Eccentric politician Lord George Gordon spent most of his peculiar life rallying against Catholics and exasperating the King of England, until he decided, after his first stint in prison, to convert to Judaism. Thus, protestant Lord George Gordon would come to be known as the holy Reb Yisrael Ben Avraham Avinu.
A True Jerusalem Story: The Failed Raid of the Lost Ark
More than a century ago, a group of English treasure-hunters showed up in Jerusalem with the most ambitious of goals: They were determined to find the treasures of the ancient biblical kings, no less. This grand quest and its strange results made sensational headlines in newspapers around the globe, not to mention the riots that erupted across the city…
Who Are You Calling a “Shluh”?!
In modern-day Israel, the word “shluh” is sometimes used as an offensive term to describe a person of disheveled or messy appearance. The word in fact hails from Morocco, where it referred negatively to a certain ethnic group, and was used disparagingly by city dwellers to describe uncultured village folk…
‘Toyve the Black Cantor’ and His 1930 World Tour
When celebrated African-American Yiddish soloist Thomas Larue crossed the Atlantic, he didn’t know what was in store…
Reporting the Holocaust Alongside Vacation Ads
In 1939, sickening accounts of impending genocide appeared on the same pages as cruise and resort promos
Manmade Climate Change 150 Years Ago? In Yiddish?!
1871 article: “Hardly anybody knows that war affects the weather strongly and causes heavy rain falls, strong winds, thunder and lightning.”
The Newspaper That Put the Jews of Egypt on the World Stage
The story of the newspaper that was not afraid to take on anyone: “Let us destroy to rebuild – we are all suffocating in the dark atmosphere of a community dominated by greedy money-grubbers.”
