יום שבת, כ״ו תמוז תשפ״וSaturday, July 11, 2026
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Eichler, seeing the approaching devastation, seems to have stamped his books with this message in the hopes of being able to reclaim them in better days.
George’s embrace of his German-Jewish origins is particularly ironic – and foreboding – taking place as it does during years that will soon see the birth of Nazi Germany and the looming Holocaust.
Prenumeranten can often be a great source for finding inter-community relations and genealogy, allowing us to see who lived in what cities when, and what type of literature they supported.
He began to more closely follow the history of Israel and its achievements as an adult and, after many visits to Israel, which he calls “a magical place,” he now appreciates the challenges facing the country.
His famous work by which he’s called today – Sdei Chemed – is a comprehensive rabbinic encyclopedia that contains correspondence with hundreds of the leading rabbis of his day.
I thought I would detail some of the most expensive and interesting antique chanukiot that have appeared at auction in the last decade, concluding with a chanukiah formerly owned by one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century.
The aim of World Agudat Yisrael became to strengthen Orthodox institutions independent of the Zionist movement and Mizrachi.
He also discusses whether one may perform a bris on children whose father is Jewish but whose mother is not.
After going into hiding at a village near the Swiss border, Werth wrote 33 Jours (33 Days), a searing memoir of his feelings during 33 days of terror before finally finding refuge.
One of the Yemenite Jews’ first projects upon settling in Eretz Yisrael was printing the Taj (whose literal translation is “crown”).
As a result of his meeting with Roosevelt, the president issued an executive order on January 22, 1944 which created the United States War Refugee Board (WRB), the first major American attempt to address the extermination of European Jews.
In the New World – from the late 1800s through the 1950s – there were many attempts to create Jewish farming settlements as an alternative to the clusters of city tenements many immigrants found themselves in.
Few people know that one of his first projects upon making aliyah was printing the first Hebrew daily wall calendar (1885).
The lone surviving members of the entire family clan was one granddaughter of R. Menachem Mendel and her elderly grandfather, whom she cared for in hiding during the war.
Newton was a devoted Christian raised in the Puritan tradition in the Church of England who nonetheless rejected key elements of religious orthodoxy, including principally the doctrine of the trinity, which he characterized as idolatry.
This copy has a beautiful intriguing inscription by the author to Leo Herzberg-Fränkel, a famous Austrian/Galician writer and journalist of the period.
The experience of surviving both the Holocaust and imprisonment on Cyprus only strengthened the resolve of the Jews to get to Eretz Yisrael, who began referring to Cyprus as “erev Eretz Yisrael” (the eve of being in Israel).
The edition I acquired was published alongside the first complete edition of the Talmud published by Daniel Bomberg, a landmark in Hebrew printing which standardized the layout of the Talmud daf.
About 20 percent of the student body took weaving courses and attended daily courses in addition to their yeshiva sedarim.
The government, ruling out a state funeral, decided that the reinternment would be a private affair, to the point that Shimon Peres, then the Deputy Minister of Defense, refused to even permit the formal participation of the IDF.
Now we are faced with a different challenge. How do we fit our newfound Shabbos, filled with reinvigorated ruchniyus and marked by a greater focus on family, into this recently changed and mostly positive reality?
Daily, he would lie in a coffin to remind himself of the day of death and dispel any thoughts of haughtiness.
In his first essay, a well received article published in The Orient (1844-45), he emerged as a powerful champion of traditional Orthodoxy and, as per his mentor, an opponent of Reform Judaism.
This rare Yiddish edition was translated anonymously, and since a romantic view of the New World was common in prospective Jewish immigrants...
Kabbalistically, seven circuits represents completion and perfection, particularly with respect to G-d’s creation of the world.
His general knowledge drew the ire of many chassidim, and one can find sharp attacks against him in chassidic writings of the day and equally vicious remarks of the Maharatz Chayes towards the chassidim of his era.
If it can be determined that your chanukiah is an authentic original, the value would be $2,500 -$3,500.
I am a Jew. That is a fact [and] you do me no injury by reminding me of the race to which I belong and have never renounced and toward which I feel only gratitude and pride.
Over the course of the 18th century, the Ashkenazi population of The Hague grew to surpass that of the Portuguese, the latter being the earlier and more establishment community in the Netherlands.
Temple proved to be one of the great outspoken advocates for the Jewish victims of the Reich. ... He regularly and unabashedly took publicly unpopular positions, including advocacy for England and its allies to grant asylum to Jews able to escape Hitler.
We can see that the rabbis in the Talmud themselves understood and found error in the practices of those times.
On September 13th, J. Greenstein & Co., located in Brooklyn, offered a wide array of Jewish ceremonial objects, both antique and modern.
On several occasions after the meeting, Ben-Gurion expressed his enchantment with the Chazon Ish.
Under his signature appears the address 50 West 120th St. in New York City – his address in Harlem when Jews were a dominant presence in the neighborhood.
Baden-Powell supporters reason that given its emphasis on discipline and the supremacy of the “greater good” and his belief that “every boy ought to learn how to shoot and obey orders,” it is hardly surprising that authoritarian governments were drawn to some aspects of Scouting philosophy.
Publishing a linear translation in early printing was a remarkable achievement considering the primitive printing process available at the time.
For example, New York Daily News sports editor Paul Gallico wrote in the mid-1930s that basketball "appeals to the Hebrew with his Oriental background [because] the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart-alecness."
There really is no market for this type of ware among collectors of Jewish items, except perhaps to be purchased on a whim if seen at a flea market.
The letter is written on behalf of Chinuch Atzmai, the independent education system of the charedim in Israel which was led at the time by Rav Ahron Kotler.
Oppenheimer was a strong Israel supporter who played an important role in the development of the Jewish state’s nuclear capability.
In post-1917 Russia, Judaism and Zionism (and the Hebrew language) came under attack, so manuscripts such as this one often had to pass secretly from hand to hand.
Though Rav Maimon lost his battle to include the phrase “and its redeemer,” he had the final word when, after Ben-Gurion completed his speech at the signing ceremony that fateful Friday afternoon, he rose and proudly recited the Shecheyanu blessing.
Surviving the war with Rudolf Kasztner's assistance in Switzerland, R. Weissmandl made every effort to alert the world to the Nazi’s crimes, mostly to deaf ears.
After recovering from their initial shock, rescue forces at the site began to evacuate people and treat the injured, but there were insufficient paramedics available to handle the emergency.
Coffee wasn’t the only reason societies of the kind described above proliferated during this period.
The public, furious that the very source of their confidence in its investment – the government’s backing of the loans – turned out to be a crucial factor in the Panama Canal Scandal, was eager for a scapegoat. Drumont came along and gave them one: the Jews.
I am familiar with the pieces in your set because I have seen them repeatedly over the years, usually offered for sale individually.
This “Kehillot Moshe" edition contains an astounding 36 different commentaries on Tanach as well as the complete introductions of each of these commentaries, a feature often lacking in other Mikraot Gedolot editions.
Beginning in 1891, the Pasteur Institute opened facilities in different countries, and currently there are 32 institutes in 29 countries in various parts of the world.
I just acquired a full run of the Yiddish periodical Iddishe Bilder, published in Riga, Latvia, between May 1937 and September 1939.
Some people like Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man can doubt the fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world.
This week, I acquired a splendid copy of Synagoga Judaica, a Latin book published in 1680, authored by Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629). This book scrupulously documents the customs and society of German Jewry in the early modern period. Synagoga Judaica is probably the most famous book from a long forgotten genre of books written by Christian Hebraists who had […]
Many critics maintain this entire scene is anachronistic in that Lee incongruously imposed her own after-the-fact 1960s sensibilities onto her 1935 characters, who were overwhelmingly unaware of the Nazi persecution against the Jews.
It is always an emotional moment for me when I find a book whose owner was a Holocaust victim as it may serve as the only tangible memory of the deceased's existence.
The official opening of the Community Center was on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1926, and it went on to become the meeting place for several Jewish organizations, including B’nai Brith, Hadassah, and the American Jewish Committee.
For questions or comments – or to send pictures of your Judaica for future columns – email tsadik613@gmail.com.
Over the next few years, his interest and admiration for the Jewish people grew, and he published many publications in Japanese on Jews and Judaism.
Later in life, Parks frequently and vociferously spoke out against skinheads – who typically manifest neo-Nazi beliefs regarding Jews – and the Ku Klux Klan, whom she blamed for “keeping the flames of prejudice flickering” and for much of the continuing racism in America.
Because of Hungary's relative safety in the first five years of the war, numerous sefarim were amazingly published there even as the Holocaust ravished Jewish life elsewhere.
For almost half a century, there has been unremitting pressure on Israel – including, sadly, from the United States under certain administrations – to return the Golan to Syria.
While codifying and summarizing halachot for easy reference seems natural today, it was met with fierce criticism from some of the greatest gedolim centuries ago.
If there was a historical "Palestinian" nation, when did it begin, when did it cease to exist, and what caused its demise?
In it, the anonymous translator notes two objections voiced against publishing Jewish texts in Ladino...
The tale of Robinson’s integration of baseball in 1947 provided Jews with a reference for their own experience of post-WWII assimilation into American society.
He recorded the information he compiled regarding sefarim and their authors in Shem Hagedolim, which contains an alphabetical list of authors of sefarim followed by a list of known sefarim.
During a journey down the Nile River, Mendes created a makeshift American flag, flew it from a mast, and persuaded the crew of his vessel to salute it and promise to defend it.
He started publishing a set of Yerushalmi with his commentary and others in 1899, but found himself lacking funds to print the final volume.
According to Segal’s own account, Eban shamed the Israeli authorities by arguing that Israel, as the only democracy in the Middle East, dare not censor freedom of artistic expression.
A keen and careful observer, he noted in detail Yemenite Jewish life, including its educational system, manner of dress, minhagim, and unique pronunciation of Hebrew.
Although Kovner never came close to achieving the grandiose Nakam goal, he played a fundamental role in telling the story of Jewish rebellion and keeping alive the tales of Jewish heroism during the Shoah.
In his introduction, the author writes that he had no intention to publish the work, thinking it unworthy of publication.
I am not familiar with European examples of this menorah, but I guess it is possible for there to be some.
Anti-Semitism caused the first defection from the Impressionist movement when the deeply prejudiced Pierre-Auguste Renoir broke off all contact with Jews and ended his relationships with Jewish patrons.
The psak concerned a very wealthy elderly Jew who passed away childless, leaving his wife in need of yibum or chalitzah.
So much of it was reminiscent of a different time, when Jews were forced to be secretive in the practice of Torah and mitzvos.
Children’s train rides and sea/river cruises have long been an important part of many Lag BaOmer celebrations, and one of the highlights for Jewish children in pre-World War II Warsaw was the annual Lag BaOmer train ride.
This sefer is notable for being the first published Hebrew book to include a portrait of its author.
Challenging medical orthodoxy, which held that only vaccines made of living viruses could provide effective, enduring immunity, Jonas Edward Salk (1914-95) produced a “killed-virus” vaccine that retained immunization capabilities. His discovery of the first poliomyelitis vaccine, which constitutes one of the greatest breakthroughs in immunology, rendered poliomyelitis (polio) a conquered disease and made Salk a […]
By Sandy Eller
It now provides twice weekly kosher food packages to the homebound and others in need of assistance, including recovering coronavirus victims.
He was reputed to have had a photographic memory, with the contents of each sefer he handled committed to his memory.
One exceptional way to best capture that feeling is to talk to the people who actually signed the Declaration, to experience history through those who lived it but, unfortunately, all 37 signers are gone.
This week I acquired a work titled Mesharet Moshe, published in 1858 in Koenigsberg, which today is known as Kaliningrad, Russia.
The staging of a production with the scope, breadth, and vision of "The Eternal Road" represented an almost inconceivable challenge, as nothing on this scale had ever been previously attempted.
Involved in numerous controversies in the local Jewish community, he was a prolific author and active on behalf of the poor Jewish immigrants who were arriving in droves from Eastern Europe at the time.
What had this soldier experienced? What horrors might he have seen? His future, and the future not just of the Jews, but of the entire planet was at stake.
When the plague struck Vilna in 1848, Rav Israel Salanter directed all his energies toward relief efforts and sent his students out to care for the victims of the disease.
Sephardic and Near-Eastern communities originally recited the entire 82 stanzas of the poem on Shabbat Zachor in the middle of the final beracha before Shemoneh Esrei.
Before King Solomon built the Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem in the mid-10th century BCE, Jews did have other places where they worshipped.
Proust read the Zohar and frequently made observations and employed language in 'Lost Time' that can only be characterized as Jewish-mystical.
By Judy Waldman
It was while serving there that he realized there was a large contingent of worshippers coming for services from the Covered Bridge development, a retirement community comprised of elderly Holocaust survivors and an assortment of mostly Jewish, but religiously diverse, “over 55” residents.
I recently acquired a fascinating work titled Et Ketz, which was printed in Amsterdam in 1710. Its author is R. Isaac Chayim Cantarini of Italy (1644- 1723), a rabbi, physician, and preacher whose sermons were said to have been attended by both Jews and Christians. His disciples included the Ramchal, who wrote a hesped for […]
MDA in Israel was arguably born twice: first after World War I and then again in 1930.
The copy I acquired is notable because it is uncensored, which is rare for a Masechet Avodah Zarah from the first few centuries of printing.
Eric was not willing to give up on his quest to save lives. He has donated blood platelets every month for the past 11 years – almost 140 donations.
Nonetheless, Esperanto itself, stripped of its religious machinations, grew in popularity worldwide, albeit gradually.
It was produced for a special prayer service convened at the Spanish & Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam on December 2 to pray for the success of the Dutch Kingdom in its war against the Belgians.
Micrography, a creative medium particularly relevant to Jewish religious artistic expression, is a centuries-old manifestation of what is today characterized as “modernist art.”
When the Rogatchover Gaon passed away in 1936, his daughter left the safety of her home in Israel to return to Dvinsk, Latvia, to assemble her father’s many unpublished manuscripts.
Although you have used it as a piece of Judaica, it cannot be defined as such in the strictest terms, as it was made for the public at large, both Jewish and gentile.
A momentous and hostile philosophical battle ensued between Visser, who single-mindedly advocated non-cooperation with the Nazis, and Cohen and Asscher, who urged collaboration as the only way forward to maximize Jewish survival under the circumstances.
July 10, 2026 
