Synagogue on Frankfurt am Main. 1938. Leo Baeck Institute. Link. Sundown this Saturday marks the beginning of Tisha B’Av (the ninth of Av). Traditionally commemorating the destruction of the first and second temples of Jerusalem; in recent decades the day has been used to remember other Jewish tragedies, such as the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain (which fell around Tisha B’Av) and…
Judisches Ceremonial This German book contains illustrated explanations to numerous Jewish rituals spanning from birth to death, including circumcision, presentation of the first born, prayer at the synagogue, a wedding procession, purification of the bride, the washing of the brother-in-law’s feet, the feast of reconciliation, death rites, burials, and celebrations of the Sabbath, Passover, and the New Year. Published in 1716, a copy of…
Images: Recha Freier; Jewish children singing at the Youth Aliyah School in Berlin, ca. 1940; a group of German children who have made it to Palestine as part of Youth Aliyah in 1934. The following poems (in German) are taken from Recha Freier’s Auf die Treppe. (Hamburg : Hans Christians Verlag, 1976). Freier founded the Youth Aliyah organization in 1933, which was responsible for…
Your Golden Hair, Margarete, 1980Anselm Kiefer (German, born 1945)Watercolor, gouache, and acrylic on paper The artist Anselm Kiefer (who was recently awarded the Leo Baeck Medal) was inspired by Paul Celan’s poem “Death Fugue” (“Todesfuge”) to create more than 30 paintings, painted photographs and watercolors, each of which somehow refers to the poem. You can see that the above painting – which is one of this…