Celebrating Purim in New York 150 Years Ago - Israel's History - a Picture a Day

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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A Purim Treat from the Archives of the Library of Congress

 -- Celebrating Purim in New York 150 Years Ago

Posted: 10 Mar 2014

Nearly all of our vintage photographs are from the Middle East, 

especially from the Holy Land.

But in honor of the Jewish festival of Purim, joyously commemorated this week by Jews around the world, we bring our readers a print we found in the Library of Congress archives.

The Purim holiday commemorates the victory of Queen Esther and Mordechai over the evil Haman of Persia, saving the lives of the Jewish people.



The picture appeared in an American newspaper on April 1, 1865. The wood engraving is captioned, "The Hebrew Purim Ball at the Academy of Music, March 14." The picture contains a large sign, "Merry Purim," another sign listing the "Order of Dancing," and merrymakers wearing costumes and masks.

The picture was published in Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, printed in New York, NY. The Academy of Music was built in 1854 and was located in Manhattan at Irving Place and East 14th Street.


"Chanucka celebration in New York City" 1880

We found another engraving from Frank Leslie's newspaper, also of the Academy of Music, in the Library of Congress archives. It is dated 1880 and captioned "New York City--the Chanucka celebration by the Young Men's Hebrew Association, at the Academy of Music, December 16th--scene of the sixth tableau, 'the dedication of the temple.'"

Click on pictures to enlarge.

The Russians Are Coming! Subbotnik Converts Are Making Aliya

Posted: 09 Mar 2014

Khudera, Russian proselytes (Library of Congress, circa 1906).

Today, the Library of Congress caption reads, "Identified
by researcher as Russian converts to Judaism (Subbotniki)"
Israeli news announced this week that the aliya (immigration) of Russian "Subbotniks" will resume.

Identified and trained by the Shavei Israel organization, the Subbotniks are descendants of a group of Russian Christians who assumed a Jewish lifestyle 200 years ago. They were persecuted by the Czars, Communists and Nazis.

The following feature appeared in Israel Daily Picture two years ago.

The Library of Congress' American Colony photo collection is full of mysterious pictures, some of which have been presented on these pages. Here's one, captioned "Khudera, Russian Proselytes," with the date listed as "between 1898 and 1934." Who or what is "Khudera?"

In the 19th century, a Christian sect in Russia kept Saturday as their day of Sabbath, thus earning the name "Subbotniks." They read the Old Testament and had a loose identification with Judaism.


Yoav Dubrovin (Dubrovin Farm Museum)

In the late 1800s, two emissaries from Eretz Yisrael (one, Meir Dizengoff, would become mayor of Tel Aviv) traveled to Europe to encourage Jews to move to the land of Israel. In Kovno they encountered a successful Subbotnik farmer named Dubrovin who peppered them with questions about the Bible and about farming and weather conditions in the Galilee. The respected sage of Kovno, Rabbi Yitzhak Elchanan Spektor, had befriended Dubrovin and after several years converted Dubrovin, now named Yoav, and his family to Judaism.

In 1903, Dubrovin moved to the land of Israel with his family of 13. In 1909, he established a very successful farm in Yesod HaMa'aleh in the upper Galilee.

So who are the "Russian Proselytes of Khudera?"

According to Yoav Dubrovin's biography, the family lived in Hadera before purchasing their farm in Yesod HaMa'aleh. Elsewhere in the Library of Congress collection there is reference to Jewish towns "Jewish coastal colonies: Herzlia, Ranana, Nathania, Khudeira. Herzlia" -- apparently what we call and spell as "Hadera."

The mystery photo is likely a Dubrovin family portrait (minus Yoav who was in his 70s at this time) and was probably taken around 1906. Yoav Dubrovin lived to the age of 104.

Yoav Dubrovin's son donated the farm to the Jewish National Fund in 1968, and today the farm house has been restored and is the centerpiece of the Dubrovin Farm Museum.

Archaeologists Uncover First-Ever Find in Jerusalem

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered a first-ever find in Jerusalem: an impressive building dating to the second century B.C., the time period of the famous Maccabee family, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced this week.

The family is associated with the holiday of Hanukkah.

The discovery is from the Hasmonean Period, when the Hasmonean Dynasty ruled ancient Judea and surrounding areas from 141-37 B.C. It began with a descendant of the Maccabees, Simon Maccabaeus, some two decades after his brother, Judas the Maccabee (hammer) defeated the Seleucid army in a rebel revolt.

The Seleucids imposed their Greek culture on the Jewish people and forbid them to keep the Sabbath and circumcise their sons - both Biblical commandments.

They also defiled the Temple in Jerusalem by erecting idols and sacrificing a pig on the altar of God.

The Maccabees led the revolt against the Seleucids and eventually rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem. Hanukkah means "dedication."

Despite more than 100 years of excavations, this is the first time such a building was found.

"This discovery bridges a certain gap in Jerusalem's settlement sequence," excavation directors Dr. Doron Ben Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets said.

"The Hasmonean city, which is well-known to us from the historical descriptions that appear in the works of [the Jewish historian] Josephus, has suddenly acquired tangible expression," they said.

Numerous pottery vessels and more than 40 silver and bronze coins were also found in the building.

The building in the City of David just outside Jerusalem's Old City Walls is about four meters (about 13 feet) tall and covers an area of around 64 square meters.

It's walls are more than three feet thick and are made of roughly hewn limestone blocks arranged as headers and stretchers.

"These indicated the structure was erected in the early second century BCE and continued into the Hasmonean period, during which time significant changes were made inside it," the IAA said.

Simchat Torah - sundown Sept. 25, 2013

Simchat Torah: Just You and Me

Amidst all the dancing and revelry, we realize just how alone we are with God.

by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld

Simchat Torah is given a curious description in Torah: “On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you… it is a holding back (atzeret)” (Leviticus 23:36). What in the world is a “holding back?”

The Midrash explains: God says to Israel, “I hold you back unto Me.” It is as a king who invites his children to a feast for a number of days. When it is time for them to depart, he says, “My sons, please remain with me one more day. Your departure is difficult for me.” We have just gone through a Rosh Hashanah, a Yom Kippur, and a Sukkot together. I have judged you, forgiven you, and shaded you in My protective Clouds. And I don’t want to let go of you so soon. Stay for just one more day.

Why do we celebrate the Torah on this day?

There is thus something very intimate about Simchat Torah. After celebrating so many other festive occasions, God asks for one last day – just us alone. No special activities – no shofar, no judgment, no sukkah, no lulav. Let’s put it all aside and spend one more today together – just Me and you. In fact, the earlier holidays related to all mankind: On the High Holidays God judges the entire world. On Sukkot we would bring Temple sacrifices for the well-being of all the nations. But not Simchat Torah. God asks for just a little quiet time together. No one else; just the two of us.

How do we celebrate our special day with God? By taking His special gift to the Jewish people – by holding and dancing with His Torah.

But why do we celebrate the Torah on this day? Didn’t we receive the Torah on the holiday of Shavuot – which commemorates the Revelation at Mount Sinai? Why the opposite end of the year?

The answer is that we lost the Torah we received on Shavuot. After the Revelation, Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days as God taught him the Torah he was to teach the nation. He descended the mountain only to find a fraction of the nation dancing around a Golden Calf – with most of the people indifferent to the tragic affair. Moses smashed the Tablets, annulling our first “marriage” with God. We had lost the Torah we had only so recently acquired; we had failed to live up to its ideals.

Moses spent the next 40 days beseeching God not to wipe out the nation utterly. He then spent another 40 days on Mount Sinai receiving the Second Tablets. He returned at last on Yom Kippur, when God forgave the nation entirely. This is the Torah we celebrate on Simchat Torah.

There are thus two dates in the Jewish calendar in which we celebrate the Torah – Shavuot and Simchat Torah. On Shavuot we celebrate the Torah we had but lost. Why celebrate what we lost? Because the awe-inspiring event of the Revelation at Sinai was one the world would never forget. God descended onto Mount Sinai in all His glory. The world, all of creation stood frozen before God’s overwhelming presence. And Israel was terrified, shaken to the core. We begged Moses to act as intermediary between God and us, “for who of all flesh hears the voice of the Living God speaking from the fire like us and lives?” (Deut. 5:23). It was an overawing experience, one which we as a nation as well as the world over would never forget.

Today many people celebrate Shavuot by staying up the night of the holiday studying Torah. Who can sleep the night before such an earth-shattering event? But not once on Shavuot do we ask ourselves if we are keeping the Torah God gave us. For the Torah of Mount Sinai is not the Torah we have today. The Revelation was the greatest national event which ever occurred to us, but it was one we not able to live up to.

A Personal Torah

By contrast, on Simchat Torah we do not celebrate our national receiving of the Torah; we celebrate our personal one. God gave us the Second Tablets because He deemed us worthy of receiving them. He had just forgiven us on Yom Kippur and decided to take us anew. And we celebrate by each of us holding close that Torah God entrusted us with and dancing with it. And likewise every single member of the synagogue is called up to the Torah for the reading of a section.

Dancing in a crowd is actually a very personal experience.

Anyone who has experienced dancing in a crowd knows that it is actually a very personal experience. In spite of vast numbers of people surrounding you, you feel very alone. You lose yourself within a great moving mass of people, unaware of the individuals within the group and your location within it.

When we dance on Simchat Torah we celebrate our very personal connection to the Torah. We at once feel ourselves a part of the great body of Israel, yet at the same time we feel very alone with our God. This is not only the Torah of the nation of Israel; it is my own Torah. And each of us holds the Torah and celebrates just what God’s wisdom means to him personally. For everyone has his or her own perspective on God’s Torah. Everyone has his story, how the Torah has touched his life and how he has become who he is today.

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My grandfather’s family came to the United States from the Ukraine in the early 20^th century. He was one of 11 children in a very traditional family. They settled in Philadelphia. In a story repeated literally 2 million times, the children were sent off to public school and became “Americanized,” losing most of their religious observances in the process.

All except for my grandfather. Nearly 100 years ago, a local rabbi convinced his father to send his son Abraham to yeshiva in New York. Arriving as a teenager on the original Armistice Day of 1918, he attended what would later become Yeshiva University. He went on to earn rabbinic ordination – as did his son and grandsons after him.

Every one of us has his personal story, how he came to be who he is today and what the Torah means to him. For the Torah is the possession of all of us. No one has the monopoly on God’s wisdom. It is wisdom we can all study and grow from – and recognize its personal message to us. For when we dance on Simchat Torah, we celebrate the fact that we have been cleansed on Yom Kippur. We celebrate that God has once again accepted us. And we celebrate that the Torah is once again ours.

Wesbite: Aish.com

Archaeologists find pottery with biblical name in Jerusalem

Monday, August 19, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

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Israeli archaeologists recently uncovered a treasure trove of biblical-era pottery while digging in the City of David, the small area south of today's Temple Mount that in the time of David and Solomon made up the entirety of Jerusalem.

The pottery, which was found near the Gihon Spring, dates back to at least 586 BC, during the time of Jerusalem's destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.

An partially-preserved inscription on one of the pots signifies that it was likely used in Temple sacrifices.

The ancient Hebrew lettering would appear to spell out part of the name of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, who, we know from 2 Chronicles 20:14, was the father of the prophet Jahaziel, who prophesied to King Jehoshaphat before he departed for war.

Beams of the Second Temple?

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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A Tisha B'Av Special: Are These the Beams of the Temple? Is this the Gift from King Hiram of Sidon to King Solomon? Posted: 16 Jul 2013 03:10 AM PDT Are these carved beams from the Jewish Temple?  (Israel Antiquities Authority) King Solomon requested from King Hiram of Sidon: 'Hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon for thou knowest that there is not among us any that hath skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.'  And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: 'I have heard that which thou hast sent unto me; I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of cypress. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon...' (I Kings 5) To commemorate Tisha B'Av today, the day Jews around the world mourn the destruction of the two Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, The Times of Israel republished an article Did Ancient Beams Discarded in the Old City Come from the First and Second Temples? by Matti Friedman. Friedman reveals: "Under a tarp in one little-visited corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem lies a pile of rotting timber that would hardly catch a visitor’s eye."  He reports that some of the beams date back 2,000 and even 3,000 years.  More beams are in storage in the Jewish community of Ofra and in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.  Friedman suggests that they were removed during renovations on the Temple Mount after the 1927 earthquake destroyed parts of the al Aqsa Mosque. We publish here, perhaps for the first time, 85-year-old pictures of the beams recently digitalized and posted online by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Chamber, column and staircase under the al Aqsa mosque. "Ancient entrance to the Temple," according to the Library of Congress caption (1927) At least two photographers gained access to the excavation site -- one from the American Colony Photography and Robert Hamilton from the British Mandate Archeological Authority.  This publication presented their photos inEureka! Pictures Beneath the Temple Mount Now Online earlier this year.  The feature included pictures of mosaics, chambers, and staircases that could date back to the Temple.  Hamilton "photographed, sketched, excavated and analyzed" what he saw, according to  Nadav Shragai, a scholar on Jerusalem sites, writing in  Yisrael HaYom last year.  But Hamilton promised the Islamic Authorities, the Waqf, that he would make "no mention of any findings that the Muslims would have found inconvenient" such as findings from the time of the Jewish Temples. When the British left Palestine in 1948 the British Archeological Authority became the Israel Archeological Authority. The Rockefeller Museum and its archeological treasures came under Israeli control when the IDF reunited Jerusalem. Could these pictures from the Israel Archeological Authority show the beams of the Jewish Temples? "Principal beams" (IAA) "Principal beams" Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on caption to view the original. Carved wood panels Panels and other timbers

A Messianic perspective on Tisha B'Av

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 |  Connie Fieraru  Israel TodayShare on blogger

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I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you. Lamentations 3:56-57

On the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, 5773 - the most tragic day on the Jewish calendar - thousands of religious Jews approached Jerusalem’s Kotel (Western Wall), the holiest site for Jews and Christians, to commemorate the destruction of the holy temples, Jerusalem and the Jewish commonwealth. This year marks 1943 years since the Second Temple’s destruction in the year 70 CE.

Tisha B’Av is the lowest point of a three week period of mourning. During this time all celebratory occasions are forbidden. It is a time of solemn reflection and mourning for Israel and the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people.

Traditions associated with this day include sitting on the floor reciting prayers, walking without leather shoes, refraining from washing and fasting for 25 hours. Many Jews spend the night next to the Kotel, the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple, and pray for its rebuilding and reestablishment. Today the Temple Mount is in Islamic hands, with mosques now occupying the place where once stood the Holy of Holies.

Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) see him as the true Temple of God that dwelt among us. The Tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place, as was the physical Temple, for, as it is written (2 Chronicles 6:18), God could never be contained in a house made of stone, cedar and gold. Furthermore, Yeshua told the Pharisees that he was greater than the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 12:6). Yeshua himself is the divine presence of God, which tabernacles among us (Colossians 2:9).

To those, however, who still mourn the destruction of the Temple, Yeshua remains ‘the stone that causes them to stumble.’ They stumble because they do not believe that Yeshua is the sanctuary for His people. While the Temple stood it signified that the way into God’s holy presence had not yet been disclosed (Hebrew 9:8). It presented an obstacle to those who would worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) and a barrier to the Gentiles coming to faith in the one true God.

Yeshua himself was not only the Holy of Holies, but also the Lamb of God, the one and only perfect sin offering. When his flesh was destroyed the curtain in the Temple was also destroyed, thus releasing His presence to all who would approach and draw near to Him in faith.

But what of the promises regarding the Temple in Jerusalem?

God’s promises that one day the Temple will be restored and the children of Israel will be re-gathered from the nations are far from null and void. It is evident today that the promise of return is rapidly being fulfilled. And, interestingly, the day of mourning for the Temple is already, even before it has been rebuilt, starting to become a time of renewed hope, faith and restoration.

A new short film by the Temple Institute is just one example of how Tisha B’Av is gradually reframing itself and rising up from the sackcloth and ashes. Titled The Children are Ready II, the video depicts an emotional journey starting in the synagogue where the traditional lamentations are read. But, the focus is not on the adult’s recitation; rather, it is on the children in the next room playing with their building blocks. It is the children whom are awakened to the fact that the time of mourning has ended. The film ends with the children leading the adults out of the door of the synagogue into a bright white light with the words: ‘The children are ready’.

This image of the next generation pioneering change by replacing mourning with building and strengthening the destiny that lies ahead for Israel and her people is insightful; for while it focuses on the promised physical rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, it is also very much representative of the promises spiritual awakening of Israel that will lead them to their Messiah.

Tisha B’Av must become for us a time to rejoice that the Temple’s foretold destruction signifies that the way into God’s presence has been opened through Yeshua, and we must earnestly pray that the people’s hearts continue to be softened so that they see in Him their hope and the embodiment of the Temple they so yearn to see reestablished.

Thousands of Jews gather at Western Wall to mourn Tisha Be’av

Jerusalem Post    By DANIEL K. EISENBUD

07/15/2013 23:02

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Jews fast to commemorate the destruction of the two temples.

Tisha Be’av at the Western Wall, July 15, 2013. Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

On the eve of Tisha Be’av, thousands of Jews gathered at the Western Wall Monday night to mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples, pray for the creation of a Third Temple, and express hope for peace.

Tisha Bav in Jerusalem 2013       1 OF 7

Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post 

Tisha Be'av at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, July 15, 2013

Tisha Be’av (the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar) is considered the “saddest day in Jewish history.” Jews fast to commemorate the Temples’ destruction, which occurred on the same day, 655 years apart.

Several other significant tragedies also befell Jews on this day, including their expulsion from England and Spain in 1290 and 1492, respectively; Heinrich Himmler’s presentation of the “Final Solution” in 1940; and the Nazi deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto in 1942.

Gutman Locks, a Torah scholar and teacher originally from New York, helped parishioners wrap teffilin and pray a few meters from the Wall.

“What’s so special about coming here on Tisha Be’av is that this is the location where the Temples were destroyed – just on the other side of the Wall,” Locks said. “And that’s where the third one will be built when the Messiah comes, and that one will not be destroyed.”

“Even though it’s the saddest time of the year, we can see Jews come back to the land again, which was prophesized for thousands of years,” he continued. “We can actually see it happening.”

Indeed, Locks said he viewed Tisha Be’av through a prism of sorrow and hope.

“So, on one side it is very sad what has happened in our history, but now we can anticipate the happiest time of all creation, where the whole world will know God – will know peace,” he added. “We see it now, as more Jews live in Israel than any other place in the world.”

Sarit Berko, a retired, non-observant native Israeli, who came to the Wall to observe Tisha Be’av from her home in Tel Aviv, said she has made the pilgrimage since she turned 10 years old, following the Six Day War.

“My generation is so lucky to be born in Israel and not experience the Holocaust,” she said. “As I get older and more spiritual I believe this is my land and I am so grateful that I can come to mourn at this Wailing Wall, even though I’m not religious.”

Berko also expressed hope that the sorrow Tisha Be’av engenders will one day be transformed into joy.

“During Passover most Jews say ‘Next year in Jerusalem,’” she said. “As an Israeli I pray, ‘Next year may the Third Temple be built and last for eternity.’ We’re going to convert all our mourning into a festival, this is my prayer.”

Rabbi Steven M. Graber, who leads a congregation in Long Island, came to Jerusalem with his wife and two daughters to observe the day of mourning.

“Of course I think about the destruction of the Temples, but I see Jews rebuilding Israel – rebuilding Jerusalem – so it’s not really a sadness I feel, rather a keen awareness of every bit of history that’s gone on here from the time of David to today,” said Graber.

“I feel privileged to be alive at this juncture in history because I can be here as a free Jew and I can extrapolate toward the wondrous future I see in this country for our people,” he added.

Graber’s 19-year-old daughter Leora, a student at Queens College, said she viewed Tisha Be’av as a time for personal reflection.

“For me, I’d say that putting all historical reasons [to mourn] aside, this is more of a time to reflect on yourself as a Jew and to be a part of a larger community,” she said. “I think that’s why we’re here – to identify with our own Judaism and with each other.”

Meanwhile, Morrie and Millie Kaporovski of Netanya, who made aliya 29 years ago from Montreal, expressed conflicting feelings of hope and frustration regarding the lack of tolerance among Jews.

“Today means commemorating all the horrendous deeds that were done in the name of religion to the Jews,” said Millie, a grandmother. “All kinds of horrible things happened on Tisha Be’av, so we’re so lucky to have our country. It is our home and no one will take it away from us again.”

Morrie said he was troubled by a lack of tolerance among Jews in general, and in Jerusalem specifically.

“For me, I mourn for our own people – that we haven’t learned a thing in the last 5,000 years about how to be tolerant of other Jews,” he said. “Because it’s Tisha Be’av it’s a sad day and I’m [also] saddened by the fact that I am fast learning how to dislike the city of Jerusalem because of the lack of tolerance and acceptance of different ways of being Jewish.”

Still, Millie said that despite unpleasant infighting, she was heartened to live an unrivaled degree of freedom never experienced by her Jewish predecessors.  

“Just looking at the Kotel brings tears to my eyes because of all the Jews who haven’t been able to come here,” she said. “For us to be here, it’s a dream come true.”

Fasting for Tisha Be’av ends Tuesday night at 8:15 pm in Jerusalem and 8:18 pm in the Tel Aviv area.

Jerusalem Post website