It was Nov. 1, 1946, and Ossie Schectman of the New York Knicks took a bounce pass and scored on a two-handed underhand layup. Schectman, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, had just scored the first basket in NBA history.

The Knicks won that night at the Maple Leaf Gardens arena, defeating the Toronto Huskies 68-66. More than 7,000 spectators were there for the inaugural game of the Basketball Association of America. The league became the National Basketball Association three years later.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

What does the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak, have to do with Gaza?

At first glance, very little. The Akeidah is generally understood as the ultimate test of Avraham's faith, demonstrating his willingness to obey Hashem even when commanded to sacrifice his beloved son.

Yet two medieval Torah commentators, the Rashbam and the Chizkuni, link the Akeidah to what we would today call a "Land for Peace" deal between Avraham and Avimelech, king of the Philistines.

The Akeidah opens with the words, "And it came to pass after these things that G-d tested Avraham" (Genesis 22:1).

What were "these things"?

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

On December 29, 1778, as British troops overran Savannah, Georgia, a 43-year-old Jewish officer and his teenage son tried desperately to escape across Musgrove Creek.

British soldiers were firing at them, and the creek was swollen by the incoming tide. The officer could have swum to safety, but his 16-year-old son could not swim. Rather than abandon him, he surrendered alongside the boy.

The officer was Colonel Mordecai Sheftall, the highest-ranking Jew to serve on the American side during the Revolutionary War.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

When Mozambique's President Daniel Chapo attended the 100th anniversary celebration of the country's only synagogue this past June, he was honoring an institution that had been shuttered under his own party's rule.

Chapo belongs to Frelimo, the party that has governed Mozambique since independence in 1975. Under its Marxist leadership, religious practice was restricted, the synagogue ceased functioning and the building became a Red Cross warehouse.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles

On August 14, 1776, the South Carolina and American General Gazette in Charleston published two remarkable items on the same page.

One was the Declaration of Independence. The other was an account of the death of Francis Salvador, a 29-year-old Jewish patriot who had been killed fighting for the American cause just two weeks earlier.

Born in London in 1747, Salvador belonged to one of England's most prominent Sephardi Jewish families. His ancestors had fled religious persecution in Portugal, settling first in Holland before establishing themselves in Britain.

Continue to the full article  |  More articles