Judah Monis was the first college instructor of the Hebrew language in North America. Descended from Portuguese New Christians who returned to Judaism, he was born in Italy and studied in yeshivas in Leghorn (Livorno) and Amsterdam. Around 1715 he left for America. In New York, he became a merchant and offered Hebrew instruction to Christians and Jews. He then moved to Boston. Appointed Harvard University’s first full-time Hebrew teacher, he publicly converted to Christianity in order to meet the university regulations, although many voiced doubts concerning his religious convictions. In addition to A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, he also wrote works defending his conversion to Christianity.
A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue was the first Hebrew-language manual printed in North America. Its author Judah Monis, knowing that all undergraduates at Harvard University were required to learn…
Israel Paldi was a member of the Land of Israel movement, a group of post-impressionist artists who, in the 1920s, broke with the conventions of the Bezalel School. Some, like Paldi, became well-known…
Wasp hive in cow’s skull, Golan Heights. The hive is reminiscent of the swarm of bees and honey that Samson found in a lion’s carcass, which became the subject of his riddle (Judges 14:8).