Jews and the Civil War
The American Civil War (April 1861-May 1865) was fought by over three million soldiers.. At the time, the U.S. boasted a population of 27 million, eighteen million in the […]
HARAV MOSHE CAPSALI, CHACHAM BASHI OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Sultan Mehmed II was one of the most powerful men in the world during the 15th century. He was only 11 years old when he ascended the throne of the […]
At the Graveside of Menasseh Ben Israel
The Potuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam — founded early in the seventeenth century by Marranos from Spain and Portugal was for a long period the largest and most wealthy […]
Suleika Hachuel
In the Jewish cemetery of Fez, Morrocco — the city we associate with the Rif and the Rambam — stands a monument, the gravesite of a beautiful young woman, who […]
Sarah Bayla Hirschenson
Sarah Bayla Hirschenson,(1816-1905) a magnetic Rebbetzin from Pinsk was the first Ashkenazi woman of her time to learn to speak Arabic; she helped her husband establish Yeshivas in Tzfas and […]
Court Jewess Madame Kaulla
Reputed to be the wealthiest woman in Germany in her time, Chaile Raphael Kaulla served as a treasurer at the Royal Wurttemberg court, while raising a family and supporting a […]
The Matzah Queen
Regina Horowitz Margareten The Horowitz Margareten Company, known by its familiar blue and yellow boxes of Matzos has been a household name in Jewish homes around the world for more […]
Queen Helene of Adiabene
Louis Felicien de Saulcy was searching for ancient coins. It was 1863 and the prominent French numismatist was excavating an area in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, not far from where […]
The Custom of Hanging an Effigy of Haman
Since the times of the Gemara there has been a custom to not only hang Haman in effigy, but to burn the figure as well. Today, though, you’d be hard […]
Purim of Cairo
For more than four centuries, up until the the years between the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956, when a mass […]