Detailed
Description |
|
Customs observed in Jerusalem during Purim and erev Pesah that comes on Shabbat. The work is attributed to R. Joseph Hayyim Sonnenfeld although his name dies not appear on the title page. R. Hayyim Berlin’s name appears as having given an approbation to the work. Seder Purim Meshullash is in two parts, the first dealing with Purim, the second with erev Pesah that comes on Shabbat. This edition differs from the earlier printings, having several additions to the text. The text is in a single column in square letters. Seder Purim Meshullash is bound in its original wrappers.
Purim Meshullash (Triple Purim) is celebrated on the 15th of Adar (Shushan Purim) in Jerusalem, which has been a walled city from the days of Joshua ben Nun, whereas elsewhere it is celebrated on the 14th of the month. When, however, the 14th of Adar falls on Friday, the celebration in Jerusalem and other cities said to be "walled cities from the time of Joshua" extends over three days, and is thus called Purim Meshullash. The megillah, the Scroll of Esther, is read on the 14th but the additional prayers for Purim are included in the Sabbath service on the 15th and the haftarah of the previous Sabbath, Shabbat Zakhor (I Sam. 15. 2–34), is repeated. The special festive meal however is held on the Sunday, so as to distinguish it from the normal Sabbath festive meal, and it is on this day gifts are exchanged (mishlo’ah manot, popularly called shelakhmones) and donations to the poor are made.
R. Joseph Hayyim Ben Abraham Solomon Sonnenfeld, (1849–1932) was the first rabbi of the separatist Orthodox community in Jerusalem. After pursuing his studies in the yeshivah of his native town, in 1865 he went to Pressburg, where he lived in great poverty while studying in the yeshivah of R. Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer. In 1870 he received the title of honor Morenu from his teacher in a letter full of laudatory references to his great learning. The same year he went to Kobersdorf (Burgenland), where he became a pupil of R. A. Shag, who thought highly of him. In 1873 R. Sonnenfeld accompanied his teacher to Erez Israel and settled in the Old City of Jerusalem, and until the end of his life meticulously refrained from remaining outside the walls of the Old City for more than 30 days. He formed a close association with R. M. J. L. Diskin and was his right hand in his communal activities, such as the founding of the large orphanage and schools and the struggle against the secular schools. R. Sonnenfeld was one of the most active and influential personalities in the community centered in the Old City. He headed the Hungarian kolel Shomerei ha-Homot ("the guardians of the walls"), founded the Battei Ungarn quarter, and helped in the establishment of other quarters in Jerusalem. In 1919 he was one of a group of rabbis headed by A. I. Kook which visited the newly established settlements in order to influence them with regard to the observance of Judaism.
Sonnenfeld stood for complete separation between the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox; he strongly opposed the bringing of the institutions of the old yishuv under the control of the Zionist bodies and the participation of the Orthodox in the official community, Keneset Yisrael, and fought for the statutory right of every individual to opt out of it. When the Jewish Battalions were founded in World War I he opposed enlistment of Orthodox Jews in the battalions. He was one of the founders of the Va'ad ha-Ir le-Kehillat ha-Ashkenazim ("City Council for the Ashkenazi Community"), as well as of its bet din, in opposition to the official Jerusalem rabbinate. He was also a founder of Agudat Israel in Erez Israel.
As a result of his adherence to the doctrine of separation, Sonnenfeld was one of the chief opponents of A. I. Kook, and led the opposition to his appointment as rabbi of Jerusalem, and later as chief rabbi of Erez Israel, even though on the personal level their relationship was one of friendship and esteem. In 1920 Sonnenfeld was elected rabbi of a separate Orthodox community. In his struggle for the emergence of the separatist community he was especially aided by the Dutch publicist Jacob Israel de Haan, who took care that eminent non-Jewish visitors would meet Sonnenfeld, and they were duly impressed by his personality. He was a member of the separatist Orthodox delegation that appeared, on de Haan's initiative, before Hussein, king of the Hedjaz, when the latter visited Transjordan. He appeared before the U.S. King-Crane Commission (see: Palestine, Inquiry Commissions); he also instructed his followers to meet Lord Northcliffe on his visit to Erez Israel. On all these occasions Sonnenfeld expressed a positive attitude to the Jewish resettlement of Erez Israel and the return to Zion, and in the census declared Hebrew as his language. He generally preached loyalty toward the government. He also inclined to moderation toward the Arabs of Erez Israel and strove to establish peace between them and the Jewish population. |
