Those Who Made the Difference
Learn about the rabbis who were instrumental in building many of the thriving Jewish communities across North America.
The Disputation of Paris
The month of June in the year 1240 C.E. was not a good time for the Jews of Europe. The trouble began with a Jewish apostate named Nicholas Donin. Wanting, perhaps, to prove his loyalty…
In Arkansas
Jewish life in Arkansas began in 1825 with the arrival of Abraham Block to the town of Washington in Hempstead County. For Block and his family, however, it was a very lonely Jewish…
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…
Biur – Burning
This year, because the first night of Passover falls on Saturday night and it is not allowed to burn Chametz on Shabbat, Bedikat Chametz, the search for Chametz takes place on Thursday…
Presidents’ Day: The Jews and Martin Van Buren
In 1840, the news of the terrible fate of the Jewish community of Damascus (Syria) reached the shores of America and brought the disparate Jewish communities of the young American nation…
Kosher in Gracie Mansion
Although New York has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States (the first Jews arrived in 1654), the first openly Jewish mayor of New York City was not elected until…
National Freedom Day
Today, February 1st, is both National Freedom Day and the first day of Black History Month National Freedom Day was initially advocated for by Major Richard Robert Wright Sr. (1855-1947),…
Nordic Adventure
If you ever have an opportunity to plan a trip to Finland, make sure to visit its Jewish communities.
The Second President
Yitzchak Ben-Zvi, the second President of the State of Israel, was born on November 24, 1884 in Poltava, Ukraine. After participating in the Jewish self-defense units organized during the…