Crash Course

The 17th century marks the rise of mercantilism. Jews were active in it on many levels. At the same time,...

In the 1600s, Jewish mysticism became widespread, but was countered by Renaissance skepticism. This laid the ground for the calamitous...

The Protestant Reformation changed forever the face of Western civilization, and in so doing changed world Jewry, shifting its center...

Among the Jews who left Spain during the expulsion in 1492 was a boy not even 13 who would become...

Jewish life in Poland remained vibrant for 500 years. Though filled with extreme hardship, it had a spiritual richness that...

The Marranos suffered greatly, but some managed to flee Spain, finding tolerance and success with other Jews in lands such...

The Renaissance brought a new intellectual spirit to Europe but also challenged the power of the Church. For the Jews,...

Don Isaac Abarbanel almost prevented the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, but could not. The end of Spanish Jewry...

Although the Black Death devastated all Europe, for the Jews it is was compounded by Christian persecution that blamed them...

During the 1200s, persecutions pushed Ashkenazic-European Jewry to the precipice of physical and spiritual extinction. But three men turned everything...