Antonietta Rapha�l was born in Kaunas (Lithuania) in 1895.
The youngest child of Rabbi Simon Rapha�l, coming after thirteen sons, she lost her father during the winter of 1903. "My father died when I was seven or eight years old," she wrote in her diary on July 20, 1968. "I remained with my mother with no means to survive." Her thirteen brothers were all tailors and had moved to London before Antonietta. Presumably in 1905 she moved to London with her mother Katia (n�e Horowitz). She studied music and made a living by embroidering. After attaining a diploma in piano, she mostly taught music and became a frequent visitor to the British Museum, where she was particularly fascinated by Egyptian sculptures. In London she soon met the sculptor Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), but she herself started drawing only in 1918. In fact she was totally devoted to music and, having a good voice, to singing. After her mother's death, in 1919, she spent a winter in Paris and then settled in Rome. Read

The Rothschild Mahzor is one of the treasures of the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Copied on parchment in Florence, Italy, in the year 1492, this magnificently illuminated prayer book is comprised of four hundred and seventy-seven leaves containing the liturgy of the Italian Jews and several piyyutim (liturgical poems). View the book

By Jayne Cohen for Jewish Women International

When the chestnuts in Piedmont ripen in time for the fall holidays, Roberta Anau serves her Rosh Hashanah guests special burricche: turnovers lush with chestnuts, onions, raisins and smoked goose.

Silvia Nacamulli's family includes Swiss chard among the ritual foods at its Rosh Hashanah seder; growing in profusion, chard symbolizes a wish for bounty in the new year. But this is Rome, so we're not talking about serving it simply boiled. "We prepare it in a delicious frittata," she says, a savory combination of the cooked green leaves, sauteed onions and eggs, fried golden on both sides and served at room temperature. Read