The Elder of Slabodka
One who chooses to study the history of the development of the twentieth century rabbinic leadership will likely come across the name “Slabodka.” The town for which the renowned yeshiva…
Yogurt by Greeks
Greek yogurt may be all the rage in food today, but did you know that it was the Greek-Jewish Carasso family who created Dannon yogurt? The descendant of a prominent Sephardic family,…
Situation in the Suez
The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and thus to the Indian Ocean, was built in the 1860s through a French-Egyptian partnership. In 1875, debt forced the…
Roman Vishniac: Beyond the Photographs
The poignant photographs of the shtetl by Roman Vishniac (published in his 1986 book, A Vanished World) very much shaped the cultural memories of the…
A Jewess in the Revolution
For a Jew to be a landowner, or the owner of an import and export business, or a tavern-keeper, was a rare feat. For a Jew to be all three and a woman who also raised eight children (a…
Territorial Strife
The sages wisely noted in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1) that a truly wealthy person is one who is happy with his/her lot. Alas, dissatisfaction and the sense of being entitled…
Jiri Mordecai
In celebration of National Poetry Month: One could easily say that the life of Jiri Mordecai Langer (1894-1943) was lived between the two World Wars. Born in Prague to an…
The Jews of Brazil
The Jewish community of 21st century Brazil is much like that of other South American Jewish communities. The Brazilian Jewish community is diverse, consisting of Ashkenazim and…
The Hebron Massacre of 1929
One of the most ancient cities in the land of Israel, Hebron is mentioned in the Bible as the location of the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat Ha'mach'pelah), which Abraham purchased as…
The Sabbath of Remembering
This Shabbat is Shabbat Parashat Zachor, the Sabbath of “Remembering.” The Torah portion that is read as the Maftir (additional) portion after the conclusion of the regular weekly Torah…