[Author: Lyonell Fliss, Vol. 81, #1, Autumn-Winter2026) EDITOR’S NOTE: In the Summer-Spring 2023 issue of Jewish Affairs appeared Expedition “Escape” – Journey Diaries, Lyonell Fliss’ memoir of escaping with his wife Liliana from Communist Romania in 1969 and how fifty years later he revisited each
[Author: Michel Levine, Vol. 81, #1, Autumn-Winter 2026] Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, in December 1914 the Ottoman Empire – allied with the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary – decided to expel from its colony of Palestine the nationals of
(Author: Veronica Belling, Vol. 80, #2, Summer 2025) At the beginning of 2025, a tour to Poland was advertised by the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre. It would be led by its new Director, Jakub Nowakowski. Despite the fact that the tour
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 80, #1, Autumn 2025) Jewish Presence in Ancient Times (10th Century BCE – 3rd Century CE) The presence of Jews in Morocco goes back to early pre-Islamic times. Legends claim that it dates as far back to the First
(Author: Clark Zlotchew, Vol. 79, #1, Winter 2024) My mother’s father, Nathan Granoff, was a glazer in Jersey City, New Jersey, and had been one in the land of his birth: the Ukraine. In his youth this region was part of the Czar’s
(Author: Peter Arnold, Volume 79, #1, Winter 2024) “Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. Jews in England and South Africa and Australia. Where do we belong…truly belong?” While I was preparing for this talk, I was reading James Shapiro’s book, Shakespeare
(Author: Lyonell Fliss, Vol 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) Prologue In 1969 man reached the moon. The same year I reached freedom. To me these two journeys looked similar. The year 2019 was very special for me: it marked the semi-centennial of my escape
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) Jewish Presence Sephardi tradition maintains that Jewish settlement in the territory that is now Portugal dates to Roman times after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Evidence of Jews living in Portugal
(Author: Gwynne Schrire, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) The wandering Jews have always been on the move, usually fleeing persecution, prejudice and poverty, searching for security and a better economic future. They first moved into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 78, #2, Winter 2023) The Jewish presence in what is today known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands probably dates to Roman times, when Jews accompanied the Roman armies into the southern part of the area. Documentary evidence of