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In the mid-1890s some socialist circles already existed among Jewish workers. The primary proponents of socialist democratic propaganda were first and foremost Jewish workers. In 1897, proclamations…
On the night of Simhat Torah 5575 [1814], the Seer closeted himself in his room on the second story of his home. The one window overlooking the wide Jewish street was open; it was very near to the…
I have always regretted one thing. When I ponder the Hebrew literature of all periods I ask myself: Why is it that our forefathers, who spent so much time on the study of matters of religion and law…
The Birth of the Ba‘al Shem Tov
One of the greatest phenomena, running like a thread throughout the spiritual history of the Jewish people, is mysticism, a remnant of ancient mythology, which could…
Osher Margolis was one of a handful of Soviet professional historians of Jewry. Like the others, he brought a Marxist perspective to his work. The work below, though focused on the nineteenth…
In our first series of discussions, we explored the struggle between the government and the Jews, which was initiated by the former and ended with its triumph over the latter; in the second…
The synagogues where older and more modest congregants pray are spared to some extent. It is a good thing that they are closed all day and all night and are opened only for early morning prayers and…
“Hey, hey, out of my way!” shouted a driver from the seat of his coach as he nearly ran into two women standing in the middle of the busiest street in Glupsk, both carrying…
Some decades ago Jewish badkhonim-actors [jesters] were still a very common phenomenon. Most of the time the badkhn was not only an entertainer improvising rhymes and funny sayings, but also an actor…
Now, when the attention of broad circles of society has been drawn to issues of the Jewish land system, it is especially tempting to recall the distant past of the first Jewish agricultural…