Jewish History

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The Zohar | My Jewish Learning

The Zohar. Kabbalah and Hasidism. Kabbalah and Mysticism. Jewish Spirituality and the Divine World. Jewish Ideas and Beliefs.

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The legendary relationship between the Jewish people and Chinese cuisine has reached new heights at a North London venue that offers both contemporary dishes and a taste of history.

The name “Kaifeng” originates from a group of Jews from Persia who followed the Silk Road to ultimately settle in Kaifeng, China. The community reached 2,500 and was renowned for a large synagogue with architecture inspired by Chinese temples. During Passover, according to reports, their custom was to eat Chinese (also known as moo shu) pancakes, which were technically unleavened.

The kosher restaurant named after these since-disappeared people, who assimilated into broader Chinese society, offers a variety of Cantonese-style meals, including crispy chili beef, honey chicken and hoisin duck. Dishes specifically inspired by the Jews of Kaifeng also appear on the menu, such as a Henan-style lamb and chicken marinated in cumin, hoisin and chilies.

Co-owner Philip Pell says the restaurant he runs with Norman Han “was opened at a time when limited kosher food was available, and even now, 38 years later, no one has rivaled Kaifeng.”

It has since welcomed everyone from locals to tourists to politicians worldwide.

Chinese restaurant in London offers kosher dishes with a side of history - JNS.org

Open since 1986, the owners named the venue, Kaifeng, after the Persian Jews who lived in China from 960-1279.

www.jns.org

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Hasmonean Holiday (circa 100 BCE)
The Hasmoneans reinstated the rule of Jewish civil law, replacing Hellenist secular law, and declared this day a holiday.

 

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How a scandalous Jewish no-goodnik captured the imagination of the world

For eons, audiences have thrilled to the story of Salome and her 'Dance of the Seven Veils,' immortalized by Oscar Wilde.

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Today in Jewish History​

• Tzemach Tzedek Departs Petersburg (1843)
In 1843, the Interior Ministry of the Czarist government convened a rabbinical conference in the Russian capital of Petersburg, to the end of imposing changes in Jewish communal life and religious practice. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866, known as the "Tzemach Tzedek" after his Halachic works by that name) was invited; as a primary figure in the leadership of Russian Jewry, his compliance was required to lend legitimacy to the government's proposed "reforms". In the course of the conference, the Tzemach Tzeddek was placed under arrest no less than 22 (!) times for his refusal to cooperate. When he finally departed Petersburg on the 26th of Av, he had successfully prevented the government's disruption of traditional Jewish life.

 

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It's been 25 years since a train left this station...

The original Jerusalem train station was active for more than a century, opening in 1892 and shutting down in 1998. This photo was taken by Eddie Hirschbein in 1957, it is part of the Bitmuna Collection.
The train journey from Jaffa on the coast, all the way to Jerusalem, used to take about four hours! By car, the same journey can be completed in under an hour, and so the old train line to Jerusalem eventually became somewhat obsolete.

National Library of Israel.

 

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The final scene in the movie Schindler’s List is puzzling. Survivors and their cinematic offspring file by the grave of Oskar Schindler. With solemn ceremony, they place stones on the grave. Why should they leave stones rather than flowers? From where does this strange custom come?

The practice of burying the dead with flowers is almost as old as humanity. Even in prehistoric caves some burial sites have been found with evidence that flowers were used in interment. But Jewish authorities have often objected to bringing flowers to the grave. There are scattered Talmudic mentions of spices and twigs used in burial (Berakhot 43a, Betzah 6a). Yet the prevailing view was that bringing flowers smacks of a pagan custom.

That is why today one rarely sees flowers on the graves in traditional Jewish cemeteries. Instead there are stones, small and large, piled without pattern on the grave, as though a community were being haphazardly built. Walking in the military cemetery of Jerusalem, for example, one can see heaps of stones on the graves of fallen soldiers, like small fortresses.

For most of us, stones conjure a harsh image. They does not seem the appropriate memorial for one who has died. But stones have a special character in Judaism. In the Bible, an altar is no more than a pile of stones, but it is on an altar that one offers to God. The stone upon which Abraham takes his son to be sacrificed is called even hashityah, the foundation stone of the world. The most sacred shrine in Judaism, after all, is a pile of stones — the Western Wall.


In the words of “The Kotel,” a popular Israeli song, “There are men with hearts of stone, and stones with the hearts of men.”

So why place stones on the grave? The explanations vary, from the superstitious to the poignant.

The superstitious rationale for stones is that they keep the soul down. There is a belief, with roots in the Talmud, that souls continue to dwell for a while in the graves in which they are placed. The grave, called a beit olam (a permanent home), was thought to retain some aspect of the departed soul.


Stones are more than a marker of one’s visit; they are the means by which the living help the dead to “stay put.” Even souls that were benign in life can, in the folk imagination, take on a certain terror in death. The “barrier” on the grave prevents the kind of haunting that formed such an important part of East European Jewish lore. The stories of I. B. Singer and the plays of the Yiddish theater are rich in the mythology of East European Jewry: Souls that return, for whatever reason, to the world of the living. One explanation for placing stones on the grave is to ensure that souls remain where they belong.

All the explanations have one thing in common — the sense of solidity that stones give. Flowers are a good metaphor for life. Life withers; it fades like a flower. As Isaiah says, “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty like the flower of the field; grass withers and flowers fade” (Isaiah 40:6-7). For that reason, flowers are an apt symbol of passing.

But the memory is supposed to be lasting. While flowers may be a good metaphor for the brevity of life, stones seem better suited to the permanence of memory. Stones do not die.

A beautiful answer takes it cue from the inscription on many gravestones. The Hebrew abbreviation taf, nun, tsadi, bet, hey stands for “teheye nishmato tsrurah b’tsror ha- chayyim,” a phrase usually translated “May his soul be bound up in the bonds of eternal life.”

Yet tsror in Hebrew means a pebble. In ancient times, shepherds needed a system to keep track of their flocks. On some days, they would go out to pasture with a flock of 30; on others, a flock of 10. Memory was an unreliable way of keeping tabs on the number of the flock. As a result, the shepherd would carry a sling over his shoulder, and in it he would keep the number of pebbles that corresponded to the number in his flock. That way he could at all times have an accurate daily count.

When we place stones on the grave and inscribe the motto above on the stone, we are asking God to keep the departed’s soul in His sling. Among all the souls whom God has to watch over, we wish to add the name — the “pebble” — of the soul of our departed.

There is something suiting the antiquity and solidity of Judaism in the symbol of a stone. In moments when we are faced with the fragility of life, Judaism reminds us that there is permanence amidst the pain. While other things fade, stones and souls endure.

Why Jews Put Stones on Graves | My Jewish Learning

Why Stones for Jewish Graves. Graveside Service in Judaism. Jewish Burial and Mourning Practices. Jewish Death and Mourning. Jewish Bereavement. Jewish Lifecycle

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Today in Jewish History​

• Moses ascends Sinai for 3rd 40 days (1313 BCE)
On the early morning of the 1st of Elul of the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE) Moses ascended Mount Sinai, taking with him the stone tablets he had hewn by divine command (see "Today in Jewish History" for yesterday, Av 30), for G-d to re-inscribe the Ten Commandments. On the mountain, G-d allowed Moses to "see My back, but not My face" (which Maimonides interprets as a perception of G-d's reality but not His essence) -- the closest any human being ever came to knowing G-d -- and taught him the secret of His "Thirteen Attributes of Mercy" (Exodus 33:18-34:8).

Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days, until the 10th of Tishrei (Yom Kippur), during which time He obtained G-d's whole-hearted forgiveness and reconciliation with the people of Israel following their betrayal of the covenant between them with their worship of the Golden Calf. This was the third of Moses' three 40-day periods on Mount Sinai in connection with the Giving of the Torah. Ever since, the month of Elul serves as the "month of Divine mercy and forgiveness."

Links: The 120-Day Version of the Human Story

• Moroccan Jewry Saved From Portuguese Conquest (1578)
In 1578, a Portuguese army led by King Sebastian I joined forces with the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abdallah Mohammed, who desired to regain the throne from his uncle, Abd al-Malik. Victory of the Portuguese king would inevitably lead to the infamous Inquisition taking hold in Morocco. On August 4, corresponding to 1 Elul, the Portuguese army was defeated in what is known as the Battle of the Three Kings. A number of Moroccan communities would commemorate this date each year as a day of celebration, thanking G‑d for His salvation.

• Prophecy of Haggai Encouraging Building of the Second Temple (353 BCE)
On this day, the prophet Haggai received a divine message to pass on to “Zerubavel son of She’altiel ruler of Judah and Joshua son of Jehozadak the High Priest” (Haggai 1:1), instructing them to continue their efforts to build the Second Temple, whose construction had been halted some seventeen years prior. (See entry for 21 Tishrei for a similar prophecy transmitted by Haggai seven weeks later.)

 

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What is Elul? | My Jewish Learning

Elul is the last month of the Jewish year and the final month prior to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new ...

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Among the highlights of the 100-minute film is Liev Schreiber as U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. The middle-of-the-night phone conversation with Meir early on in the war is one of the best-performed scenes of the film. Meir explains that Israel had already lost 500 tanks, a third of the Air Force and 30 Phantom fighter jets, and that she could have launched a preemptive strike but didn’t. Kissinger responds, “Watergate is sweeping through Washington like a firestorm, Golda. Nixon is a lame duck.” Meir fires back, “If the Arabs defeat us with Soviet weapons, what message does that send to the free world, Henry?”

(full article online)

“Golda” Is a Tense Snapshot of the 1973 Yom Kippur War

There has been plenty of commentary this year about the film “Golda” starring Helen Mirren as the titular character.

jewishjournal.com

 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/14/justice-rule-of-law-ruth-bader-ginsburg-rosalie-abella/

 

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In remote North Dakota, endless sky, a few gravestones, and the remnants of a little-known Jewish history

Most Jewish immigrants settled in urban centers, but some tried their luck as homesteaders in states like North Dakota.

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Today in Jewish History​

• Washington Responds to Newport Jews (1790)
The sexton of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, wrote a heart warming letter to George Washington, on behalf of the Jewish community welcoming the President on his visit to Newport. In his letter, he expressed a vision of an American government that would permit all religions to live side by side in harmony, giving all its citizens the freedom to practice their religions.

On August 18, 1790, President Washington responded:

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

...May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid...

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Nachmanides Renews Jerusalem community (1267)

Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270) arrived in Jerusalem, after being forced to flee his native Spain (see "On This Date" for Av 12) and renewed its Jewish community there. The synagogue he established is functional today, having been restored following the liberation of the Old City during the Six-Day War in 1967.

 

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He walked every block of the Bronx and found traces of a vanished Jewish world

A new guidebook, "The Bronx Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide," finds traces of the borough's Jewish past in nearly every neighborhood.

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How 'Pitching Ninja' Rob Friedman accidentally became one of the most popular Jewish personalities in baseball - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Friedman has amassed over one million social media followers with his popular baseball content and analysis.

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A medieval massacre nearly wiped out the Jews of York, England. New research shows how the community recovered. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jews rebuilt their community in the decades after a pogrom and before the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

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Gladys Kravitz, Jewish heroine of "Bewitched"

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

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The Jewish History of Joyva | The Nosher

Cousins Richard Radutzky and Sandy Wiener grew up with major bragging rights. Both boys could boast to friends that their ...

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Today in Jewish History​

• Nachmanides Born (1194)
Birth of Nachmanides ("Ramban", Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270) -- Torah scholar, Kabbalist, philosopher, physician and Jewish leader -- in Gerona, Spain, in the year 4954 from creation.