Pinchas Kehati

Pinchas Kehati (; 1910 – December 21, 1976) was a Polish-Israeli rabbi, teacher, and author. He is best known as the author of Mishnayot Mevoarot (, "Explained Mishnayot", popularly known as "the Kehati Mishnayot") which is a commentary and elucidation on the entire Mishnah written in Modern Hebrew.

Biography Kehati was born Pinchas Gechtman in a village near Rivne in Volhynia, Poland. His parents Kehat and Malka Gechtman were killed in the Holocaust. In his youth he studied in religious and religious Zionist schools, and received rabbinical ordination from the "Tachkemoni" rabbinical school in Warsaw;

In 1953, he was appointed to a working committee for Hapoel HaMizrachi and took responsibility for its youth division, along with his responsibilities for guiding youth for Bnei Akiva organization. He had the idea to publish a daily pamphlet with commentary on the day's Mishnah being studied as part of the Mishna Yomit cycle (two mishnayot per day). He originally asked several other people to write the commentary, but was dissatisfied with the results. On his wife's suggestion, Kehati began to write the commentary himself.

The commentary was printed beginning in early 1955.

The Kehati commentary has had a tremendous impact on the modern study of Mishnah in Jewish communities, as his commentary has been used in many different settings. By continuing to work in a bank as he composed his commentary on the Mishna, Kehati stayed true to the fundamental Bnei Akiva Zionist ideology of Torah and Avodah, or Torah and Work, which was a fundamental tenet of early religious Zionists.

On the encouragement of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he began to produce a similar commentary on the Torah, but this did not succeed. Between 1956 and 1959, approximately 150 of pamphlets included attribution to his co-author. The first book-edition of the Kehati Mishnah includes this attribution (see image). Many editions have since been published after Kehati's death in 1976. Recent editions also include the traditional Bartenura commentary, improving its appeal to the Haredi community. Even though Kehati was a Religious Zionist, his works can be found in many Haredi homes and synagogues.

This work was translated into English and published in 1994 as The Mishnah, a new translation with a commentary by Pinhas Kehati (edited by Avner Tomaschoff).

Comparison to other commentaries

Kehati's Mishnah commentary was written in Modern Hebrew, the book cover design used a modish font and color, and it lacked decorative edge-marbling. The page layout of the Kehati commentary mimics the layout found in Dr. Symcha Petrushka's Yiddish Mishnah commentary (published in Montreal, 1946). It has also been observed that entire sections of Kehati's commentary amount to a word-for-word Hebrew translation of Petrushka, without attribution. Both Kehati and Petrushka were raised in Warsaw and became involved with Religious Zionism.

External links and References

Retrospective on the 30th year since his passing (Hebrew), kipa.co.il . Published online as part of a study program of two Mishnayot per day. Currently inactive, but archives contain the complete text of Kehati in English for Moed, Nashim, Nezikin, and about half of Kodashim.