Laura Arnold Leibman
@lauraleibman.bsky.social
Jewish studies scholar and pug enthusiast. Leonard J. Milberg ’53 Professor in American Jewish Studies @Princeton University, President Association for Jewish Studies
Some exciting news on the job front for people early in their careers in American Jewish History. The Brandeis University Department of History has announced a full-time, tenure-track appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in American Jewish History.
Brandeis University, Department of History
Job #AJO32372, Assistant Professor of American Jewish History, Department of History, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, US
academicjobsonline.org
I, too, like blueberries 🫐 and yogurt for lunch.
Check out this podcast I did with Adam Jortner for the forthcoming exhibit on Jews and American Democracy at American Jewish Historical Society! ajhs.org/democracy-po...
The Rest of Mankind - American Jewish Historical Society
In 1654, the first Jews arrived in New Amsterdam. Sephardic refugees from Recife, Brazil, they came to the Dutch-controlled colony to escape the Spanish/Portuguese Inquisition. These 23 individuals be...
ajhs.org
Happy 1st day of Declaration of Independence 250 Month! Sharing this wonderful mezuzah belonging to family of Revolutionary war spy and financier Haym Salomon featured in the “Circa 1776” now open at the The Jewish Museum in NYC along with several other family artifacts. Photos by Laura Leibman
There was a LOT of outrage at the ministry of toast when high fiber cereal 🥣 with soy milk and blueberries 🫐 was served for breakfast instead of the beloved toast yesterday. I thought it was tasty, but apparently I was wrong. So, today we are back to our usual programming.
Want to learn more about the Jews of Colón, Panama? Check out this presentaton by Dr. Daniel Abouganem at the Latin American Jewish Studies Association conference in 2023. There is also a lovely review of the book here that has some wonderful historical photos: www.tvn-2.com/contenido-ex...
Presentation by Dr. Daniel Abouganem: Jews of Colón, Panamá
YouTube video by LAJSA - Latin American Jewish Studies Association
youtu.be
Today on this 22nd day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, the Jewish community of Panama! Today most Jews live in Panama City, but the first synagogue Kaal Kadosh Yangacob was built in Colón (sand floor!). It got its start from Curaçaoan Jews who came to Panama in 1876 due to a financial crisis.
Jewish History / Studies Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania - 2027–28 Fellowship: Between Mind and World in Premodern Jewish Life networks.h-net.org/jobs/70078/h...
Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania - 2027–28 Fellowship: Between Mind and World in Premodern Jewish Life | H-Net
Humanistic inquiry has long been energized by a desire to enmesh texts and ideas into the social, political, and material contexts in which they developed. The study of premodern Jews has likewise been driven by this desire—always on the lookout for new ways to move between the ideational and the real—to better understand texts and ideas as responses to and as shaping forces within a world of social interaction and conflict, materiality and spatiality, and the contingencies of lived experience.
networks.h-net.org
Today's tantalizing tidbit: this wonderful description of a Jewish wedding in NYC in June of 1800 by Joyce Mears Myers (widow of famed silversmith Myer Myers) to her daughter Rebecca Myers Mordecai. She is describing the wedding of her niece Hetty Isaacs to Isaac Moses (of South Carolina).
Yowza! Sharing this wonderful and beautiful website put together by Valerie van der Meulen-Sheppard on her family: It includes many key Jewish families from the Caribbean including Barbados, Suriname, and Trinidad. So many lovely photos and artifacts! #CaribbeanAmericanHeritageMonth #CaribbeanJews
HOME/Sheppard-1823 | Family Stories
valsheppard.com
Today on this 19th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month and Juneteenth. Sarah Rodrigues Brandon and Isaac Lopez Brandon began their lives poor, Christian and enslaved on the island of Barbados but ended their lives as some of the wealthiest Jews in New York. Neither lived to see Juneteenth
Learn about kosher boarding houses in 18th Century New York in a piece I wrote for the Jewish Women's Archive: jwa.org/encyclopedia...
Colonial Period in the United States | Jewish Women's Archive
Jewish women in colonial America led varied lives, with some occupying traditional roles as mothers and wives and others remaining single. Some ran their own businesses and others worked as servants f...
jwa.org
Learn more about 19th century Jewish boarding houses in this wonderful post by Shari Rabin on "You Are Where You Live: Jews, Religion, and the New York Boardinghouse." www.gothamcenter.org/blog/you-are...
You Are Where You Live: Jews, Religion, and the New York Boardinghouse — The Gotham Center for New York City History
You Are Where You Live: Jews, Religion, and the New York Boardinghouse By Shari Rabin
gothamcenter.org
Today's tantalizing tidbit: Jewish boarding houses in the 1850s. One was run by Jamaican Jewish merchant Solomon Lazarus and his wife Rebecca. The other was run by an unmarried woman named Rebecca Phillips. Many members of the Sephardic synagogue lived with Rebecca.
On this 17the Day of Caribbean American Heritage Month: Jewish gravestones of the Caribbean! the early communities follow the Portuguese jewish tradition from Amsterdam and Hamburg which allowed for human figures, angels, and the hand of God cutting down the tree of life. What figures do you see?
Today's tantalizing tidbit: Marseilles, or white-corded quilting, created intricate and elegant raised patterns on white cotton. Marseilles Quilt, 1830-1850. Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection, International Quilt Museum www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/quilt/200804...
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! The Wedding Cake House, Scharloo, Curaçao. Originally built by Elias Salomon Levy Maduro for his 18-year-old daughter, Deborah Rebecca. Now the home of the Nationaal Archief Curaçao. Photo by Laura Arnold Leibman
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! "A North-East View of the House of Mr. Emanuel Lousada, Kingston, Jamaica," painted by Samuel Felsted in 1778. This painting sold at auction in 2017 for US$80,000 (JS10 million).
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! Interior patio of Scharlooweg 55, Scharloo, Curaçao. Birthplace of the famous Jewish WWII hero, George Maduro. Image from the book "Curaçao. Willemstad: a City of Monuments."
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! The Emil house in Paramaribo, Suriname. Located near the Portuguese and High German Synagogues. Photo by Laura Arnold Leibman
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! Landhuis Habaai, Curaçao. Most famously owned by the Senior Family. Today an art gallery. Photo by Laura Arnold Leibman, 2012.
On this 16th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish houses of the Caribbean! Landhuis Klein Santa Marta, Curaçao, 2012. Photo by Laura Arnold Leibman (or maybe Stevan J Arnold??) Since our trip, the house has been gloriously restored: www.curacao.com/.../landhuis...
View of the farm at Frederic Church's Olana. A landscape artist, Church not only carefully constructed his house but also the views and landscapes in which it was situated. Photo by Laura Arnold Leibman
More views of the beautiful Frederic Church's Olana which we visited on Sunday. Can you imagine growing up in this incredible house or circling up in one of the many book nooks to read? Photos by Laura Arnold Leibman. #fredericchurch #Olana #americaneclecticism #historichouses #hudsonriverschool
Today's SECOND tantalizing tidbit. What are those lacy things along side the face of Rebecca Levy Tobias in her portrait by Jacob Hart Lazarus? These are lappets and they were popular as part of women's caps in the 1840s. Here's a beautiful example of a lappets and cap from the Leo Baeck Institute.
Today's tantalizing tidbit. Did you know that during the 1840s-1850s, Jewish women's sewing associations sprung up around the country? Women sewed clothes for the Jewish poor, shrouds for the dead, and quilts (and havelocks) for soldiers and loved ones.
On this 15th Day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, Jewish ritual baths of the Caribbean! Mikveh was an essential part of early modern Jewish society, and the early communities of the Caribbean used baths to maintain family purity as well as welcome conversos back into the fold of Jewish life.
Gut Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom to everyone except the people who are okay with this. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/09/b...
25 Babies and Toddlers Are in ICE Custody on an Average Day
On an average day under Trump, ICE has 25 children aged 3 or younger in custody. In total, at least 500 babies and toddlers have been detained.
themarshallproject.org
In a Kvetchbook by Barry Blitt, Clavicular outmogs some unexpected things.
On this 11th day of Caribbean American Heritage Month, the Jews of the Dominican Republic! 🇩🇴 The DR allowed Jewish migration during the Holocaust. Jewish refugees built agricultural communities like Sosúa. This documentary contains interviews community members today, including some refugees.
The Hidden Faith: Jews of Dominican Republic - Chapter 1
YouTube video by The Hidden Faith Project
youtu.be