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Angel Jacobo Jesurun’s topographical map of Caracas, with its geometric grid, is the first map after Venezuela’s independence to be drawn and printed by a native of the city. After decades of war and…
I was born in Tunisia, in Tunis, a few steps from that city’s large ghetto. My father, a harness maker, was somewhat pious, naturally somewhat so, as were all men of his trade and his station in life…
Built in 1736, the Tzedek ve-Shalom synagogue served a Sephardic congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who had migrated from Holland to Suriname. Located in Suriname’s capital of Paramaribo, the…
This text of an excommunication, found in David Aboab’s manuscript of Sefer emet ve-yatsiv (True and Certain), chronicles a conflict in the Sephardic congregation of Curaçao. The first Jews arrived in…
Friends, let’s celebrate this day—Viva!
Purim, occasion to be gay—Viva!
Safe and free from Haman’s wrong,
Let’s shout in unison this song—Viva, viva, viva . . .
Esther, brilliant as the sun—Viva!
G…
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…
Kentridge’s signature practice is to draw an image in charcoal, photograph it, and then repeatedly erase, redraw, rephotograph it, and then animate it on film. Felix in Exile is the fifth film in…
There was a man in Castile called Americo. He had a large ship, in which he placed a great number of supplies, as much as his soul desired, and he also resolved in his heart to amass as much booty as…
Victory, Victory (oh most worthy congregation) Victory, not only once but many times shall I say and repeat that word, for it is such a joyous day for this entire, dear congregation, to be able to…
Like most of the other colonies established in Bessarabia in the previous century, the colony went through a long sleepy period. Most of the farmers lived simple bucolic lives. In the summer, they…