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Voices of the Past | Rabbi Moses Son of Nahman

Rabbi Moses Son of Nahman

Two letters sent by Nahmanides to his sons provide a glimpse of his personal life Nahmanides’ scant surviving personal correspondence includes the following two letters to his sons, Nahman and Shlomo (Solomon). Writing to Nahman...

ColumnsCrusader periodIssue 62 | September 2022JerusalemNachmanides

Divinely Plagued – Wolff Haggada

Yaakov Ben-Ze’ev

Identifying perhaps more with the plague-ridden Egyptians than with liberated Israel, the scribe of the prized Wolff Haggada referred readers to his epic testimony concerning the horrors of the Black Plague and how he reconciled...

ArticlesdeathIssue 47 | April 2019JudaismLiterature and CulturemedicineMedieval PeriodPesachProvencescribes

The Judeo-Arabic Bookshelf – Medieval Judeo-Arabic

Miriam Goldstein

The swift spread of seventh-century Islamic conquest united the vast majority of Jews under one empire and language – Arabic – and revolutionized the Jewish bookshelf forever. What became of the jewels of Judeo-Arabic literature?...

ArticlesIraqIssue 62 | September 2022Medieval PeriodSa'adya Gaon

Agreeing to Disagree – Nahmanides

Oded Yisraeli

When Maimonides’ philosophical writings finally reached western Europe in a language its Jews could read, his ideas met with intense and growing opposition. Though the great Jewish leader was deceased by then, Rabbi Moses son...

ArticlesGironaIssue 62 | September 2022Jewish philosophyLiterature and CultureMedieval PeriodNachmanides

First among Physicians – Ibn Jumay’

Amir Mazor

Saladin’s personal physician and Maimonides’ friend, Hibat Allah ibn Zayn ibn Jumay‘ left a colorful paper trail of Arabic medical works and fragmentary documents from the Cairo Geniza. Discovering an unsung Jewish hero Amir Mazor...

ArticlesCairo GenizaEgyptIssue 66 | September 2023medicineMedieval PeriodScientists

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Doctor Plotter – Roderigo Lopez

David Lawrence-Young

Elizabethan England was newly freed from Spanish dominance when Roderigo Lopez found shelter there from the Portuguese Inquisition. This Jewish doctor took grave risks to protect his new queen from Spanish conspirators – or was...

ArticlesIssue 66 | September 2023medicineMedieval PeriodUnited Kingdom

Who Invited the Rabbi? – Rabbis at Weddings

Ariel Picard

Rabbis have officiated at weddings for centuries, but the Talmud mentions no such practice. So how did Jewish clergy become an integral part of the ceremony? Ariel Picard Many human endeavors begin spontaneously but gradually...

ArticlesEuropeIssue 68 | March 2024JudaismLifecycleMedieval PeriodRabbis

Living on the Edge – Forced Conversions in Spain

Shalom Sadik

The Spanish expulsion is usually considered the nadir of Judeo-Christian relations on the Iberian Peninsula, but in many ways the largely overlooked mass conversion of Jews a century earlier was far worse Shalom Sadik For...

ArticlesconversosIssue 68 | March 2024Medieval PeriodSpain

Portrait of a People | Everyday Miracles

Naomi Samuel

Naomi Samuel Abraham, Sarah, and the AngelOil on wood58 X 71 cmBelgium, 1520Louvre, Paris Jan Provoost1465-1529 Northern RenaissanceNorthern European movement influenced by the Italian Renaissance as well as humanism, Protestantism, and religious warfare. Realism and...

ArtBelgiumColumnsIssue 74 | October 2025Medieval Period

Amsterdam Festival Prayer Book

Ephraim Shoham-Steiner

Two rabbis, a stonemason’s guild, a Jewish merchant, and the archbishop of Cologne all helped solve the riddle presented by a magnificent, medieval prayer book found in Amsterdam Ephraim Shoham-Steiner In September 2019, an armored...

ArticlesGermanyHigh Holy DaysIssue 74 | October 2025Medieval Period

Lay of the Land – Ashtori Ha-parhi

Amichay Schwartz

Using skills honed over generations, 14th-century scholar Ashtori Ha-parhi wandered the length and breadth of the biblical land of Israel, quadrant in hand, resolving issues that had long troubled the Jewish world Amichay Schwartz Ashtori...

ArticlesIssue 65 | June 2023Land of IsraelMedieval PeriodProvence

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Medieval Period

Voices of the Past | Rabbi Moses Son of Nahman

Divinely Plagued – Wolff Haggada

The Judeo-Arabic Bookshelf – Medieval Judeo-Arabic

Agreeing to Disagree – Nahmanides

First among Physicians – Ibn Jumay’

Doctor Plotter – Roderigo Lopez

Who Invited the Rabbi? – Rabbis at Weddings

Living on the Edge – Forced Conversions in Spain

Portrait of a People | Everyday Miracles

Amsterdam Festival Prayer Book

Lay of the Land – Ashtori Ha-parhi

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Medieval Period

Voices of the Past | Rabbi Moses Son of Nahman

Divinely Plagued – Wolff Haggada

The Judeo-Arabic Bookshelf – Medieval Judeo-Arabic

Agreeing to Disagree – Nahmanides

First among Physicians – Ibn Jumay’

Doctor Plotter – Roderigo Lopez

Who Invited the Rabbi? – Rabbis at Weddings

Living on the Edge – Forced Conversions in Spain

Portrait of a People | Everyday Miracles

Amsterdam Festival Prayer Book

Lay of the Land – Ashtori Ha-parhi

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