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A baal shem and his bochurim 15 Aug 2013 | 08:30 am
I'll be back. But I'm taking a break from my break to post this incredible photo (I'd never seen it) of R. Elia Guttmacher. Terminus post quem - 1874. This photo appears in Rev. Samuel Marcus Gollanc...
The synagogue on the skyline of lower Manhattan, 1770 4 Jul 2013 | 09:36 pm
This is a map of the houses of worship and some other principle buildings in New York. #12 is "Jew's Synagogue." It refers to Shearith Israel, then in its Mill Lane location, which it occupied from 17...
A Christian's concern for the bad example Christians set for the Jews, 1798 4 Jul 2013 | 09:30 pm
Here's an interesting letter printed in the Beauties of the Evangelical Magazine. The writer, "Erastus," says that he engaged a young Jewish woman in conversation about the Hebrew language - itself in...
Books and portraits a NY Mokher Seforim chose to highlight in an advertisement from 1864 3 Jul 2013 | 11:00 pm
This ad in the Jewish Messenger from 1864 advertises a portrait of Rabbi Akiva Eger and set of Pahad Yitzhak for sale.
A rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into an audience with Napoleon... 27 Jun 2013 | 02:32 am
Recently I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I saw this portrait of Napoleon. Evidently, he enjoyed pageantry and symbolism. Here is an anecdote about the time the rabbi of Dusseldorf went t...
Using tefillin and a Roedelheim siddur to establish bona fides among a 'Lost Tribe' in China circa 1839. Allegedly. 26 Jun 2013 | 09:19 am
Suppose you were trying to establish contact with a newly discovered colony of Jews deep in China, close to Tibet, in 1839. How would you establish a connection? By pulling out your Roedelheim siddur ...
The press coverage of the 'first Chasidic rebbe in America,' 1893 24 Jun 2013 | 08:41 pm
Rabbi Eliezer Chaim Rabinowitz, (1845-1916) of Jampol, progenitor of the Skolye Hasidic dynasty, and known as the 'first Hasidic rebbe in America' visited these shores in 1890. By 1893 he had a congr...
A schoolmarmish interpretation of a verse about harlotry in 1650 17 Jun 2013 | 07:42 pm
I think this is highly amusing. First, the background: Plica polonica (Polish plait) was a strange hair disease that was common well into the 19th, and even the 20th century. Basically, it involved t...
How many rabbis were there in American in 1885? 13 Jun 2013 | 12:07 am
According to the Jewish Messenger, 299,999. Ha ha.
One of those unimpressed synagogue visitors, 1721 9 Jun 2013 | 08:26 pm
This page is an account of one English visitor to a synagogue in 1721. As you can see, he was bewildered by the men keeping their hats on, no kneeling, calling out to get a pinch of snuff, worshipers...
