Treasure Trove: A shard of glass from an East Berlin synagogue recalls the destruction of a Jewish community
This is a piece of broken glass from the Neue (New) Synagogue in Berlin. I am lucky that the Stasi, the state security service of East Germany, did not arrest me when I got it. It was the summer of 1982 and I went to Berlin while backpacking through Europe. The city was then divided with West Berlin being […]
Treasure Trove: Kibbutz Be’eri’s thriving print shop was spared on Oct. 7—and re-opened days after the Hamas attack
“For the life of this nation” is the message on this label. It was made in the print shop of Kibbutz Be’eri two weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack when about 10 percent of the kibbutz’s 1,200 residents were murdered. Be’eri was formed on Oct. 6, 1946, as one of the 11 settlements created […]
Treasure Trove celebrates Passover and remembers Israel’s first vineyards
As we drink our four cups of wine at the Passover seder, many of us will be drinking wine from Israel. We’ll be continuing a tradition which began in 1882 when the first experimental vineyards were planted in Rishon LeZion with the financial and moral support of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, a French Zionist, philanthropist […]
Treasure Trove: A 1905 postcard from Basel recalls the many Zionist groups and supporters in Toronto
“Greetings from the Seventh Zionist Congress to our friends in Toronto” reads the top message on this postcard sent from the 1905 Congress in Basel, the first held after the death of Theodor Herzl. The image was painted by Carl Josef Pollack and depicts Herzl standing among his fellow Jews awaiting entrance to the Land of […]
Treasure Trove: Strolling along Dizengoff Street brings back memories of a visionary mayor
If you have ever strolled along Dizengoff Street or shopped at the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv, you’ve encountered Meir Dizengoff (1861-1936), the city’s first mayor, who served as head of town planning from 1911-1922 and mayor from 1922-1936. Before he became a politician, Dizengoff was a Zionist leader and businessman living in Kishinev (now […]
Treasure Trove travels to Nepal for a Jewish twist on a Himalayan tradition
Tibetan prayer flags are colourful, rectangular pieces of cloth that are hung over mountain passes and homes. They carry messages of compassion, joy, long life and prosperity. Ilana Schatz of Oakland, Calif., trekked in the Himalayas several times between 2003 and 2009. The prayer flags she saw on her trips inspired her to create a series of […]
Treasure Trove recalls how any investor could buy their own piece of Palestine in the 1920s
During the 1920s, American Zion Commonwealth Inc. sold real estate interests in Palestine to investors in the United States and Poland, with each investor receiving a land ownership certificate like this one. The company operated alongside the Jewish National Fund which purchased land funded by donations. Recognizing that only so much land could be bought […]
Treasure Trove explores how the story of Esther inspired a Dutch artist—to provide you with inspiration for Purim
Maspero Freres was a Cairo-based subsidiary of British American Tobacco Company with a cigarette factory in Tel Aviv. In 1940, it included Jewish History trading cards in cigarette packages sold in Palestine. The series began with a card depicting Ur Kasdim, the birthplace of Abraham, and ended with a photograph of David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann and Moshe […]
Treasure Trove remembers a star-studded fundraiser in Madison Square Garden for Jewish refugees
The “Night of Stars” was an annual fundraising event for the United Palestine Appeal. This is the program that was published for the 1939 version of the show which was held in November in New York’s Madison Square Garden, less than three months after the outbreak of the Second World War. Nine months earlier, a Nazi […]
In honour of the Oscars, Treasure Trove revisits a classic Jewish movie
With the Oscars coming up on March 10, Treasure Trove dipped into its Jewish-themed cinema archive to present the promotional material from the Austrian premiere of David and Batsheba. Released in 1951, the movie stars Gregory Peck as King David, with Lithuanian wrestler “Iron Talun” appearing as Goliath. It tells the story of David’s infatuation […]
