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David Oppenheim (1664–1736) was the chief rabbi of Prague. Born in Worms, he was the son of a communal leader and nephew of Samuel Oppenheim (1630–1703), financier and war contractor to the Habsburg…
This letter hailing Shabbetai Tzvi as the Messiah was signed by twenty-four prominent members of the Amsterdam Jewish community who had founded a learned society, Yeshuot Meshiho, in his honor. It was…
These are the things that have no set limit [m. Peah 1:1] for the benefactors of the nation, friends and nobles, young and old, and righteous women, who have come together in the gemilut ḥasadim…
The following incident occurred: On the holy Sabbath of ḥol ha-mo‘ed Passover in the year 5335 [1575], many virtuous individuals from the Lisbon congregation arose and came to an agreement among…
There is no need to provide evidence concerning the great value of folk songs when one wishes to study the history of a people—any people—and all it has undergone. Alongside the history books of each…
(Continued from issue 76 [of Ha-Tsefira])The commandment of hospitality is well-developed in our city, and particularly in the mellah. But emissaries from the kollelim in the “Four Lands” stay with…
These are the words of the covenant as a statute for Jacob, as an everlasting covenant for Israel; the Almighty spoke but once—and He will never alter His law—through the Torah and the ruling which…
Mikve Israel-Emanuel is a synagogue that served the Spanish Portuguese Jewish community in Curaçao (and continues to function today as a Reconstructionist congregation). It is the oldest surviving…
This is an image of the tombstone of David Ganz, Prague. Born in Lippstadt (now North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany), Ganz (1541–1613) was a chronicler, mathematician, historian, astronomer, and…
This Torah ark, installed in a synagogue in the Italian town of Urbino, is a fine example of Renaissance Judaica. Carved from walnut in the early sixteenth century, the ark belonged to the Sephardic…
