Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online

Petition presented to the League of Nations in May 1933 in the name of Franz Bernheim as an official complaint against the deprivation of rights of the German Jews at the hands of the Nazi Regime. The complaint, prepared by a committee of Jewish delegations, was based on the Geneva Accord concluded in 1922 between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia, which the League of Nations had overseen. The claimants saw the antisemitic German policies as violations of the stipulations contained th…

The existence of the Ethiopian Jews, who called themselves Beta Israel (House of Israel), was almost unknown in the West until the 18th century. After reports from European travelers, an intense debate got underway in the early 19th century as to whether the members of this group could be recognized as “true” Jews. Eventually, European Protestants and Jews competed with one another in their respective goals of missionizing or “renewing” the Beta Israel. Since their immigration to Israel in the 2…

The rabbinical court (Hebr.  bet din, law court) came into being as the decision-making body for Jewish communities in the late-antique Diaspora. By virtue of its status as an independent legislative forum that handled all legal affairs, the  bet din developed into one of the foundations of Jewish autonomy. The emancipation legislation of the 19th century removed its basis for existence in Europe, but it experienced arenaissance in Israel after the state was established.1. Origins, organization, and authority through the end of the early modern eraThe rabbinic court generally …

Name of the art school founded in Jerusalem in 1906 by the Jewish sculptor Boris Schatz (1867–1932), named after the biblical architect of the Tabernacle, Bezalel ben Uri. With the establishment of this school, he sought to create a place at which Jewish art could flourish according to Zionist ideas. The understanding of art developed under the aegis of Schatz had a fundamental impact on the development of Jewish art in Palestine up until the 1920s.1. Boris Schatz: from Sofia to JerusalemWith the founding of the Bezalel School in 1906, the demand for Jewish art put forth se…