Did Jews living in America during the Prohibition Era have enought wine to drink?

Let us find out.

(1/5) According to the 1920 “Regulations 60” of the National Prohibition Act, Jewish families were entitled to 10 gallons of wine a year.

But was that enough for their needs?

(2/5)

Then and Now: Krakow Edition

1/9 The market square in the Jewish neighborhood of Kazimierz.

Once full of peddlers and housewives hawking and haggling, it now hosts tourists and visitors, gawking and gaggling.

2/9

This well-known image was taken in the Holy Land over 100 years ago. According to postcards it appeared on, it shows an elderly man “examining his great-grandson in a Bible Lesson.”

But who are they?

1/10 The image was used on the cover of “Hasidism: A New History.”

The book says it shows “A Hasid of the Chabad dynasty and his great-grandson in Hebron, 1910–1921.”

2/10

An iconic image: A group of Jewish soldiers in the German Army gather on a frosty Chanukah in 1916 to kindle the menorah and warm themselves by its light. But who is the chaplain in the center?

I believe I have the answer. I began by looking for pictures of German-Jewish military chaplains, or feldrabbiner (usually Reform clergy).

There weren’t that many, so I figured that the man in the Chanukah picture was bound to have been photographed elsewhere.

Lo and behold, a match:

THE EAST END OF LONDON: Then vs. Now

Like the Lower East Side of New York, the East End was home to tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants from mainland Europe who lived in Whitechapel, Spitalfields, and the surrounding areas from the late 1800s up until the post-WWII years. Many of the shops were owned by Jews, Yiddish was heard in the streets, and sounds of prayer wafted from the many shuls sprinkled throughout the East End — such as this one, filmed in 1959:

LOWER EAST SIDE: Then vs. Now

The LES was once the heart of Jewish life in NY. Hundreds of shops, stalls, and stores owned by Jews dotted the area, but as demographics shifted, so did the stores’ proprietorships.

Here are some of those shops — and what they look like today. First up is the bustling marketplace at the intersection of Orchard and Rivington streets — nowadays just as busy, with many stores lining the street.

Time for another Jewish pirate thread!

This time, we’re not headed to the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, but the Pacific Ocean.

It's a tale of a bloodthirsty fraternity, hidden treasures, mysterious scripts, and… potatoes. Our story begins in 1599, when a Jewish pirate named Subatol Deul joined another two bandits, Henry Drake and Ruhual Dayo.

Together, they formed the “Brotherhood of the Black Flag” off the coast of Chile.

Is this painting a portrait of the Chasam Sofer? In 2018, Kestenbaum auction house unveiled an oil painting by Josef Edward August von Gillern (1794–1845), a well-known German artist.

They said it was a portrait of the Rav Moshe Sofer (1762–1839) that had been in the possession of a family descended from the Chasam Sofer.

Okay, time for another fun debunking thread on Jewish pirates.

This time, our hero is David Abarbanel, a.k.a. Captain Davis. David Abarbanel was born in 1580 in The Hague, to a Sephardi family from the same rabbinic dynasty as Don Isaac Abarbanel.

When he was 19, the family sailed to the New World — but their ship was attacked by the Spanish off the coast of South America.

Jewish history myth-busting thread:

Samuel Palache (c. 1515–1616) was a merchant, diplomat, and privateer. While he definitely did exist (and lead a remarkable life), he is often heavily romanticized as a "pirate rabbi", often titled "Harav".

But I'll focus on one anecdote. The story goes that every time he entered a shul, he was asked to shed his weapons belt (based on Shulchan Aruch OC 151:6).

He refused, announcing, "I have vowed not to remove my sword until I have avenged the blood of my brethren from the King and Queen of Spain".