General discussion

Galician Jewish society still exists in our day. The Galicia Kollel – that institution that served as a base of financial support for many Jews from Galicia who immigrated to the Holy Land, still stands and continues to function as it did then…

Impressions of a tour organized by the institute during Elul 5779 at the Galicia Kollel in Meah Shearim and the Galicia Court in the Old City of Jerusalem

The presentation of people with various types of disfigurement, “human monsters,” portrayed as a wonder of the world, is one of the markers of the culture of European fairs. This phenomenon is reflected in the rabbinic literature of the time.

“It appears to me that it is completely and utterly prohibited to attend these inappropriate fairs, such as those in Ukraine” – on the Maharshal’s attempt to limit the travel of Jewish merchants to trade fairs

Joyful parades were common throughout the European world (at first in Italy, and from there to Eastern Europe and then all of Europe), as an echo of ancient Roman carnivals. This joyful manner of celebration penetrated Jewish society, and we find that the Jewish community of Prague celebrated three such joyful parades during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Venetian Carnival with its colorful sights, characters, and atmosphere penetrated the Jewish world in various ways. One of those ways was through the celebration of the Purim festival – the “upside-down” holiday – which was appropriate as a vessel for channeling the culture of breaking free from social conventions and hierarchies. This post examines the question of the heter for dressing up in costume, and the controversy among Tannaim regarding it.

This liturgy was not passed down in an individual, precise, meticulous manner, and this led to a relatively large amount of independence in the divergence between communities and the differences in liturgy from one prayer book to the next.

Prayer Liturgy in the Doctrine of the Eshel Avraham of Buchach: His stance on principle regarding the addition of texts to the prayer liturgy and its execution.