Jewniverse Articles Archive - Page 54 of 174

The Jewish Boy Who Shot the German Diplomat

Herschel Grynszpan wasn’t yet eighteen when, on November 7, 1938, he took 300 francs from his impoverished uncle, bought a revolver, marched into the German embassy in Paris, and shot German diplomat Ernst vom Rath five times in the abdomen. But this was no random act of violence. Grynszpan, shy but fiercely emotional, was born […]

By Zachary Solomon

How to Prepare Your Mother’s Body for Burial

It’s said that the members of a hevra kaddisha, or a Jewish burial society, perform the “ultimate kindness” — that is, helping another person who’ll never be able to repay the favor. Usually, members are volunteers who perform that “kindness” on strangers. But, in the short story “The Chevra” by Goldie Goldbloom, a young woman […]

Why Didn’t Britain’s Jewish Kids Get Rickets?

Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency disease that causes children’s bones to soften, was so common in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that doctors were at a loss for explaining its prevalence. Children with the characteristic bowed legs and stunted growth were raised in wealthy and poor families alike. However, doctors noted […]