Before the priestly blessing is recited in the synagogue, those making the blessing ritually wash their hands. It is also customary for Jews to wash their hands before entering a synagogue for worship…
The Synagogue Mejor is a synagogue in Bursa, Turkey, built in the late fifteenth century by Jews who settled in the Ottoman Empire after being expelled from Majorca. Its name “Mejor” commemorates the…
In 1827, Tsar Nicholas I issued a statute that effectively made Russian Jews liable to military service, as part of a policy that sought to transform the Jewish population into integrated subjects who…