Category Archives: Jewish history

Articles and resources on the history of ancient Judah, Jews, and Judaism, including archaeology, mythology and more, not limited to the Levant.

US General Patton saw for himself

We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about halfway up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General (Eisenhower)…The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result remembering it.

~ General Patton in Germany, diary entry Sept 17, 1945