Safari 9.1.1
Apple has released Safari 9.1.1 for OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, 10.10.5 Yosemite, and 10.11 to 10.11.4 El Capitan — it’s bundled into 10.11.5 El Capitan (see “Apple Releases OS X 10.11.5, iOS 9.3.2, tvOS 9.2.1, and watchOS 2.2.1,” 16 May 2016). The update fixes a bug that prevented a full deletion of browser history, patches a vulnerability with parsing of SVG images that could lead to data disclosure when visiting a malicious Web site, and fixes multiple memory corruption issues related to WebKit. Safari 9.1.1 is available only via Software Update. (Free, release notes, 10.9+)
Why in the world did Apple eliminate the command-# keyboard command to access items in the menu bar?
You must now enter option/command-# to accomplish the same thing. It no longer can be done on one hand.
I don't get why Apple would do this.
Annoying beyond words.
You're going to like this answer. :-)
In some version of Safari, Apple made it so Command-1, Command-2, and so on opened the first tab, the second, tab, and so on. The bookmarks in the bookmark bar then required Option.
However, this is a setting! Just go to Safari > Preferences > Tabs and deselect "Use Command-1 through Command-9 to switch tabs."
When you do that, Command-1 through Command-9 regain their ability to load the associated bookmarks.