Tablet Magazine
The Perils of Publishing
The historian Chen Malul recounts how the strife between two Christian publishing houses in 16th century Venice led to the burning of Jewish books.


Frontispiece of Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah printed by the Guistiniani press. From the National Library of Israel collection
the family ambron


Courtesy JTS
This illuminated “passport” dates to 1774 and documents the extension of privileges to the Jewish Italian buisnessman Salomone Ambron by the prelate Albani Gionanni Francesco (1770-1803). A collection of such documents attest to the reliance of Church powers on the Ambron family for military supplies, “to supply the French troops in Livorno,” for instance, or“supply furniture and uniforms to Ferrera’s soldiers.” This collection is digitized and is part of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Special Collections.
Ilit Azoulay: Mere Things
Photocollages of archival objects at the Jewish Museum on now until January 5 2025
Listen to Tablet
Newsletter
Those who do not remember the past are ... probably not Jewish
Jewish Self-Defense
As the scholar Netta Ehrlich shows, the history of Jewish local guard and self-defense units in Jewish communities in pre-revolutionary Russian Empire was extensive. Until now, scholars have concentrated on the ideological leanings of these groups (Zionist? Socialist? Bundist?) But, as Ehrlich shows, there were dozens such self-defense groups between the years 1900 and 1906 that conducted secret recruitment and meetings, cultivated leadership with imperial military experience, and pursued clandestine training and arms acquisition. These groups would effect the way pogroms unfolded—and, in some cases, were prevented.


YIVO/Netta Ehrlich