Born in a Ukrainian shtetl near Kiev, Yaacov Ben-Dov (b. Lasutra) was a pioneer of both still photography and motion pictures in the Land of Israel. He moved to Palestine in 1907 and continued his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where he later taught photography. He began filming key historical events in 1917 and made nine films between 1918 and 1932, which the Zionist movement used worldwide to garner support. He retired from filmmaking in the early 1930s as a result of his inability to adjust to the introduction of sound.
Theresa Concordia Mengs painted this self-portrait with pastels, her preferred medium, when she was about twenty years old, a few years after her family moved from Dresden to Rome.
Every woman is obligated to kindle lights on the eve of each Sabbath and Festival and this is a great mitzvah. And she makes the blessing, “Blessed are You God, our Lord, King of the universe. Who…