Spanish Golden Age1 Adar Ibn Ezra: While England was working to isolate and diminish the Jewish Community (see last week’s Blast from the Past), around the same time the Jews of Spain…

8 Adar  So besides being my son, Zusha’s, birthday this Shabbat, what else has happened on this day in Jewish history? Can you believe that the Soviets tried to set up…

14 Adar  Most of you heard about Purim in the days of Esther and Mordechai, which was about 2,376 years ago in Persia. A most fascinating thing happened about 2,308…

21 Adar So earlier this year I get a chance to write about Rebbe Reb Zusha and now I get to write about his brother Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk (1717-1786) whose yahrzeit  is…

7 Nissan This is not the story of the wine. Though this is from whom that delicious wine gets its name! On this Shabbat in 1488,  Rabbeinu Ovadiah Bartenura arrived…

Often we think of Poland as a place of pain for the Jewish people. That might be true, but there are also a lot of positive things that happened in…

“We have been waiting for 2,000 years. Is that hurrying?” Golda Mabovitch’s birthday is this Shabbat. You probably think of her as Golda Meir, but she was born to Blume…

The Connection between Lag b’Omer and the end of the Nazis Y”S “Better for that man to make himself fall into a fiery furnace than to embarrass his neighbor publicly”…

17 Tevet  Dubno Maggid: Today is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Jacob ben Wolf Kranz (1741-1804). He was known as the storyteller from Dubno a.k.a. “The Dubno Maggid.” This teacher is…

“There is love like fire, and there is love like water.”— The Baal haTanya 24 Tevet: Yehrzeit of the Baal haTanya: Today is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shneur Zalman (ben Baruch) of…

““Better for that man to make himself fall into a fiery furnace than to embarrass his neighbor publicly” Rashbi (Sotah 10B)” Rebbe Reb Zusha:Today is the yahrzeit of Rebbe Reb…

“Since the ancients have decided, their conclusions may not be set aside.” 9 ShvatRabbeinu Nissim ben Reuven haGerondi is known in shorthand as the RaN. He was born sometime between 1308-1320 and…

“In Jewish history there are not coincidences”– Elie Weisel Purim Saragossa17 Shvat We just celebrated Tu b’Shvat, the New Year of Trees, a special time to taste unique and delicious fruits.…

Statute of Jewry24 Shvat  Meanwhile in England: Did you know in England the Jews were known as the property of the crown? It’s interesting that the Jewish people have a…