Moses Seixas (1744–1809)—The Promise of Liberty
For the tiny Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island, the question was urgent: Would the new republic merely tolerate Jews, or would it recognize them as full and equal citizens?
Faith on the Frontier: Orthodox Women of the Wild West
We [still] observed all the Jewish holidays. I have never seen a more beautiful Pesach than in our little log cabin, four miles from any neighbor, right in the middle of the woods.
Jews in the Wild West: Cotopaxi’s Orthodox Pioneers
The harsh, rocky desolate terrain of southern Colorado is an unlikely site for settlement of Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jews. Yet, in 1882, devout immigrants from Tsarist Russia moved to Cotopaxi, Colorado, with the hopes of starting a Jewish agricultural colony. Here is their remarkable story of heroism and sacrifice. In the spring of 1882, twenty-three-year-old Michel […]
Orthodox Women in the “Wild West”
If keeping mitzvot in a small Jewish community is a challenge today, imagine how much more of a struggle it would be if you had to paper the walls of your wood cabin with newspapers to keep out the cold and carry water home from the creek for cooking and washing. This was the […]