Jewish History

[Sixties Fan]

By far the greatest threat to those who remain is from Russian attacks, which are unrelenting as the Russian army steps up its offensive. But already, local Jewish leaders in cities across Ukraine have begun to assess the toll on their communities’ strength — and are arriving at disquieting conclusions.

“It feels like we’ve gone back in time to 30 years ago because the pillars of the community have pretty much all gone out of Ukraine,” Rabbi Shaul Horowitz, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s emissary to Vinnytsia, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The wheel rolled back. We need to rebuild it all. Back to square one.”

Horowitz was referring to what happened in 1991, when the Soviet Union fell and Ukraine became independent. Jews from across the former Soviet Union who had been prevented from leaving fled out of the region — 1.6 million in total over more than a decade, mostly to Israel. Since Jewish education had been prohibited, few who remained had fluency in Jewish prayers or practice. But over the last three decades, a range of efforts, many fueled by Chabad, have introduced Ukrainian Jews to Judaism and built thriving communities in cities across the country.

Now, the conflict seems to have undone some of the revival enjoyed by Ukrainian Jewry, a minority whose prewar size was estimated to be at least 47,000.

In Vinnytsia, Horowitz estimated, half of local Jews are gone. His congregation gathers at a small synagogue that is accessible through a back alley that requires members to walk past a ramshackle car repair shop and apartment courtyards where chickens roam.

(full article online)

How Russia’s war is undoing 30 years of Jewish community building in Ukraine

While the post-Soviet era has seen a gradual reawakening of communal life for the tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews, the once-bustling synagogues and centers are now eerily quiet

www.timesofisrael.com

 

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A Story Of The American Jewish Dream - Israel Unwired

This short video truly unpacks the story of Jews in America in the 20the century in an honest and truthful fashion.

www.israelunwired.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Ancient Coin Discovered from Reign of Pro-Jewish Roman Emperor​

According to the online Jewish Encyclopedia, “The reign of this just and humane emperor came like a blessing to the Jews, particularly to those of [the Land of Israel]. The religious persecutions of Hadrian had devastated the country, depopulated the cities, and made the intellectual development of the Jews impossible.”

The source notes that at the outset of Antoninus Pius’ tenure as head of the Roman Empire, the Jewish people sent a delegation to Rome headed by Rabbi Judah ben Shamu’a “to negotiate for improvement in their condition.”

Among the emperor’s overtures to the Jews was permitting them to bury Jewish soldiers and martyrs killed in battle against the Romans. He also repealed the edicts of Hadrian, “which had prevented the Jews from exercising their religion,” on the condition that they should not receive converts. Hadrian had prohibited Jews from performing the mitzvah of brit milah.

Gradually, Jews who fled the Land of Israel to escape persecution under Hadrian’s rule returned to home.

(full article online)

Ancient Coin Discovered from Reign of Pro-Jewish Roman Emperor | United with Israel

A rare bronze coin dating back almost 2,000 years was discovered off of Israel's coast.

unitedwithisrael.org

 

[Ria_Longhorn]

Ancient Coin Discovered from Reign of Pro-Jewish Roman Emperor​

According to the online Jewish Encyclopedia, “The reign of this just and humane emperor came like a blessing to the Jews, particularly to those of [the Land of Israel]. The religious persecutions of Hadrian had devastated the country, depopulated the cities, and made the intellectual development of the Jews impossible.”

The source notes that at the outset of Antoninus Pius’ tenure as head of the Roman Empire, the Jewish people sent a delegation to Rome headed by Rabbi Judah ben Shamu’a “to negotiate for improvement in their condition.”

Among the emperor’s overtures to the Jews was permitting them to bury Jewish soldiers and martyrs killed in battle against the Romans. He also repealed the edicts of Hadrian, “which had prevented the Jews from exercising their religion,” on the condition that they should not receive converts. Hadrian had prohibited Jews from performing the mitzvah of brit milah.

Gradually, Jews who fled the Land of Israel to escape persecution under Hadrian’s rule returned to home.

(full article online)

Ancient Coin Discovered from Reign of Pro-Jewish Roman Emperor | United with Israel

A rare bronze coin dating back almost 2,000 years was discovered off of Israel's coast.

unitedwithisrael.org

"For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will turn the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.' "
-- Jeremiah 30:3

"And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the habitable places of the country."
-- Ezekiel 34:13

 

[Sixties Fan]

Tiny Temples

How models of Jerusalem’s holy sites became tourist attractions around the world

www.tabletmag.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Today in Jewish History​

• Third expulsion from France (1322)
After having been allowed back into France in the year 1315 (after the expulsion in 1306 by Philip IV), the Jews were once again expelled from France by Charles IV, who thus broke the pledge made by his predecessors in 1315 that the Jews would be able to stay in France for at least 12 years.

 

[Sixties Fan]

Abdellah Ben Salem Mosque, until 1975 the Great Synagogue of Oran; PHOTO CREDIT: Nicolas

Like many Jews, I like visiting old synagogues, which may or may not still be home to living communities. Prague is nice, Budapest and Krakow too. Been there, done that – I even lived for 18 months in Hungary. Qirmizi Qesebe – the world’s last remaining Jewish town, outside of Israel? In Azerbaijan, in case you didn’t know. Well, I got that t-shirt too, back in 2013. So how about Algeria? Anyone been there? Probably not.

That’s unfortunate.

Algeria has a long — if troubled — Jewish history. Jews flourished in the 19th century. In 1870, the Cremieux decree awarded Jewish Algerians with French citizenship. While the community suffered in the Second World War under the Vichy regime, it was during the subsequent struggle for independence that Jewish life in the new independent country came to an end. Nationalists saw Algerian Jews as “French” and more than 130,000 left the country by 1962, with most taking residence in France.

(full article online )

Rock the Casbah: Algeria’s deep Jewish connection

Don’t expect flights from Tel Aviv to Algiers opening up any time soon - there are no Jewish communities left in the country. But what a glorious Jewish past!

blogs.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

How a great Jewish actor made a name for himself by playing antisemites and other villains

Russian Jewish-born proprietor of a nursing home, David Warner specialized in complicated characters, many of them antisemites.

forward.com

 

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The History of Ethiopian Jewry | My Jewish Learning

A history of the Beta Israel, the Jews of Ethiopia.

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Passing of "Ari" (1572)
Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, known as Ari HaKadosh ("The Holy Lion") passed away on the 5th of Av of the year 5332 from creation (1572 CE). Born in Jerusalem in 1534, he spent many years in secluded study near Cairo, Egypt. In 1570 he settled in Safed, where he lived for two years until his passing at age 38. During that brief period, the Ari revolutionized the study of Kabbalah, and came to be universally regarded as one of the most important figures in Jewish mysticism. It was he who proclaimed, "In these times, we are allowed and duty-bound to reveal this wisdom," opening the door to the integration of the teachings of Kabbalah--until then the province of a select few in each generation--into "mainstream" Judaism.

 

[Sixties Fan]

Today in Jewish History​

• First Temple Invaded (423 BCE)
After nearly a month of fierce fighting inside Jerusalem (see "Today in Jewish History" for Tammuz 9), the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia broke through into the Temple compound, where they feasted and vandalized until the afternoon of Av 9, when they set the Holy Temple aflame.

 

[Sixties Fan]

Not many Jews have recorded their memories of the 14 July 1958 revolution in Iraq, when a bloody army coup d’état led by Abdul Karim Qasim overthrew the Hashemite monarchy. Tamara Ruben interviewed her aunt Amy, a young woman at the time, to record her memories of this period as part of Tamara’s efforts to raise awareness of the plight of Jews from Arab countries. The events she lived through were so traumatic that her aunt Amy, who now lives in England, resolved to depart from Iraq, even if it meant leaving her parents behind – an act that demanded much courage. These are her aunt’s words (With thanks: Nancy):

The young King Faisal II, murdered in the 1958 revolution aged 18
The revolution in Iraq of 1958 took me back to one of the scariest and most agonizing times of my life. This is because the Iraqi masses believed that killing and abusing Jews would be a safe bet at a time when the new military government was busy consolidating its power and grip on the country.

The Jews had their telephones cut off, Jewish government officials were fired (if there were any left after the establishment of Israel), and several Jewish homes, including ours, were raided. We waited in fear for them to take us and throw us in jail. Some prominent Jews were left to rot in prison. Six soldiers armed with rifles raided our house. It was three storeys high. They searched every corner. One soldier asked my father to sit at the table and sign a document. My father, horrified and grey-faced, was ready to sign. When I mustered enough courage to ask the soldier what document he was signing, the soldier replied, “We couldn’t find any spy equipment.” After they left, I told my father that I was leaving Iraq and that he had to leave too. He refused because of his age and my mother’s various illnesses.

I was told that the Chief Rabbi of Baghdad was so concerned that he complained to the leader of the revolution, Abdul Karim Qasim, who had pledged to protect the Jews. Qasim tried to keep his promise until he was assassinated in his office in the Ministry of Defence.* This was the counter-revolution of February 1963. Power was passed to his assistant and revolutionary collaborator,ʿAbd al-Salam ʿArif, who died three years later in what they believed to be a ‘planned’ helicopter accident….

In the 1958 revolution, the entire royal family was put to death.

The body of the young King Faisal II was secretly exhumed and buried when the junta realised that there would be a rebellion if it was known that the body of the beloved young king had been dragged through the streets. I don’t think that the British dared to intervene because Iraq had remained under their influence while it was supposedly independent!

The hated crown prince, Abdel Il-llah, whom the mob thought was the agent of the British colonialists, was tied up, murdered and his body dragged through the streets of Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Said escaped, but was caught the next day, disguised in a woman’s abaya, and was shot immediately.

The next day, I got up to go to work as usual when I discovered that our front gate was blocked by a tank. Martial music blared on all radio stations. I left on July 14, 1959: it took me one year to get a passport.

My parents stayed another year and left in 1960 via Turkey to join the rest of the family already in Israel”.

Memories of the 1958 Iraqi revolution • Point of No Return

Not many Jews have recorded their memories of the 14 July 1958 revolution in Iraq, when a bloody army coup d’état led by Abdul Karim Qasim overthrew the Hashemite monarchy. Tamara Ruben interviewed her aunt Amy, a young woman at the time, to record her memories of this period as part of Tamara’s...

www.jewishrefugees.org.uk

 

[Sixties Fan]

A century after the first archaeological excavations at the site of ancient Shiloh in the Binyamin region, a new dig has unearthed a number of rare finds, including five intact jugs that date back some 2,000 years to the time of the Talmud.

The jugs were in a row, underneath a floor, most likely to keep their contents cool. Their location is also likely what kept the vessels intact.

The excavation also turned up a number of coins, a key apparently used to unlock a chest, and even wooden dice identical in shape to dice used today.

Look familiar? These 2,000-year-old dice are nearly identical to the ones we use today

The discoveries were presented at the 12th Shiloh Conference to mark a century since the site was first excavated, along with other research.

(full arctic online)

https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/08/02/great-jugs-five-talmudic-era-storage-vessels-unearthed-in-shiloh/

 

[Billo_Really]

“So successful were the Jewish pioneers that by 1900, there wasn’t a single settlement west of the Mississippi of any significance which had not had a Jewish mayor,” says historian Kenneth Libo. “This includes Deadwood, Dodge City, and Tombstone.”

Between 1840 and 1880, the European Jewish population in America increased from 15,000 to around 250,000. Most migrated for familiar reasons—to escape religious persecution, political upheaval, and poverty. “What is clear, even at this early stage, is the complex nature of the collective Jewish experience in America,” writes Libo in his 1985 book We Lived There Too, coauthored with the late Irving Howe. “For already there are those who stay east and those who go west, those who come with special privileges and those who suffer discrimination, those who care about the faith of their fathers and those who do not, those who remain uprooted and those who transplant themselves.” Jewish settlers encountered little prejudice in the West, according to Libo. “They were looked upon as fellow settlers.”

During this same time, the United States increased its size by a third with the annexation of Texas in 1845, the ratification of the Oregon Treaty, the seizure of tribal lands, and the acquisition of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, as spoils from the Mexican-American War.

With expansion came opportunities. Boomtowns appeared as word spread of copper in Montana and Arizona, silver in New Mexico, and gold in California. Just like their Gentile counterparts, Jewish men and women were lured into hostile landscapes, traveling west by buckboard, stagecoach, horseback, and prairie schooner through Indian country to new settlements in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the deserts of the Southwest, and the gold fields of California with the hope of striking it rich, or at the very least, the possibility of a new life for themselves and their families.

Photo caption
Trader Julius Mayer with Chiefs Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Swift Bear, and Spotted Tail. The Pawnee tribe also gave him the name Box-ka-re-sha-has-ta-ka or Curly-headed white chief with one tongue.
Nebraska State Historical Society


But it was the Jewish merchant, not the fly-by-night prospector, who played a major role in the development of the West, turning dusty little cow towns into urban centers. “Jews literally brought civilization to countless cities and towns in America west of the Mississippi by establishing ‘the department store’ in every town of any consequence,” says Libo. “Their numbers may have been small, but their influence was substantial.”



(full article online)

Jewish Pioneers

www.neh.gov

Very good post! Very informative!

 

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Ancient Destroyed Walls of Jerusalem

Join me at the Southern Wall excavations as we look upon Temple stones and walls of Jerusalem that were destroyed thousands of years ago.

pulseofisrael.com