The Damascus Affair was well documented by the personalities of its time and has been awarded significant prominence in Jewish historiography ever since. Some consider this incident as marking a turning point, the rise of a new era in Jewish history. Diplomatic archives from England, France, the United States, and Austria, as well as memoirs,…

Within Jewish tradition there are sources that express not just tolerance toward aspects of Muslim religiosity, but intellectual and religious respect and admiration. It is important to become acquainted with these sources, and to consider their implications. Here I consider one such source, found in the writings of R. Yiṣḥaq Farḥi of Jerusalem (1782-1853). R….

In the ramp up to the final moments of the election in Lebanon (May 6th, 2018), many politicians work to please their voters. Sadly, in Sidon, this means the physical erasing of the Jewish community. The Jews of Sidon believe that their community dates back to the first arrival of Israelites (roughly 1000 BCE) and…

The jewel case cover of the 2016 recording by a well-respected baroque orchestra is indeed evocative. A panorama of mosques rises out of the sand of medieval Cairo in earthy tones and we see the outlines of covered Muslim women carrying ceramic vessels on their heads as they disappear into a dusty sunset. Faux-Arabic letters…

There is an interesting relationship between the Qorban Pesaḥ (pascal sacrifice) and the Bayiṯ (house) in the Tora. Among the laws regarding qorban pesaḥ, we find that there must be one lamb per bayiṯ, the Israelites must mark their battim (houses) with the lamb’s blood, the lamb must be eaten in the bayiṯ, and it…

Before the demise of the Jewish communities of the Middle East and Mediterranean regions in the middle of the twentieth century, their migration away from their countries of origin, and their resettlement in the West and Israel, the Sephardic ḥakhamim and intellectuals produced an immense literature that spanned the whole range of traditional Jewish learning:…