Rabbi Pinchas Shmuel Yaakov Gerber was born in Zeimis, near Kovno in approximately 1861. He emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he was appointed Rabbi of a congregation in Edinburgh, Scotland. There, he was involved in some controversies over whether the British Rabbinate recognized his qualifications to give divorces (gets) and to supervise the kosher slaughtering of meat. After some years in Edinburgh, he moved to London and, in 1914, was appointed Rabbi of the Cannon Street Road Synagogue, which was at 143 Cannon Street Road in the East End of London.
I have written about his first book, Yad Pinchas, published in 1929. This is his second book, published in 1932 and printed, as was the first, at the press of the London Yiddish daily newspaper, Di Zeit.
The title, which means proper or fit mingling, appears as a phrase in many Tractates of the Talmud and is appropriate to this volume, for, as the title page states, the book is about the majority of Tractates in the Talmud, and is comprised of Novellae, Pilpulim, explanations, and sharp insights.
This book has a very long introduction and an English title page after the introduction. Included in the introduction is a long section in smaller print which is more personal.
Rabbi Gerber expresses his opposition to the Scottish rabbinate of the time, and their customs, particularly their efforts to establish a community independent of that in London. I have included the whole of this section of the introduction below, as well as the whole of an article at the end of the book, included “not to leave the paper blank”.
Jewish Miscellanies 