Sad History
Take the time to study the impact of the White Papers issued by Great Britain, which severely limited Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 20th century.
Shemot 5768-2007
"Who Were the Midwives?" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week's parasha, parashat Shemot, we read that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the male children as…
In a South American City
On January 18, 1535, the city of Lima, Peru, was founded to serve as the capital of the Peruvian Viceroyalty. The region’s mining riches drew, among others, a large number of Crypto-Jews…
The Law of Return
On July 5th, 1950, corresponding to the 20th of Tammuz, the Israeli Knesset unanimously passed the “Law of Return ”(LoR). The timing of the bill’s passage was intended to coincide with…
Maryland’s Jews
While the mid-Atlantic State of Maryland is often associated with un-kosher seafood, Maryland has a vibrant history of Jewish settlement. The state of Maryland’s “Act to Extend to the…
Yiddish in Shanghai
During World War II, Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, became a haven for Jewish refugees, most notably the students from the Mirrer Yeshiva. After the “Battle of Shanghai” in 1937, the…
America’s First Synagogue
In 1656, Shearith Israel, the first synagogue was established in the territory that came to be known as the United States. The synagogue, also known as the Spanish and Portuguese…
The Erev Shabbat Israeli Declaration of Independence
Israeli independence is celebrated on the Hebrew date of the 5th of Iyar, rather than on the corresponding secular date of May 14th. In order to avoid any potential desecration of the…
Jews in the Land of Lincoln
The first known Jewish resident of what is now the state of Illinois was John Hays, a grandson of a New York Jew, who moved west to Cahokia in 1793. Hays was a farmer and trader, who, in…
Green Jews
Aside from Senator Bernie Sanders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield – aka “Ben and Jerry’s” – people normally do not associate the Green Mountain State with Jews. Although some scholars…