Jonas Phillips: Living in the Revolution
A few weeks after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the British blockade intercepted a communication from Jonas Phillips to a relative on the Dutch Island of St. Estatius.…
A Constitutional Congregation
What does the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania have to do with the oldest synagogue in that state? Congregation Mikveh Israel (Originally Kaal Kadosh Mickve Israel) was founded in the 1740s…
Jews and the Crimea
In 2014, the Russian army seized control of the Crimea. This occurred after Russia claimed a referendum of Crimean citizens, many of whom are Russian nationals, overwhelmingly favored…
W Tea
Although many Jews were active in the leadership of the Russian Revolution, and the government of the Czar was less than friendly to the general Jewish population, there were many…
Waves of Aliyah
Although the State of Israel was officially established in 1948, the beginning of the mass return of Jews to the Promised Land began in the 1880s. Each distinct wave of immigration is now…
Metzora 5771-2011
"We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald On July 4th 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a statement written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, known as the…
The Charleston Synagogue(s)
Charleston, South Carolina is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States. The 1669 charter for the Carolina Colony explicitly included liberty of conscious for…
The Fate of Babel
Born on July 13, 1894, in Odessa, Isaac Babel’s life spanned a tumultuous time in Russian history. Raised in a middle class Jewish home, Babel had both a full Jewish education and a…
The Fate of Babel
Born on July 13, 1894 in Odessa, Isaac Babel’s life spanned a tumultuous time in Russian history. Raised in a middle-class Jewish home, Babel had both a full Jewish education and a robust…
Evacuation Day
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called upon the American people to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. In New York, however, there was already a holiday…