Johannes Buxtorf the Elder was a prominent Christian Hebraist. Born in Westphalia in Germany, the son of a minister, he studied at Marburg and then at the Herborn Academy, a Calvinist institution of higher learning. He was professor of Hebrew for thirty-nine years at the university in Basel and was known by the title Master of the Rabbis. He is best known for his book, Synagoga Judaica, a study of the customs and culture of German Jewry.
His [Asa’s] son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king, and took firm hold of Israel. He stationed troops in all the fortified towns of Judah, and stationed garrisons throughout the land of…
Congregation Shearith Israel was the first Jewish congregation established in North America, and the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825. Between 1654 and 1730, it used…