The scroll (megillah) of Esther is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example, from Baghdad, is hand painted, with an ornate design in which bands of flowers frame the text. It is rolled on a…
A gush of joy in the pipe,
The pipes, the arteries of the Negev,
This is the course of the song,
From the faucet to the clod
The water of the depths ascends.
A pump means bread!
Negev, Negev, what’s…
Born and raised in Oran, Algeria, the talmudic scholar Jacob Sasportas served as rabbi of Tlemcen. Forced to flee Morocco due to political unrest, in 1647 he embarked on a life of wandering. In 1664…