Curacao – The Caribbean’s Jewish Island
Even today, the signs are all still there. The Maduro and Curiel’s bank, the Senior Curacao Blue liquor, the Gomez store, the Penha building, and the Jewish year 5466 written […]
Author Archives: shalommorris
Vayhi – The S&P and Ashkenazim
Narratives are important. The same series of events can take on a completely different meaning depending on how they are told. A prime example of this is the story of Yosef and […]
Vayigash -Goshen and the S&P
Jewish convention has it that when setting up a new Jewish community the first priority is to acquire a Jewish burial ground, then to establish a place of worship, and then […]
Starting Year Two – Consolidating and Expanding
I’m now into the beginning of my second year as rabbi of Bevis Marks Synagogue. The significance of my post hit me during my second Kippur service. I picked up […]
Hughenden Manor – How Jewish Was Benjamin Disraeli?
Since my arrival at Bevis Marks Synagogue I’ve felt conflicted about Benjamin Disraeli’s place within the S&P narrative. Disraeli was born a Jew in 1804, was a member of Bevis Marks, and is […]
Vayishlah – Fighting Jews
The joke goes that the shortest book in history is on the subject of Jews in sports. Historians claim, however, that the first modern day sports hero was actually a […]
Hamburg, Germany – Gateway to the West
I recently discovered more significant Jewish history in Hamburg than I had ever expected to find there. It turns out that Hamburg played an instrumental role in both the early […]
Vayetze -A Working Woman
King Solomon describes the ideal woman in his acrostic poem ‘Eshet Hayil (Proverbs 31:10).’ His female model, though, may come as a bit of a surprise. He describes her as a working woman, labouring […]
11th Street Cemetery – New York
Tiny and hidden away is the second cemetery of New York’s first Jewish congregation, Shearith Israel. Located in Greenwich Village on West 11th st., it was in use from 1805-1829. This […]
Andalusia, Spain – Preserving ‘Sepharad’
Throughout much of history the Iberian Peninsula was divided amongst numerous kingdoms. In a sense, even today Spain remains not one but many different countries. I’ve previously visited Spain’s Catalonia […]
Shalom Says Hello 