R. Shelomo b. Adret (the “Rashba,” 1235-1310) has long been recognized as one of the authoritative halakhists and commentators of the medieval period, if not, all of Jewish history. The thousands of his responsa which are extant have long been a source for the history of halakhah and the history of Jews in Spain [...]
Recently, a book was written by Maria Balinska with the title, The Bagel: A Cultural History. There is a review of it by Joan Nathan at Slate. (hat tip) She writes,
Polish-born and half-Jewish, Balinska, who works at the BBC in London, tells us that the boiled and baked bagel as we know it [...]
Malcolm Gladwell has another one of his eye opening articles at the New Yorker. He writes about insides vs. outsiders, focusing on the figure of Sidney Weinberg, a former head of Goldman Sachs. While reading his article, I kind of thought about the Jewish people as the perpetual outsiders. I am sure [...]
A few months ago, I heard an interview on the radio with Douglas A. Blackmon, the author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. In this book, Blackmon describes what was essentially the reenslavement of blacks after the Civil War in many areas [...]
I decided to read some more of Urbach’s diary (see here), and here are some thoughts. One thing that jumps out at you from almost every page is to read Urbach’s descriptions of him filling traditional rabbinical roles: leading prayer services, reading Torah, giving divrei Torah, visiting the sick, counseling soldiers, etc. It [...]
I just happened to stumble upon a recently published book, רשימות בימי מלחמה, which the diary that E.E. Urbach kept when he was a military chaplain in the British Army during the years 1942-1944. It looks like a very interesting book, and here are a few things which I saw after a quick look [...]
Dr. Meir Hildesheimer has written about R. Samson Raphael Hirsch at Seforim. An ironic bibliographical note, which I always found interesting, is that the translator into English of Hirsch’s The Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel: Being a Spiritual Presentation of the Principles of Judaism, was none other than R. Dr. Bernard Drachman, a [...]
Scientific American has an article describing how photographs are doctored, something that is much easier today with digital photography. Here are some of the most famous ones throughout history. (hat tip) I don’t think that there is a Jewish figure whose pictures have been doctored as much as those of the late Rebbe [...]
There is a new blog from Israel, South Jerusalem, which describes itself as “A Progressive, Skeptical Blog on Israel, Judaism, Culture, Politics, and Literature.” Among the interesting posts that have so far appeared, I want to specifically mention two. One is on Jacob Katz, and the other on Judaism, storytelling and history. Here [...]
There’s an interesting article in the Jerusalem Post on “Genetics and the Jewish Identity.” The conclusion is very important.
What genetic data cannot tell us is who is a Jew. The answers to that question are, variously, halachic, political and cultural. On a purely technical level, there is no genetic screen that can sort Jews [...]
You are currently browsing the archives for the Jewish History category.