Pinhas 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.Rabbi Pinchas Kehati
(Hebrew), tog.co.il 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;
he was also a leader of the Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hadati in Warsaw.

He made aliyah in 1935 (or 1936) and began studies of mathematics, Physics, Religious philosophy and Kabbalah at Hebrew University, but was forced to abandon them due to financial difficulties. He initially worked as a teacher and with HaPoel HaMizrachi. Later, for many years, he worked as a teller in Bank Mizrachi. He was very involved with Bnei Akiva (successor to Hashomer Hadati) and published guidance booklets for them.

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."מחנכים באמונה - הרב פנחס קהתי ומפעל "משניות מבוארות
/ref> 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. Initially a single page was printed each day, covering two ''mishnayot''. Later, the format switched to a weekly pamphlet covering 14 ''mishnayot''. Initially, Kehati bore all the costs with no external funding. However, after eight months this became overwhelming, and he was forced to stop. Soon external donors appeared to support the project. Work resumed, and the commentary to the entire Mishnah was finished in 1963. In 1967, he was awarded the Rav Kook Prize from the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality for his commentary on the Mishnah.

The religious Zionist organization Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah has encouraged the Israeli religious schools administration to have Kehati's life studied by students in primary schools, as in their opinion he would serve as a great role model for young Israeli children.

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. It provides detailed notes for beginners that are lucid in Hebrew and have been translated into English. 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.

Kehati also composed tunes for traditional Jewish songs.

He died in 1976.

Commentary

In response to the growing demand for a commentary of the Mishnah in Modern Hebrew, Kehati was sponsored by the Bnei Akiva of Bnei Brak to develop a commentary. Kehati wanted to spread Torah throughout the world, so he sought to write a clear, concise, and easy-to-read commentary and elucidation on the entire Mishnah.

Between 1955 and 1964, Kehati published a weekly pamphlet which was hand-delivered to 5,000 subscribers. In each pamphlet, he explicated 14 Mishnayot (two per day), two laws from the Shulchan Aruch, two laws from Maimonides, and a selection from Tanakh