יום שלישי, כ״ט תמוז תשפ״וTuesday, July 14, 2026
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By Judy Waldman
Along with Rabbi Shmuel Greenwald, the Director of Education who has been at Aish St. Louis for almost twenty-five years, Rabbi David tries to connect and inspire community members, young to old, primarily focusing on suburban families.
The letter describes the yeshiva’s dire situation, precluding it from spending money on books and forcing it to ask published authors to send copies of their books to the yeshiva as a donation.
Rishon LeZion was officially founded on July 31, 1882 when 18 Chovevei Zion pioneer families from Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) led by Levontin took possession of 835 acres of land near Jaffa, then part of the Arab village of Eyun Kara.
He reportedly announced aloud to a notable Arab sheikh that "the land was given to us, and you should take your wives and your children, load up your camels, and go away."
The tribute Sam writes to his father in this book, though loving and respectful, sounds akin to what someone might write about viewing the pyramids from afar with a telescope.
The Hindenburg, a massive German zeppelin 803 feet long – almost the length of three football fields – departed Frankfurt, Germany on the evening of May 3, 1937, on the first of 10 scheduled round trips between Europe and the United States during its second year of commercial service. The airship had made 63 previous […]
About two months later, a new family WhatsApp group appeared on my phone – Abba’s Siyum, with everyone except my husband included. Dates, ideas, comments, suggestions and proposals all started flying.
Since this woman was not capable of receiving a get due to her mental state, her husband couldn’t marry another woman and was forced to raise his children alone.
This very menorah previously sold for $19,550 during the “The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe” sale at Christie’s auction house in 1999.
Few people know that it was Hirsch’s rejection that prompted Herzl to write Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, 1896), considered the seminal screed of modern Zionism.
Smolenskin, learning of Salkinson’s knowledge of English and talents as a translator, convinced him to translate English classics to Hebrew.
In a postscript to the manuscript of Tomorrow sent (ironically) to Jewish editor, Waldo Frank, O’Neill referred to a booking agent as a “fat little Jew.”
By Judy Waldman
One sign of the vitality of Shomrei Emunah today can be seen in the success of its numerous daily shiurim.
In the 1930s, many Jews left Rhodes (which belonged to Italy since 1912) after Benito Mussolini decided to make an alliance with Hitler and anti-Semitism increased.
As our letter demonstrates, this endeavor was strongly supported by President Sadat; it is not often that a head of state writes a personal note to thank a donor for a three-dollar contribution!
By Marc Gronich
A person who sets a time to learn every single day and to advance in their learning every single day, such a person is going to be mekayem in Talmud Torah on a greater level every day of his life.”
Permission was granted and he traveled to China, meticulously recording the customs, life, and habits of the natives he encountered.
Joseph Trumpeldor (1880-1920) is known for his efforts in forming a Jewish military force to liberate and defend Eretz Yisrael and for founding the Zion Mule Corps and the Jewish Legion, but he is probably best known for his legendary defense of Tel Chai when he uttered the immortal dying words, “Ein davar, tov lamut […]
The Order of Prayer introduced many drastic changes to the traditional liturgy,
Machzor Kol Bo, first printed in 1699 and of disputed authorship, retells the R. Akiva story and observes that it “was on this basis that the custom of reciting Kaddish became widespread.”
By Judy Waldman
While many of the Zionists moved to Petaluma to learn the trade of chicken ranching as a means to having a productive income in Palestine, in the end, only two ever made the translocation.
The printed invitation, entirely in Hebrew, begins with an acrostic poem that spells out the name of the bride and groom, Moshe and Chanah.
As Stalin’s closest confidant, as a member of the Politburo, and as chairman of the Soviet Presidium, Kaganovich established the unification of state security forces that later became the infamous KGB.
In the Middle East in the 19th century – in Syria especially – rabbis sensed that the masses had been deleteriously affected by contact with their Arab neighbors over centuries.
Shown here is an invitation to transportation and engineering forces in the British Army in Persia and Iraq for the “[Jewish] Officers and Other Ranks of No. 1. Pal. Docks & L. of C. Checking Coy.R.E. Paiforce” in Baghdad. The invitation is for “a party to be held on the occasion of the first anniversary […]
This sefer seems to have been sent to New York in 1939 by an Eliyahu Margolies of Warsaw several months before the Nazis invaded Poland.
Sadly, the passengers in the photo were most likely people denied entry to the United States and who were therefore forced to return home to Europe.
Theresienstadt does not look like a concentration camp, rather it is a quaint town today, with landmarks of Jewish Holocaust-related buildings scattered throughout.
By Sandy Eller
“It takes a lot of emunah and courage and bitachon to even pray for such a thing,” said Rabbi Unger. “So many tefilos and Baruch Hashem, we are standing here, so I really ask all of you to continue.”
The title page features a harrowing illustration of a Torah ark engulfed in flames, underscored by a verse taken from the Binding of Isaac.
Unlike Kristallnacht, which was a propagandistic failure, “Der Ewige Jew” proved to be successful in inculcating the belief in the German people that the Jews – all of them – were dangerous predators who spread disease and corruption and needed to be exterminated.
By Judy Waldman
A small group of members began to explore possibilities for a permanent site for the growing congregation.
The sale results were a mixed bag, with half of the lots offered going unsold.
By Baruch Lytle
Orthodox women are raised in a modest way. Modesty is our badge of honor. Nothing is more sacred to us. If I prefer a female professional medical service, I want to have that choice.
During a 1926 investigation by Prohibition enforcement officials of 600 New York City rabbis suspected of inflating their congregation numbers, the distribution of sacramental wine fell from one million gallons to only 6,000 gallons in just one year.
You can’t control how rich you will be, or how smart or successful you will be. But you can control how good you will be.
In the Yevamot volume of this edition appears an extraordinary haskamah by the Divrei Chayim, R. Haim Halberstam of Sanz.
Luis Martins de Souza-Dantas was a Brazilian diplomat who illegally granted Brazilian diplomatic visas to Jews in Vichy France during the Holocaust, saving a confirmed 425 Jews – and at least 400 other “undesirables,” including communists and homosexuals – from certain death. Besides issuing visas, he regularly intervened with local and foreign diplomatic officials, saving […]
Between 1907-1914, approximately 10,000 Jewish immigrants arrived at the entry port in Galveston, at a time when the entire population of Galveston was 37,000 and the entire state was home to fewer than 400,000 people.
Until George Gershwin, serious American orchestral composers were predominantly influenced by European schools of music. By composing original musical works based upon the rhythms, melodies, and moods of American popular music, Gershwin proved that the finer elements of jazz could be integrated into music to form the basis of symphonic creations typically and uniquely American. […]
Some of the Jews expelled from Recife, Brazil in 1654 by the Portuguese also settled in Suriname, and, not long after, Suriname was one of the most important Jewish population centers in the Western Hemisphere.
By Eve Glover
Uncle Poczter stepped out of line and approached my brother with his pocket watch and told him: ‘Take the watch, I won’t be needing it anymore.’
When The American Girl failed to show up at Bourget Airfield in Paris as scheduled, the international media exploded with extensive coverage mourning the pilots’ deaths, declaring them presumably lost at sea, but joyous coverage ensued soon after with news of their rescue and survival.
By the time the Dutch took control in 1630, they found many New Christians (Jews forced by the Portuguese to convert to Christianity) present, many of whom continued to practice Judaism in private.
In response to Rav Feinstein's call, thousands of Orthodox Jews...conducted a mass protest against Israel's handling of the "Who is a Jew?" issue.
By Judy Waldman
Jews were in Texas as far back as the late 1500s, but there wasn’t an established Jewish settlement until 1820.
By publishing this siddur, the government wished to demonstrate its egalitarian values.
He always viewed his photographs and films more as documentation than art, and most cinema commentators agree, some cynically.
The offending text states that this edition of the Talmud was approved by the censors of Russia and Poland.
During his career, the great Houdini only failed to escape a pair of cuffs once – when he was presented with a rigged set stuffed with buckshot, rendering the locking mechanism inoperative, even with the key.
The illustrations are described on the title page as being "in accordance with the instruction of the Talmud."
Some German interviewees were averse to being interviewed on camera, so Lanzmann employed subterfuge in filming some of his interviews, pretending to be pro-Nazi and using hidden equipment.
The court ultimately overturned the lower court's decision, and he was declared fit and released.
By Carol Elias
We met very special people as we navigated this quest for history.
We don’t know what will happen in the year 2100, and it is impossible to predict the future. But of one thing you can be certain – that in the year 2100, Jewish women will be lighting Shabbos candles.
By Judy Waldman
Rabbi Fromowitz founded Ahavas Torah Center in 2011 in a strip mall as part of the Las Vegas Kollel and assumed the role of the congregational rabbi.
By Anita Kolat
A military base is adjacent to Elon Moreh. Residents feel very safe and allow their very young, unaccompanied children to run freely.
R. Nosson would write down his tefillot while praying, and tradition has it that the stains that appear on his handwritten leaves are those of tears he shed while praying.
By Baruch Lytle
“Our story cannot be told without also including the stories of the incredible rebirth of the Jewish people – and what is Boro Park, if not that?” said Shoshana Greenwald, director of collections at the museum.
Many of the Jewish prisoners, including most likely the author of our card, were members of the Underground who had been convicted for resisting Arab terrorism.
To prevent their books from being lost or stolen, owners would routinely write their name or an inscription in them.
In Rumkowski's infamous speech, "Give Me Your Children," he urged the Jews not to resist deporting 20,000 of their children to be exterminated.
The text of the prayer is riddled with grammatical irregularities and comprises odd mix of verses and pleas.
All the kosher food on the Titanic was prepared in a small and crowded kosher kitchen located near the third-class kitchen on the F Deck of the ship.
According to the headline, the funeral attracted 15,000 people, including hundreds of rabbanim and local government representatives.
Frankfurter was a lifelong committed Zionist, beginning with his association with Brandeis, who enlisted him into ZOA membership and a leadership position with the Parushim.
By Judy Waldman
The shul is not only open to every Jew; it is accessible to every Jew.
By Baruch Lytle
Some breakouts are smart, others are silly, but they all make for fun conversation and hopefully fond memories.
Many of the provisions in these constitutions attempted to curtail assimilation or deter members from moving toward Reform.
Emotions were high as the olim walked off the plane at 6 a.m. where they were met with rousing cheers, shofar blasts, and an exuberant crowd of 1,400.
Some academics suggest that Washington's letter, which virtually all agree presents his most prominent pronouncement on religious toleration, was actually drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
"Gruninger paid a high price for the choice he made. In the struggle between his sense of duty as a police officer, and dedication to the concepts of humanity, the latter triumphed," states Yad Vashem.
This is not history to be relegated to the past and forgotten.
Noah tried to found a Jewish state at Grand Island in the Niagara River, to be called Ararat.
In 1946, Lansky ordered his men to help bring Holocaust survivors to Eretz Yisrael and facilitate the establishment of the Jewish state.
The dispute evolved into a fierce fight between chassidim defending the Shapiros and mitnagdim defending the Romm printers.
Hermann Karl Hesse (1877-1962), a Nobel Prize-winning German novelist and poet, is best known for his inspired explorations of self-understanding, spiritual realization, and psychology, particularly in Der Steppenwolf (1927), perhaps his best-known work. In Der Steppenwolf, he applied the tools of psychoanalysis and the conflict between the conscious and unconscious mind to analyze a middle-aged […]
Considering his goal, it is not surprising that alongside the Vilna Gaon and Shadal, we find references by the author to non-Rabbinic sources, such as Julius Fürst, Moses Mendelsson, and Naphtali Hirz Wessely.
It is undisputed that, unlike Leeser, Wise was an academic and rabbinical fraud.
This Jew owned several classic and obscure anti-Semitic works, including a copy of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion...
Efforts quickly turned to providing humanitarian relief to quake victims in what is considered the first internationally-organized relief campaign.
By Judy Waldman
Young Israel Beth El is more than a beautiful synagogue with unique and unified davening, it is a congregation with a soul.
Among your members in the Knesset are people from whom nothing is withheld and who, in their empty speech, are capable of achieving the most difficult assignments.
By the time the Jewish Museum of the History of Polish Jews was opened across from the monument in 2013, the memorial had lost all its visual prominence and blended into the surrounding landscape.
By Eve Glover
With this invention, writer’s cramp and constant worry about smudged ink and illegible penmanship began to wane. Yiddish typewriters ushered in a new and much easier way of life.
The Jewish community of Merzig was old but small.
The Second Maccabiah (Jewish Olympic) Games, which were held in Tel Aviv in April 1935, included flying competitions, and a group of Jewish fliers arrived from Germany with two German-built gliders.
After the Talmud was burned, all remaining Hebrew books had to be submitted to the Catholic Inquisition for censorship.
Walt never met with Hitler, but it is beyond dispute that the Fuhrer adored Disney’s work.
Each product was marked "J. & D. Miller, N.Y., Guaranteed," and the brothers were well known for repairing or sharpening their products as needed, even years after their purchase.
In the wake of its election loss, the Black Panther movement essentially ended. It had failed to radicalize most Mizrachim. Nonetheless, the issues and needs of Mizrachim subsequently took a front and center position in Israeli politics.
By Judy Waldman
Kesser Israel is the stronghold for Torah Judaism, for Yiddishkeit, in the Pacific Northwest, and for Oregon in particular. Located in the progressive city of Portland, it is a laidback congregation that is attracting new young families and individuals. It’s origins date back to the California Gold Rush, which, from 1848-1856, brought approximately 300,000 people […]
During the month of June in New York, two Judaica auctions were held; each offered ceremonial objects, paintings, and printed material that were of significant interest to collectors, dealers, and museums worldwide. Beginning with Sotheby's: An exceedingly rare pair of silver Torah rimonim (finials that adorn the tops of a sefer Torah) from Hamburg, Germany […]
The Hebrew text has vowels below it, similar to the way Hebrew is vowelized today.
Out of 13 candidates, mostly from Germany, Rav Adler made the “final four” list for chief rabbi along with Rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch, Benjamin Hirsch Auerbach, and Hirsch Hirschfeld.
Given that only 80 copies of it survived, it is possibly the rarest of all early volumes covering the proceedings of Congress.
Thanks to the member from Washington, whose name I desire to know, and to you and your associates, Maryland has wiped from her escutcheon the stain of intolerance.
Mussolini had a brother, Arnaldo (1885-1931), who was one of the most important developers of fascist ideology.
July 10, 2026 
