Tag Archives: hebrew

How the classic English novel spread throughout the Jewish world and its many languages In late April of 1719, the English author Daniel Defoe published the story of the wonderful tales of Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe was a young Englishman who ran away from home at the age of 18. He …

Did you know that Maimonides’ first public activity in Egypt was a large-scale mission to get Jews out of Crusader captivity? In a letter preserved in the Geniza (which has since disappeared) Maimonides makes an appeal to the various communities “Regarding the captives, may our God release their bonds”, and …