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The creator of the popular ritual of placing an orange on the Seder plate describes exactly how this innovation arose, its intended significance, and the problematic erasure of its origins.
Glicenstein depicted the Jewish Messiah as a semi-nude figure in the classical style, with bowed head and tethered to his seat. It received early recognition, admired by Rodin and praised in the…
VII.
The Marshalek.—His Duties.—The Serenade.—At The Bride’s “Main Quarters.”—The Reception at the Groom’s.—The Ritual of Seating of the Bride.—The Marshalek’s Improvisation.
The rituals and…
These are modern reconstructions of the Ark of the Covenant. Chests with images on top and with carrying poles are known from ancient Egypt. The depictions of the cherubs here are based on winged…
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…
With good reason the Jewish people have earned the highest title to which a nation can aspire, the honor of being called The People of the Book [Am ha-seyfer]. “Der Seyfer,” the book, has…
Religious forces are in fact only transfigured collective forces, that is, moral forces; they are made of ideas and feelings that the…
Child sacrifice in relief, Pozo Moro, Spain, ca. 500 BCE. The relief shows a two-headed monster receiving offerings in bowls. One bowl holds a child. Because the site shows Phoenician influence, the…
Nearly fifteen years ago, following frequent persecutions against our coreligionists in Russia and Romania, a few European Jews conceived of the project of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine and…
The yearning to modernize the yeshiva and give it the appearance of a seminary grew considerably in the hearts of our scholars; but, regretfully, they used whatever filth…