A Difficult Line in A Tish’a BeAv Elegy
Among the Kinot we recite Tish’a BeAv in the evening after the reading of Eicha is one which begins with the words: “Ad Ana Bechiya Betziyon?” (How much longer will […]
Yetziv Pitgam
Last year, on the occasion of Shavuot, I wrote about Yetziv Pitgam, which is said on the second day of the festival after the reading of the first verse of […]
The Hillula of Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Lag Ba’Omer in Cracow)
Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the great codifier, author of additions to Rabbi Yosef Caro’s Shulchan Aruch, reflecting the laws and customs of Ashkenazi Jewry, lived and taught in Cracow, where he […]
Two Festival Customs
The Mishna (Yoma 5:1) tells us that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, “He came out by the way he entered.” Just as he […]
Fabrengen
(Yiddish, time spent together)- Term used by the Hasidim of Lubavitch to denote gatherings at which there are eating, drinking, singing and discussion of Hasidic teachings. The Hebrew expression for […]
Toledo
About five minutes walk from the Samuel Halevi Synagogue, in the area which was once the Juderia (Jewish quarter), is the Maria la Blanca Synagogue. This synagogue, too, is known […]
The Jews of Jassy, Rumania
In the morning of our first day in Jassy, Dr. Caufman, the president of the community, took us to the new Jewish cemetery. “At one time all the area around […]
Shabbath in Basle
Amos Gutermann, who was our host Friday night is employed by a bank in Basle. He met his wife Ruth in Bnai Akiva, where he was her Madrikh. Amos studied […]
The Jews of India
In the summer of 1973 I visited India with my wife and our youngest son Chaggai. In 1948 there had been about 29,000 Jews in India. 20,000 of these were […]
The Jews of Cochin in India
Last month “The New York Times” carried an article by its special correspondent Michael T. Kaufman describing the life of the small number of Jews who are still living in […]