Libi Astaire's Blog, page 2
September 20, 2013
Sukkot Under the Nose of the Spanish Inquisition
I often write about the Anusim, the Jews of Spain and Portugal who were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages. You can read some of the articles I've written about them in Day Trips to Jewish History,, my book of essays about some lesser known topics in Jewish history. My historical novel Terra Incognita is also about the crypto-Jews of Spain. Yet I always assumed that Sukkos was one of the Jewish holidays that dropped off the radar, so to speak, for these communities.
A sukkah is by nature a public affair. It has to be built in an open place where one can see the stars through the schach (the branches that serve as the sukkah's roof). The mitzvah (commandment) is to dwell in the sukkah for all the days of the holiday - eat your meals there, entertain visitors there, sleep there - so how could an Anusim family do all that without suspicious neighbors or servants noticing and reporting back to agents of the Spanish Inquisition?
This year, I discovered a fascinating answer to that question. If you'd like to know more about it, please visit the Aish.com website and my article Under the Nose of the Spanish Inquisition.
Chag Sameach!
A sukkah is by nature a public affair. It has to be built in an open place where one can see the stars through the schach (the branches that serve as the sukkah's roof). The mitzvah (commandment) is to dwell in the sukkah for all the days of the holiday - eat your meals there, entertain visitors there, sleep there - so how could an Anusim family do all that without suspicious neighbors or servants noticing and reporting back to agents of the Spanish Inquisition?
This year, I discovered a fascinating answer to that question. If you'd like to know more about it, please visit the Aish.com website and my article Under the Nose of the Spanish Inquisition.
Chag Sameach!
September 15, 2013
Happy Birthday, Agatha Christie
It's a new year, according to the Jewish calendar, and I started mine by mistakenly deleting all my previous blog posts. Talk about wiping the slate clean!
But there can be few more pleasant ways to begin a new year of blogging than wishing Agatha Christie, who was born on September 15, 1890, a very happy birthday.
Why do Dame Agatha's books continue to sell in the billions? Robert Barnard, in his book A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, perhaps says it best: "It is the wonderful simplicity of Agatha Christie’s deceptions of the reader that keeps the stories of her classic period so fresh and readable. You always want to kick yourself at the end—rather than the author."
If I had to choose my favorite five Christies, my list would include, in no particular order:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder at the Vicarage
They Came to Baghdad
M or N?
All the rest of them :)
What are your favorites?
But there can be few more pleasant ways to begin a new year of blogging than wishing Agatha Christie, who was born on September 15, 1890, a very happy birthday.
Why do Dame Agatha's books continue to sell in the billions? Robert Barnard, in his book A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie, perhaps says it best: "It is the wonderful simplicity of Agatha Christie’s deceptions of the reader that keeps the stories of her classic period so fresh and readable. You always want to kick yourself at the end—rather than the author."
If I had to choose my favorite five Christies, my list would include, in no particular order:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder at the Vicarage
They Came to Baghdad
M or N?
All the rest of them :)
What are your favorites?
