfeld in Shechita and other communal issues. He was a friend of R.Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, from the time that the latter was Rabbi of Machzike Hadath in London.

R.Ferber was hugely admired and venerated by his congregants and colleagues worldwide. Indeed, when he left his seat, everyone stood up and bowed towards him as a sign of respect. He was described as a “man of saintliness and gentleness, loved and admired by all who came into contact with him”. One of the most riveting Jewish orators of his day, he preached his sermons in Yiddish, and could bring his congregation to tears of nostalgia, or “get everyone laughing within the space of two sentences". R.Ferber was rabbi of Soho for 42 years, from 1913 until his retirement in 1955. He died in 1966 in London, survived by his son Rabbi Jacob Ferber and four daughters.

In the world of Torah, R. Ferber was renowned as an outstanding scholar and sage. A prolific author, he produced 22 acclaimed works of Torah scholarship, perhaps the largest ever output by a Rabbi in England. He was also a frequent contributor to numerous Hebrew journals and an avid reader in the Hebrew collections of the British Library. Taking advantage of his location in the West End, he visited the Oriental Reading Room of the British Museum every day.

עמ' כז-מ: קונטרס "עמק הבכא", "חבל הכסף" ו"מצבת אבן", הספדים על מות אשת המחבר, פריידא בת ר' צבי יוסף גולדברג, שנפטרה ביום כב באייר תרצ"ג.