A Prayer Service For An Evil Empress
What is unusual in this order of prayer is that the Empress Maria Theresa is recalled as one of the most antisemitic and hostile rulers in modern Jewish history.
View ArticleThe Art Of Passover
As Passover approached in 1858, tens of thousands of Jews lived in Manhattan, comprising about three percent of the population, and there were thousands of poor Jews needing kosher staples for the...
View ArticleFamily Records Embedded In A Chumash
This volume records the milestones of the life of a German Jew who left his family and homeland in 1853 to try his luck in the New World.
View ArticleSeder Sets Of Pesach Past
For this column, I thought I would share some interesting items relating to Pesach that are in a local museum or from my personal collection.
View ArticleLaurel And Hardy’s Jewish Connections
Laurel and Hardy got their start in film working with a variety of Jewish slapstick comedians and, prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established movie careers.
View ArticleCold Cream And Dreams: The Remarkable Story Of Helena Rubinstein
Rubinstein’s success was such that she was able to bring two of her sisters to Australia to run the salons while she spent a year in Europe, where she studied with various experts about skin...
View ArticleEvidence Of A Lost Yeshiva
What a glorious sight it is to see Jewish boys raised in this land...
View ArticleThe Jewish World Of Harry Potter
The Potter books, which have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide and have become the best-selling book series in history, have been translated into at least 80 languages, including Hebrew.
View ArticleOur Yom HaAtzmaut Chassid
his is not the standard look for someone who attends our shul even if just passing through, especially since there are other shuls on the block that may be considered a better fit. I'll be honest that...
View ArticleThe Apostate’s Grammar Book
In 1617, French nobleman Concino Concini, Marquis d'Ancre, and his wife Leonora Galigai (who were not Jewish) were brought to trial for political reasons and accused of witchcraft and "Judaizing," and...
View ArticleThe Neturei Karta: ‘Guardians’ Or Fiends?
Rabbi Blau's decades-long campaign for the modesty of Jewish woman evokes comparisons to the Taliban and the Mullahs in Iran, as he established dress codes and “modesty patrols” to brutally enforce...
View ArticleA Pirkei Avot From A Forgotten Jewish Community In Maine
While little of it remains today, Maine's larger cities as well as many nearby towns had thriving Orthodox Jewish Communities in the early 20th century.
View ArticleThe Zionist Art Of Ephraim Moshe Lilien
A century of Jewish children have grown up picturing Abraham as depicted by this beloved and monumental work without ever knowing the identity of the artist.
View ArticleMuslim Pamphlet From 1929 Affirms Jewish Historical Claim To Temple Mount
Written from a Muslim perspective, it was published by the Supreme Moslem Council (with the notorious Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, at its helm), and it acknowledges and emphasizes the...
View ArticleBirkat Kohanim: Priests, Children, The Rebbe . . . And Spock
The Rebbe always emphasized that the Land of Israel is the heart of the world and the channel through which all Divine blessings flow.
View ArticleA Book Banned By The Rabbis
An Italian Jewish physician and a great scholar, dei Rossi used critical methods to analyze the Aggadah of the Talmud, not understanding the literal meaning of the text.
View ArticleThe Zionism Of Warren G. Harding
Harding’s Zionism may be rooted in his Baptist faith and his knowledge of the Bible and, over and above his support for a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael, he often expressed positive sentiments about...
View ArticleA Book In Ladino Especially For Women
The haskamot note that this is the first work in Ladino geared to women, despite the era being the height of the Ladino printing period, with numerous rabbinic as well as fictional works being published.
View ArticleBogus Bezalel & Other Israelia
Although well-made, with little red paste stones and a carnelian in the center, all in a tightly spun silver filigree setting, the way the Hebrew letters of “Bezalel” are formed and that the mark is...
View ArticleOfficial Postcards Of The First Zionist Congresses
I present here the official cards of the first seven Congresses accompanied by a brief description of the Congress highlights.
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