Purim Povidl
by Pearl Herzog The first Purim ever to be celebrated with the eating of hamantashen made with povidl (prune and plum jam) is believed to have taken place in 1731 […]
The Seudah of Mashiach
There is a custom practiced by descendants of the Baal Shem Tov and his students to observe an annual seudas hoda’ah on the last day of Pesach, in celebration of […]
The Rothschilds of Pinsk
By Pearl Herzog The city of Pinsk, under the sovereignty of Belarus since 1991 and devoid of Yiddishkeit for many decades, is at present experiencing a Jewish renaissance. Pinsk and […]
Flora Sassoon- A Flower Blooms in India
Born into immense wealth, Flora Sassoon could have easily strayed from the path of Torah. Instead, she became a legend in her time — raising strong frum Jews in the […]
The Maiden of Ludmir — Chana Rochel Webermacher
On 22 Tammuz/June 11 2004 a hakamas matzeivah took place on Har HaZeisim at the newly discovered gravesite of Chana Rochel Webermacher (1806–1888). It was the 116th yahrtzeit of the “Ludmirer Moid” or […]
BEHREND YISSOCHOR LEHMANN : The Shtadlan Who Crowned a King
J. Pierpoint Morgan, Jr. inherited thousands of objets d’art from his famous financier father, which he gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in 1917. One item of interest […]
Jack E. Friedman: ‘Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried- His Kitzur and His Life’
In the spring of 1864, the following advertisement appeared in the Hebrew periodical HaMaggid: In the Congregations will I bless Hashem Who has granted us life and sustenance and permitted […]
Protest Rally in Hebron
Leaflets distributed throughout the country called for participation in a Chanukah mass rally in Hebron in support of the Jewish settlers. Thousands responded. They came from all over Israel: young […]
Rabbi Yehoshua Hutner
Slowly he descended from the El Al super jet. He was all smiles. In his hand he held the new eleventh volume of the Talmudic Encylopedia: his “passport” to American […]
The Sukkah that Collapsed
An Episode in Metz, France Two Hundred Years Ago During the period of the Tosafists, Metz boasted a significant Jewish community. Rabbi Eliezer ben Shemuel, a disciple of Rabbenu Tam […]