Birchas HaChamah: An Astronomical "Line"up

In my “line” of work I often come across bits of information that do not pertain to eruvin yet are too interesting to ignore. While you might have already seen the 1897 article about Birchas HaChamah in The New York Times, I doubt that you have seen this account of the same event. I came across it in the The Evening Post (April 7, 1897, p. 12), the precursor to the New York Post. I hope that you find the article as fascinating as I did. At this time, I would also like to take the opportunity to wish all my loyal readers a chag kasher v’sameach.

P.S. Look for more about Rabbi Wechsler in the introduction to New York’s Jewish history in my upcoming series regarding the 1905 New York eruv.