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Behind the Veil – Mashhadi Jews

Hilda Nissimi

Crypto-Jews are usually associated with the conversos of early modern Spain and Portugal, but less than two hundred years ago, the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, met a similar fate. How did a century in hiding...

19th centuryArticlesIranIssue 74 | October 2025Mashhadi Jews

Seeking The Hidden Face Of God – Hillel Zeitlin

Shraga Bar-On

Though he saw the Jewish people as trapped in a fatal, dead-end existence, writer Hillel Zeitlin labored to bring redemption. Struggling with doubt, he kept hoping and praying, wrestling with contradictions to create a role...

ArticleshasidismHolocaust|WWIIIssue 72 | March 2025PolandWriters

Judaism’s Service Entrance – Freed Slaves

Moshe Yagur

Though viewed today as an outmoded evil, slavery was part of medieval Jewish life in Arab lands. Somewhat surprisingly, slaves owned by Jews were considered semi-Jewish; having entered the Jewish people through this “back door,”...

AntiquityArticlesCairo GenizaEgyptIssue 72 | March 2025

Body & Soul – Ottoman Jewish Midwifery

Tali Buskila

Among Jews in the Ottoman Middle East, birth took place in the mother’s home, where close friends and family assisted in an evolving social and spiritual experience. This safe, female space was seminal in women’s...

ArticlesAsiaEarly modern periodIssue 70 | September 2024Jewish CommunitiesLifecycle

Feeding the Heavens – Jewish Birdfeeding Customs

Yossi Ziv

Both Polish and Ethiopian Jews traditionally fed birds at specific times of year, ascribing deep meaning to this practice. Did the custom spread from south to north with the migratory flocks, or was it simply...

ArticlesEarly modern periodEthiopiaGermanyIssue 71 | December 2024Jewish CommunitiesTu Bishvat

From the Archives | Building Zion from Rhodesia

Denise Rein

A booklet produced by a Zionist youth movement in Rhodesia reflects a rich and vibrant community that lasted less than a century. Its young authors had no idea civil war was about to change their...

20th centuryAfricaColumnsIssue 26 | May 2015Jewish CommunitiesZionism

The Samaritan Stories

Zeev H. Ehrlich

Back to the article Sacrifice in Samaria – Samaritans Cuthites from the Tribe of Benjamin | The creed of the Holy Mountain | Similar but Different – the Samaritan Calendar | Matchmakers’ Night Zeev H....

Issue 10 | April 2012Jewish CommunitiesLand of IsraelPost-1948Religions

Sacrifice in Samaria – Samaritans

Zeev H. Ehrlich

The paschal lambs are bleating on the road to Nablus. The community elders are decked out in white and the final preparations for the sacrifice on Mt. Gerizim are nearing completion. Is this what the...

ArticlesIssue 10 | April 2012Jewish CommunitiesLand of IsraelPesachPost-1948

The Unspoken Taboo – Next Year in Jerusalem

Jonathan D. Sarna

What prompted a century of American Jews to omit the phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” at the conclusion of their Seder? The aspirations and declarations replacing it speak volumes about American Jewish loyalties, priorities, and...

19th centuryAmericaArticlesIssue 64 | March 2023Jewish CommunitiesPesach

The Jewish American Secret Police

Hadassah Assouline

A Jewish community organization in New York dealt with myriad issues, even creating an internal police force to deal with rising crime Hadassah Assouline In early September 1908, the chief of the New York City...

20th centuryAmerican JewsColumnsIssue 11 | July 2012New YorkPeople

Strength in Numbers

Jeffrey S. Gurock

In New York circa 1900, Jewish identity was in the streets and in the air; one in four New Yorkers was Jewish, and formal religious affiliation felt unnecessary. Fifty years later, suburban Jews needed communal...

20th centuryAmerican JewsArticlesIssue 11 | July 2012New York

Jewish Communities

Behind the Veil – Mashhadi Jews

Seeking The Hidden Face Of God – Hillel Zeitlin

Judaism’s Service Entrance – Freed Slaves

Body & Soul – Ottoman Jewish Midwifery

Feeding the Heavens – Jewish Birdfeeding Customs

From the Archives | Building Zion from Rhodesia

The Samaritan Stories

Sacrifice in Samaria – Samaritans

The Unspoken Taboo – Next Year in Jerusalem

The Jewish American Secret Police

Strength in Numbers

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Jewish Communities

Behind the Veil – Mashhadi Jews

Seeking The Hidden Face Of God – Hillel Zeitlin

Judaism’s Service Entrance – Freed Slaves

Body & Soul – Ottoman Jewish Midwifery

Feeding the Heavens – Jewish Birdfeeding Customs

From the Archives | Building Zion from Rhodesia

The Samaritan Stories

Sacrifice in Samaria – Samaritans

The Unspoken Taboo – Next Year in Jerusalem

The Jewish American Secret Police

Strength in Numbers

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