Ancient/Medieval Jewish History

New information about the economic and religious lives of medieval Jewish women.

An Italian Jew records his impressions of Cairo and its Jews in the late fifteenth century.

Historical events and the development of mysticism leave their mark on this festival.

Ancient artifacts reveal Jewish attitudes toward incantations, demons, and the supernatural.

Suspicion of Jewish magic was behind the medieval accusation of child murder.

In medieval Europe, Jews suffered on account of popular beliefs about Jewish sorcery--and yet their non-Jewish neighbors also tried to benefit from Jewish magic.

A philanthropist, known as the heart of her people.

The first Hasmonean Queen of Judea.

This medieval work describes the ideal life of the pious Jew.

The Jewish passion to repair the world.

The rabbis of France and Germany created new genres of halakhic literature.

Alfasi's groundbreaking legal code invited criticism, defense, and supplementation.