Over the centuries, children studying this parsha with Rashi have had their imaginations ignited by Rashi's famous description of the ephod "like a sort of apron, called פורציינ"ט, which the ladies of nobility wear when riding horses."

Can we at long last get an image for that? First, let's confirm that פורציינ"ט should be rendered in Old French as porceint.
sefaria.org/Otzar_Laazei_R…

Quiz: How many times is "menorah" mentioned in Shulchan Aruch in the laws of Chanukah?

https://twitter.com/RaffiMagarik/status/1599787275285512192?s=19

If your answer was: 'Many times, surely,' you'd be incorrect. Not at all.

If your answer was: 'None at all,' you'd be incorrect. It appears once.

If your answer was: 'Once,' you'd be incorrect. The text as printed as flawed, and is in reference to the temple menorah.

Fingers on buzzers: Which fun little American synagogue standard doubles as the denouement to a 20-minute chassidishe niggun sung in Vizhnitz?

And a bonus question: Who was the composer of this melody, a man who straddled both worlds and today is claimed by each as their own? Let's set about answering the first question first. Everyone know this tune, right?

"Bei ana... Yehei raava... v'sashlim... velishlam, amen."

Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, writing in Bris Olam (described on the title page as a polemic against kofrim and chokrim), triumphantly marshals the discovery of Noah's Ark in 1883 that was reported in newspapers across the globe as proof of Torah min hashamayim. What was the source of this report?

On March 31, 1883, one George Reed had written the following item in the New Zealand Herald:

"...the expedition was fortunate in making a discovery that cannot fail to be of the deepest interest to the whole civilised world..."

Rav Eliyahu Lerman on a clique who conspired to have a fellow send them his esrog on Yom Tov, and upon its return it was discovered to be impaled by a nail. The gang denied having anything to do with it, but they also seemed suspiciously giddy about the whole thing. 2 pages later, his ruling.

-We assume they're at fault and not some unknown assailant
-We believe the shliach that he did not receive it in that state
-The esrog is worth its market value as an expensive hadar pre Succos
-This still doesn't address the chillul Hashem

Back to round-the-clock esrog coverage here. And this time, we explore Italian citron culture!

We begin with citron pastry cream.

https://twitter.com/cheffrancolania/status/924328337404825600

Citron cream puffs.

https://twitter.com/cheffrancolania/status/925738978405441536

Time to buy an esrog soon, but which one to buy?

Some allege that various (or all) Mediterranean (Italian/Greek/Israeli) citrons were adulterated through grafting. Others suspect that Moroccan or Yemeni etrogim may not be true citrons at all.

A thread on the "latest science": 1) For up to 1000 years, citrons were the only citrus fruit known in the Mediterranean.

(All that follows is from 'The Search for the Authentic Citron: Historic and Genetic Analysis (2005)', a collaboration bet. Prof. Eliezer Goldschmidt and international horticulture experts)

A New York Times report (via AP) on Jews and access to a good education, but it's from September 14, *1922*.

Sounds like a good story, but should the New York Times be trusted? Let's investigate. Firstly, who is "Dr. Barsony?"

As it transpires, this is János Bársony (1860-1926) "a Hungarian doctor, ob-gyn, university professor" and... "one of the exponents of eugenics in Hungary."

And, sure enough, rector of the University of Budapest in 1922.

hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1rs…

In the early 1840s, the Tzemach Tzedek was probably near the height of his powers. He was leading perhaps the largest chassidic movement at the time, he had published Torah Or and was preparing Likutei Torah, and he doubled as the leading posek of the region.

But he felt unease. The discontent may have been fueled by external pressures. The Czarist government was flirting with the possibility of forcefully overhauling Jewish education at this time, and the TzTz seemed to feel like the stress was getting to him.

So he wrote himself a chassidic pep talk.

Reincarnations of Korach hounding spiritual manifestations of Moshe Rabbeinu since at least 1572.

(Shivchei Ha'Ari, ed. Machon Ahavat Shalom, pg. 61) R. Moshe Hillel, commenting in Mekabtziel no. 39 (2013) in an article entitled
רשימת 'גלגולי קצת אנשי דורינו זה' למהרח"ו
notes that this is of a piece with the pattern throughout this genre whereby the entire dor hamidbar seemingly returns once again to rehash unresolved matters.

Last year a photo of this snippet was making the rounds on WhatsApp. It suggests, "al pi halatzah", that women and Amalek share the characteristics of starting fights and scapegoating others, and that's why Yisro brought Moshe's wife after he'd proven adept at fending off Amalek. People wondered if this was a quote from a real sefer, as the content was shocking and RaMBAD sounds unfamiliar and frankly made up.

Well, it's very real.

It's from Derushei V'chiddushei Ha'rambad by R. Moshe (ben R. Aharon) Deutsch (1844-1931), rabbi of Salgótarján, Hungary.

In the interesting Jewish women's names department, I came across something somewhat interesting while creating this work of art.

https://twitter.com/querynotfound/status/1082384413516812289

As we saw, R. Chona Halberstam was a great-grandson of R. Dovid Halberstam of Kshanov (Chrzanów). But the interesting tidbit that I noticed was that R. Dovid's wife had an unusual biblical name: Achsah.

Been spending time figuring stuff out about my ancestors, probably as a means of avoiding figuring things out about myself.

One line of inquiry concerns my paternal grandmother, whose ancestors hailed from Frysztak, in former Galicia. R. Mendel of Rimanov started in Frysztak. Later, it was known for R. Mendel Halberstam of Frysztak, a great-grandson of R. Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, via RCH's 2nd son, R. Dovid Halberstam of Kshanov.

When my great-great-grandparents lived there, they were followers of RMH's son, R. Chona (חנה!) Halberstam of Koloshitz.