Shmuel Katz was an Israeli illustrator and caricaturist whose work ranged from military sketches to children’s book illustrations. Born in Vienna, Katz spent the majority of World War II in hiding with his sister in Hungary. In 1946, Katz decided to immigrate to Palestine, but British authorities intercepted the ship he was on; its passengers were deported to a displaced persons camp in Cyprus. While in Cyprus, Katz made sketches documenting his experiences and held his first exhibition. He arrived in Palestine in 1947 and helped found Kibbutz Ga‘aton, where he lived and worked, producing illustrations and caricatures that were widely published in Israel, until his death.
This magnificent maḥzor (holiday prayer book) was copied—and most likely decorated—by the scribe Isaac bar Mordechai ha-Kohen (Isaac Lankosh of Kraków). (In several places, the name “Isaac” has…
Moses Mordechai Margaliot (d. 1617) was a member of a family descended from the illustrious medieval scholar Rashi. Margaliot served as a rabbi in Kraków. He was buried in the cemetery of the Rema…
Built in the early fifteenth century and rebuilt in 1614 following a fire, the Chendamangalam Synagogue served members of the Malabari Jewish community, descendants of Cochin’s earliest Jews, who are…