(Author: Margaret Green, Vol. 77, #3, Spring 2022) A ghost is starting to speak: “Marginke, fahr vos bist du tsu farnumen mit azay fihl alte mayses? [You’re young – enjoy your life!”] “I’m 80 Mom.” “Tahke?” [Really?] “Un der naye mayses bin niet
(Author: Hyman Jocum, Vol. 77, #1, Summer 2022) When in May 1939 the British Parliament in Westminster published the White Paper on Palestine with its severe restrictions on Jewish immigration it effectively scuttled the Balfour Declaration. From then onwards, aliyah to the Holy Land
(Vol. 77 * No. 1 * Summer 2022) On Friday, 20 August 1921, 108 Polish Ukrainian Jewish Orphans landed in Quebec, Canada, aboard SS Scandinavia. These were part of a group of 150 children selected and rescued by Harry Hirshman, representative of the
(Author: Hyman Jocum, Vol. 77, #1, Summer 2022) When in May 1939 the British parliament in Westminster published the White Paper on Palestine with its severe restrictions on Jewish immigration it effectively scuttled the Balfour Declaration. From then onwards, aliyah to the Holy Land
(Author: Alison Marshall, Vol. 76 * No. 3 * Spring 2021) This is the story of Jerry Berman, who was a close friend of my grandparents, Meyer and Sonia Fortes.[1] As fellow students at the University of Cape Town in the 1920s, they used
(Author: David Gerbi, Vol. 76, #3, Spring 2021) The history of Libya’s Jews stretches back to the 3rd Century BCE, through the 1492 Jewish expulsion from Spain and well into to the 20th Century. My community saw Romans, Ottomans, and Italians come and go.
(Author: Boris Gorelik, Vol. 76 * No. 2 * Autumn-Winter 2021) Two man, a Russian and a South African, video-chatted for hours. Although Ilya and Bradley had never met before, they had eighty years to catch up on. Their grandfathers, Joseph and Barney, said
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 64, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2009) Feature image: Scuola Grande Spagnola Synagogue Venice The history of Italian Jewry (and more particularly Roman Jewry) is of unique interest as it spans over twenty centuries and more than half a dozen
(Author: Dorothy Kowen, Vol. 64, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2009) My mother, the daughter of a rabbi in Germany, had escaped from Nazi Germany to Rhodesia and had married a Lithuanian Jew. My mother and father did not communicate much, so the telephone became my
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 64, #3, Chanukah 2009) The history of Spanish Jewry has been characterised by periods of extreme oppression and hardship, but also by periods of significant growth, creativity and genius. The 19th Century Spanish historian Jose-Amador de los Rios wrote that