Torah Finials

Shabbetai Tzvi was the central figure of a messianic movement that swept the Jewish world in the mid-seventeenth century. Born in Izmir (Smyrna), as an adolescent Shabbetai Tzvi embarked on the study…

This Piedmontese synagogue, built in 1595, is typical of many synagogues constructed in times and places where Jews did not want to call attention to themselves because of fear of persecution. From…