Jewish History

[Sixties Fan]

Movie About Jewish Composer Leonard Bernstein Gets Huge Standing Ovation at World Premiere - Algemeiner.com Movie About Jewish Composer Leonard Bernstein Gets 7-Minute Standing Ovation at Venice Film Festival World Premiere

Maestro, the Bradley Cooper-directed film about the marriage and family life of renowned Jewish composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, received a seven-minute standing ovation when it made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last weekend. Cooper, who also plays Bernstein in the...

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[Ringo]

A cache of ancient weapons, estimated by archaeologists to be at least 1,900 years old, was discovered in a cave in the Ein Gedi National Reserve.

Four swords and a spearhead were found in the cache. The swords were stored in scabbards made of wood and leather and were well preserved.
According to scientists, the weapons were hidden in the cache by Jewish rebels who captured the swords during the war.
The cache was found quite by accident. In the same cave 50 years ago, Hebrew inscriptions left on a stalactite during the First Temple period were discovered. Researchers visited the cave to conduct multispectral imaging of the ancient inscriptions and accidentally stumbled upon a cache of weapons.

 

[surada]

well---not exactly---depends on what you call "arab"-----Herod was an EDOMITE---
Edom was a land mostly now Jordan-----they were not particularly from Arabia.
As to language---some semitic thing but not arabic. Edom was at odds with Judea
for centuries and also under attack from mesopotamia----they is gone now----
Herod was educated to some extent in Rome and was a client of Rome---there are
stories indicating that his mother was a fervent Jewess-----but that Herod was more
Roman than the jews liked----actually---he was not liked at all and was not considered
a legal "king"

The Jews forcibly converted the Edomites.

Edom was South of Judea.

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Kingdoms_around_Israel_830_map.svg/1200px-Kingdoms_around_Israel_830_map.svg.png

images.app.goo.gl

 

[surada]

Apparently Herod the Great was part Jew and Part Arab and a Roman soldier to boot in B.C. Israel. His building agenda is evident even today.

Edom - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The yellow area is Edom.

 

[irosie91]

The Jews forcibly converted the Edomites.

Edom was South of Judea.

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Kingdoms_around_Israel_830_map.svg/1200px-Kingdoms_around_Israel_830_map.svg.png

images.app.goo.gl

the Edomites were not arabs. They were, by legend, descendants of Esau who was the twin brother of Jacob---
aka Israel and more a contentious tribe of what later became the "KINGDOM OF JUDAH" ( Judah was Jacob's third son and the designated heir) than a "foreign" people.

 

[Sixties Fan]

“The blades have been preserved so well, they look like they could be picked up and used right now, even 2,000 years after they were forged,” said Langford. “You just realize that you are touching history, because here you are touching a find whose story you know.”

The Bar Kochba revolt, from 132 to 135 CE, also called the Second Jewish Revolt, was a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judea led by rebel leader Simon Bar Kochba. Archaeologists believe the swords were likely hidden in the crevices inside the cave sometime during the revolt, as it was dangerous for Jews to be found with Roman weapons.

Archaeologists sift dirt from the cave in the Judean Desert where four Roman swords were discovered, with a view of the Dead Sea. (Matan Toledano/IAA)


“This is a very rare and unique find on an international level that will shed light on the last moments of the war between the Jewish rebels and the Roman army at the time of the Bar Kochba revolt,” said Klein.

‘A unique time capsule’​

The cave survey is being undertaken by the IAA in cooperation with the Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, and has been funded in part by the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage. Each body allocated about a third of the project budget.

Archaeologists carefully remove the swords from the entrance of the cave where they were discovered in the Judean desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)


Earlier this year, archaeologists carrying out the Judean Desert cave surveys discovered a rare half-shekel coin minted by the Bar Kochba underground economy.


(full article online)

Four 1,900-year-old Roman swords found in Judean Desert, likely from Bar Kochba revolt

Apparently stolen by Jewish rebels, the incredibly well-preserved weapons are 'an extremely rare find, the likes of which have never been found in Israel'

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

NYC exhibit shows Israeli Hebrew didn’t kill Yiddish, it gave it a new nest to live in

'Palestinian Yiddish: A Look at Yiddish in the Land of Israel Before 1948,' opens this week, shows how the old language survived in the new Israel - sometimes hiding in plain sight

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Filmmaker Luca Barbareschi has two films premiering at Venice — and a bone to pick

The Jewish-Uruguayan-Italian actor, director, producer and former parliamentarian expounds on cancel culture, his Judaism, and why he feels Roman Polanski isn't getting his due

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Moroccan Jews have long traced their history back to refugees who fled west after Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer destroyed the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Legends also abound about Jews visiting Morocco from the Land of Israel in Biblical times to purchase gold to bring back to Israel, or to fight the Philistines who’d been driven out of the Land of Israel. The oldest archaeological evidence of Jews in Morocco is ancient Hebrew-language tombstones in the ruins of the Roman town of Volubilis in Morocco.

One Medieval Islamic scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote that Jews became so numerous and influential in the area that Berber tribes converted en masse to Judaism. For generations, Khaldun’s assertion was taken as fact, and it was widely assumed that many Moroccan Jews had origins in local tribes. In recent years historians have largely debunked this claim, noting that Morocco’s Jews almost certainly descend directly from visitors from the Land of Israel.

Muslim Coexistence – and Pogroms​

Morocco’s territory was largely conquered in the Seventh century CE by the fearsome Muslim warlord Abu al-Muhajir Dinar al-Ansari. He and his troops pressured local Berber leaders to convert to Islam, along with their tribes. Within a generation, the area of present-day Morocco became nearly entirely Muslim. The land’s substantial Christian community largely disappeared. Morocco’s Jews, however, resisted calls to convert, maintaining their distinct beliefs and lifestyles.

Muslim leaders largely tolerated Jews, imposing a “dhimmi” status on them. So long as Jews paid special dhimmi taxes and avoided prestigious professions, they were allowed to remain in Moroccan lands. The conditions Moroccan Jews faced varied. At times, they were allowed to live in Moroccan cities; at other times they were forced to relocate. Under the leadership of Yusuf Ibn Tashfin (c1061-1106) any Jew found to have stayed in Marrakesh overnight was put to death.

For Moroccan Jews, periods of relatively peaceful coexistence alternated with horrific anti-Jewish violence as anti-Jewish pogroms broke out during times of political and social tension. One pogrom in Fez in 1033 is thought to have killed over 6,000 Jews. A major pogrom broke out in Marrakesh in 1232. Some historians believe that another pogrom in Fez in 1465 killed nearly all of the city’s Jews.

In the 1400s, the Sultan took steps to protect Fez’s Jews, inviting them to live in a royal property called the Mellah. “Mellah” means salt in Arabic, and the land he allowed Jews to settle on is thought to have once been either a storehouse for salt or a place where saltwater was stored. Soon, other Moroccan cities established “Mellahs” of their own, including Marrakesh.

Welcoming Jews from Spain​

Spanish Jews had long fled to North Africa during times of persecution in Spain. After the expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492, what had become a steady trickle of Jewish immigration into Morocco became a flood. Spanish (and later Portuguese) Jews poured into Moroccan Jewish communities; Marrakesh was a popular destination for these newcomers.

The Slat al-Azama Synagogue

It took generations for the two groups to mix. Jews who’d long lived in Morocco referred to themselves as Toshavim: “residents.” Many spoke local dialects incorporating Hebrew and Moroccan Berber words. Spanish and Portuguese newcomers were known as Megorshim: “those who were expelled.” They spoke different Arabic dialects as well as the distinctive Jewish language Ladino. The two Jewish communities lived side by side, but worshipped in their own synagogues which maintained different traditions. One of Marrakesh’s best-known and most beautiful synagogues, the Slat al-Azama Synagogue, was founded by Spanish Jews.

Flourishing Religious Life​

Until the 1920s, Marrakesh’s Mellah was home to the largest Jewish community in all of Morocco, maintaining dozens of synagogues and schools. Marrakesh became an important local center for studying the Talmud and Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. While Jews in other Moroccan Mellahs suffered from waves of violence and intense poverty and prejudice, Marrakesh’s Jewish community fared better than most. Some local rulers unleashed violence on Marrakesh’s Jews. For generations, however, Jewish life and learning flourished. By the 1947 census, Marrakesh’s Mellah was home to over 50,000 Jews.


(full article online)

Jewish Heart of Marrakesh in Ruins - Aish.com

Morocco’s ancient Jewish quarter was severely damaged by Friday’s earthquake.

aish.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Most of the victims were accused of practicing Judaism by their neighbors, such as business rivals or former housekeepers, said Vaz. Historians believe it is possible that many victims, especially by the late 17th century, were assimilated Catholics who did not keep Jewish traditions at all.

Porto’s memorial wall was facilitated by the community’s digitization of records from the National Archives in Lisbon, said Michael Rothwell, director of the Jewish Museum and Holocaust Museum.

“Over the last number of years, there has been a big effort to put all those records online,” Rothwell told JTA. “Our community is supporting the restoration of all the case files that are rotting away. The ones that were in good condition have been scanned and put online, so we were able to do research online to find the Jews in the Inquisition who were from Porto.”

The community has hired historians to study the cases of all 842 people on the memorial and plans to publish a book on their stories next year.

Vaz hopes that learning more about these victims, such as a 10-year-old child accused together with their family, will encourage deeper education about the centuries-long period of persecution.

“A 10-year-old child doesn’t have consciousness of what religion means,” he said. “For me it’s unbelievable thinking about a nation persecuting everyone, including the kids, for practicing something they actually were not very well aware of.”


(full article online)

Porto’s Jewish community unveils memorial to 842 local victims of Portuguese Inquisition

The victims — 842 people — ranged in age from 10 to 110 and were identified by the Jewish community using newly digitized records.

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[Sixties Fan]

How roving rabbis help the few Jews of rural Australia celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Known for its religious outreach, the Chabad movement often sets up outposts in towns with small Jewish populations, but this effort in the outback takes the (honey) cake

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

South Carolina’s Jewish Culinary History

And a recipe for Hoppin’ John that’s perfect for Rosh Hashanah

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[Sixties Fan]

In her 105 years on earth, this trailblazing journalist changed the world for Jews and women

Ruth Gruber, who was at one time the world's youngest Ph.D., is the subject of a documentary, aptly titled "Ahead of Time."

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[Sixties Fan]

The Survivors’ Temple

On Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the 1960s, my parents didn’t belong to a synagogue, but they found an ad hoc congregation in an unlikely place for the High Holidays

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[Sixties Fan]

She was an outsider, a Jew and an iconoclastic artist — kind of like Picasso

A new exhibit explores the affinities between the Jewish poet and art collector Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso.

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[Sixties Fan]

Today in Jewish History​

• Temple Dedicated (826 BCE)
The 14-day dedication festivities, celebrating the completion of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon, commenced on the 8th of Tishrei of the year 2935 from creation (826 BCE). The First Temple served as the epicenter of Jewish national and spiritual life for 410 year, until its destruction by the Babylonians in 423 BCE.

 

[Sixties Fan]

Vilnius is celebrating its 700th anniversary. Lithuanian Jews are commemorating a darker one.

This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto, once the heart of a thriving Jewish community.

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[Sixties Fan]

Jewish Singer Barry Manilow Breaks Elvis Presley’s Record for Las Vegas Shows - Algemeiner.com Jewish Singer Barry Manilow Surpasses Elvis Presley's Record for Las Vegas Residency

Award-winning American singer Barry Manilow has set the record for having the longest-running show at the Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, surpassing a mark held for decades by Elvis Presley. Manilow — who was born in Brooklyn, New York and had a Jewish upbringing — last week performed his...

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[Sixties Fan]

​

Lee Grant is 97-and-a-half and just as fierce as ever

Lee Grant, a two-time Oscar winner, as an actor and a filmmaker, is screening two of her films at the New York Film Festival.

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[Sixties Fan]

“Often the only woman in the room, Dianne was a role model for so many Americans — a job she took seriously by mentoring countless public servants, many of whom now serve in my administration,” Biden said. “She had an immense impact on younger female leaders for whom she generously opened doors. Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what [First Lady Jill Biden] and I will miss the most.”


(full article online)

Washington Mourns Passing of Dianne Feinstein, America’s First Female Jewish Senator - Algemeiner.com

Condolence messages from elected officials and Jewish groups continue to pour in following the death on Friday of US Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the country's first female Jewish senator. In a statement, US President Joe Biden described Feinstein, who passed away at the age of 90, as a "trailblazer."...

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