Jewish Treats

The Golden Ages of Estonia

Estonia, one of the three Baltic states, has never historically hosted a large population of Jews, but the quality of its hospitality toward Jews and other minorities has been quite…

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Jewish Treats

The Importance of Flag Day

Today is celebrated as “Flag Day” throughout the United States. On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the “Stars and Stripes” as the flag of the United States. In…

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Jewish Treats

Ein Gedi

No tour of Israel can be complete without a visit to the Judean desert. Aside from climbing the famed fortress of Masada, you can actually float in the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth,…

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Jewish Treats

The Chazon Ish

Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, known as the Chazon Ish, was considered to be one of the most important rabbinic voices in Europe and Israel in the period before World War II and its…

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Jewish Treats

Israeli-German Relations

On the 11th of Iyar, 1965, corresponding to May 13, Israel officially established diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of (West) Germany (FRG). This event is quite notable since…

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Jewish Treats

Minsk, Pinsk and Dvinsk?

Dvinsk, also known as Daugavpils or Duenaburg, is Latvia’s second largest city, situated 140 miles southeast of Riga, Latvia’s capital (Dvinsk is the city’s Russian name). Dvinsk became…

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Jewish Treats

The Great Disputation

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban/Nachmanides c. 1194-1270) was one of the great personages of the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry. He authored commentaries on the Torah and the Talmud and was…

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Jewish Treats

Courland Jews, an Interesting History

There is no country by the name of Courland, but there is a historical subset of Latvian Jews known as Courland Jews. Their distinction comes from the connection in the 19th century of…

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Jewish Treats

Based in Burma

Today’s Jewish Treat presents the unexpected Jewish history of Myanmar (formerly Burma), which gained its independence from the United Kingdom on January 4, 1948.  A synagogue is…

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Jewish Treats

Putting Chanukah in Historical Perspective

The events of Chanukah took place about 150 years after the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE), which brought 40 years of civil war to his empire. Eventually, the empire was divided…

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