Reprinted from the Diarna Project and MyJewishLearning. According to the biblical book named after her, Esther was a beautiful young Jewish woman who caught the eye of the Persian King Ahasuerus, became queen, and with the assistance of her uncle Mordecai,…
Jewish Atlas
Before the Deluge: The Jews Of South Africa
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
The oldest Jewish settlements arose in Cape Town, Kimberley, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Burgersdorp. The settlements in Grahamstown and Graaf Reinet have dissolved. There was a (Jewish) community established in Cape Town, which is the oldest is South Africa, while…
Before The Deluge: Kenya-Uganda (British East Africa)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
Kenya-Uganda (British East Africa) In 1903, the English colonial minister offered a district for a Jewish settlement in Uganda to the Zionist leadership, whereby the English government brought to realization its efforts “to bring to pass the improvement of the…
Before The Deluge: The Jews Of Turkey (Part Two)
by Rafael (Rafi) Hecht • • 0 Comments
The French traveler Nicolay, who in 1551 accompanied Jews exiled from France to Constantinople, depicted the life, activities, trade and traffic, culture, and the social setting of the Jews in the following manner: “Particularly astonishing is the immense number of…
Before The Deluge: The Jews Of Turkey
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
Translator’s Note: Dr. Wischnitzer subdivided his discussion of Turkey into two sections, European Turkey and Asiatic Turkey. We’ll deal with European Turkey. European Turkey in its present form consists of the small region around Istanbul, Adrianopolis, Kirkilisse, and Rodosto. For the…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF BOHEMIA (CONCLUSION)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
Modern confectionary industries, which once again were operated by Jews, sprang up. From the trade of old clothing, which had already operated in Moravia in the 16th century, clothing factories arose. The two generations preceding the clothing designer Mayer Mandl also…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF BOHEMIA (PART II)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
The Jewish community was religious and in the final analysis also a culturally peculiar group, so that the ordinary body of Bohemian citizens felt the Jews as an alien body. On the other hand, Jewish life and property were insured…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF BOHEMIA (PART I)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
The Czechoslovakian Republic, outside of the historical lands of the Bohemian Crown (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia), stretches outward to include two great regions which previously belonged to Hungary: Slovakia and sub-Carpathia, also known as Carpathian-Russia. The Jews fell into the…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF HUNGARY (PART III)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
The social activities of the Jews in Hungary showed a somewhat different picture from those of the eastern neighboring countries. The Jews were the dominant owners and workers in agriculture, and likewise in mining. In trade and transportation the Jews…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF HUNGARY (PART II)
by Ezra James Nollet • • 0 Comments
The adaptation to the prevailing Magyar culture progressed. A rabbi named Isaac Eisik Taub of Nagy Kallo, who arose from the world of Polish chassidism, wrote poetry in the nineteenth century in Hungarian. To this day the Hungarian Jews sing…