In memory of the Beilis Trial: “Beilis Not Guilty, Jews Guilty” (circa 1913). From YIVO Collections.
The dramatic postcard above is a commentary on the notorious 1911 Beilis Trial, which escalated the already rampant anti-Semitic sentiment in tsarist Russia. In a case strikingly similar to the that of the Trial of Trent almost 400 years earlier, it revolved around blood libel.
Menahem…
We’re delighted to kick off a series close to our hearts: the story of Molly Picon, for decades a household name in Yiddish theater and vaudeville, then a Broadway star, performer with the USO and radio personality–not to mention Yente the Matchmaker in Fiddler in the Roof. Some called her "the Jewish Charlie Chaplin"; others, “the Jewish Helen Hayes.” We think she stands grandly…
All images: Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
A sizeable portion of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who streamed into New York at the turn of the 20th century found work in the city’s expanding garment industry. Although only about 10% were actual trained tailors, many Jewish immigrants held experience in both producing clothing–since the garment industry in Russia was one of the only businesses open to Jews–and…
A human-family tree stands by the renovated genealogy institute at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. Photographs of couples, children, families, molecular matter, and, atop the trunk, Rosalind Franklin—the British Jewish scientist whose work helped Watson and Crick imagine the double helix—adorn the branches. (Description via the New York Press.)