Features
James Gershfield’s new book a paean to his illustrious father
By MYRON LOVE About 25 years ago (or so), I took a class given by Rabbi Allan Green, then still the rabbi at the Beth Israel Synagogue – delving into the meaning of the opening prayers that are recited daily during the morning service. It was one of the more interesting classes that I have taken. Regrettably, he didn’t follow up with more classes exploring the origins and meaning of the prayers we recite in shul.
After reading James Gershfield’s new biography of his father, the late Rabbi Rabbi Edward M. Gershfield, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 86, and his passion for the meanings of words and prayers, I think I would have enjoyed studying with him.
James Gershfield’s “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend: The Life, Thought, Humor, and Wisdom of Rabbi Edward M. Gershfield” is, in a sense, a sequel to “Rainy River Girl,” a memoir of his mother, Toby Gershfield, co-written and published by her son – a former computer software developer who decided a couple of years ago to change direction and founded Scribal Scion Publishing LLC, a small publishing company dedicated to publishing – under the Scribal Scion imprint – Jewish books that inspire and comfort.
As reported a few weeks back in the pages of the Jewish Post, “Rainy River Girl” is the story of Toby Gershfield’s early years growing up in the small southwestern Ontario community where her father Dr. Nathan Helman served as the town dentist. Her mother, Sophie, was the daughter of the esteemed Rabbi Israel Kahanovitch – Western Canada’s foremost rabbi in the interwar years and beyond.
While “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” does have aspects of a biography – largely in the opening and closing chapters – the 180 page book is more an ode to a beloved and illustrious father.
In his short introduction to “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend”, Gershfield observes that “every person is unique, which is a ‘truism,’ as my late father would say. However, some people have a very unusual combination of personal strengths, knowledge, insights and personality that make it worthwhile to get to know them and their life stories”.
He notes that his father combined a variety of qualities that made the elder Gershfield’s life, thought, humour, and wisdom worth studying. His father, he writes, “was a rabbi, a scholar, a father, and a friend. He was also a beloved teacher, an innovative thinker, a gifted orator, a respected adviser to other rabbis, an expert on comparative Jewish and Roman law, a beautiful singer of Jewish prayers, and a talented Hebrew scribe who administered and wrote many Jewish divorce documents, known as Gittin.”
Ed Gershfield was born and grew up in Winnipeg. “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” chronicles his early years here. The future rabbi actually had a largely secular education – having attended Machray Elementary School and St John’s.
While he did attend synagogue – the Tiferes Israel (aka the Mezhiricher shul) regularly with his father, it was at Talmud Torah (evening school) that his love of Judaism was inculcated. The most important influences were his cheder teacher Mr. Klein and Rabbi Avraham Kravetz, the school’s principal. It was Rabbi Kravetz who recognized promise in the young Gershfield and encouraged him to consider the rabbinical life.
Rabbi Kravetz encouraged his young protégé to enrol in the Jewish Theological Seminary with the idea that, according to James Gershfield, after he received his ordination he would return to Winnipeg to lead a new Jewish Studies Department that Rabbi Kravetz was hoping to establish at the University of Manitoba. When that didn’t materialize, the newly ordained Rabbi Gershfield decided to remain in Manhattan.
Although he did serve as a congregational rabbi for a couple of years early in his career – and again in the early 1980s, his true passions was for teaching and scholarship. In addition to his study at the JTS, he earned an MA in Latin from Columbia University and a PhDl in the study of Jewish law, as compared to Roman Law.
He was one of America’s pre-eminent experts in the field. He also became a specialist in granting Jewish divorces (gittin). His son devotes entire chapters to the subject of gittin and his father’s study of Roman law.
Readers, I am sure, will also enjoy Rabbi Gershfield’s thoughts on Jews and Judaism, examples of his words and wisdom and humour, some of his stories and his analyses of the meanings of some Hebrew words, expressions and prayers in the siddur.
“This book was written from my perspective as his son,” writes James Gershfield, “and is based on both my personal experiences and the knowledge that I have gained about his life from people who knew him, and from his writings and audio recordings.
“Once my father turned 80 years old, I felt that there were many times in my life when I had not paid enough attention to what he was saying, and I was sure that there were many things that he said that I didn’t remember. So, I made an extra effort during the next several years to listen carefully to any stories that he would tell, and to write them down so that I could remember them and preserve them. Many of those stories and thoughts are in this book.”
Rabbi Gershfield passed away in 2019 at the age of 86.
“While I worked as a software engineer for over forty years,” notes James in the book, “I gradually came to understand that you don’t need to be a pulpit rabbi to have a strong connection to Judaism and Jewish learning. As I got older, I gradually figured out a way to connect with my father in a way that we could both understand each other. That is the intended meaning behind the title of this book: “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend”. My relationship with him developed over time from him being my rabbi, which never changed, to a scholar, to my father and finally to being my friend.”
“Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” is available in both paperback and hard cover on Amazon.
Features
New Opportunities for XRP in the Trump Era: How XRP Holders Can Earn $7,899 Daily in Passive Income Through FTMINING Cloud Mining in 2026
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Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown
(August 8, 2026)
Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026)
Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3)
Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1)
Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
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