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Honey, I over-heated just watching this! I am allergic to wool. I only wear cotton dresses. Wish I could sew since it is almost impossible to find cotton dresses in plus sizes.
I didn't realize sha-atnez applied to thread! I'm on a medieval kick at the moment, and the discussion of sha'atnez got me wondering about medieval men's clothing. Men's braies were underwear and therefore presumably linen. Chausses, or hose were worn over, and had to be tied onto the braies or later a doublet in order to stay up. Hose were usually wool for better fit and elasticity. Do we know if hose and braies were considered separate garments? Did Jewish men stick to linen hose? There's some indication that wool braies existed, but it's thought that they were meant to match a pair of hose, and separate linen ones worn underneath for laundry.
This was marvelous. We should all take time to question not who history remembers but who was left and why. These two outfits were great, I would happily wear them both. I love seeing you share the history of your people that is so often left out or forgotten.
Tell me you’re starved for decent historical representation without telling me you’re starved for decent historical representation: I read the title and got so excited I teared up!
As someone who is jewish who knows very little about my own culture, I love your videos about Judaism and Jewish history within the topic of historical dress, and it's a way I feel able to connect to my heritage in a way that I haven't been able to before! thank you!
I'm in the same boat! A lot of the "religious/spiritual" elements don't click for me, but the culture and the history is something I'm really excited to have found a way to connect to.
@@bestaqua23 i recommend them as well! I live in Tel Aviv and actually went there back when it was called bet hatfutsot (The diaspora museum in Hebrew). Highly recommend them. They are a great resource.
@@Jennaw95 I found a link for either the Tel Aviv museum or the Israel museum (I know big difference lol...also hi, I too am Tel Avivit!) that had an exhibit on Jewish dress from different communities around the world, but that's literally all I could find.
"We were there." This brought tears to my eyes because I've started to research my Jewish roots in France and Belgium. It's SO DIFFICULT to find good information, and I know that's not an accident. Thank you for this video and for all the work you're doing.
I'm "lucky" enough in that respect that most of my Jewish ancestors emigrated in the 1880s (a notable period of unrest, for certain!), and so records from that point forth take place in the US. Records from beforehand are ... questionable. Land changed hands so much in Europe - was it Galicia-Lodomeria? was it Poland? Was it Prussia? Was it Denmark? Was it Germany? No worries, it was literally ALL of those at one point or another! So good luck finding records from a time and place you don't even know to look in, because it's a nation who no longer exists, and who knows where any of those records WENT. In your case - Belgium is a very new nation, on the European scale of things. If your ancestors lived on the land that is now part of Belgium, you will very likely be looking for a completely different nation's name on the map if you want any good data about those lines of descent. France has been a bit more stable for a much longer time, but Alsace-Lorraine has changed hands a comical number of times. Most of the diaspora that spread Jewish folk throughout central Europe took place a good thousand years ago,, but due to the endogamous nature of many Jewish communities, the genetics are traceable even after such a time in a new place, because we did not completely genetically assimilate into local populations. Mitochondrial DNA or, if you have a Y chromosome, following that direct line of descent, can give you an incredible amount of information about who *did not* overtake your genes along the way. The fact that so many Eastern and Central European Ashkenazi Jews share the same haplogroups, and the same haplogroup as the Middle East for the last four thousand years, is an amazing testament to how strongly we perpetuated our own continuous line among ourselves.
The Jewish community in France was expelled in 1392 and moved to Poland. Most of the Jewish community in France today came from Spain and North Africa. The Jewish community in Belgium came from Amsterdam after the Holocaust. I probably have distant relatives there I haven't met, but not a lot. The Nazis were pretty thorough. 😖 I have a video on another channel about Jewish genetics and ancestry.
When I started dating my bf, he and his family hadn't even met a jewish person before. Around the holidays I wanted to throw them a hanukkah, since they never had one, but there was some funny confusion around the menorah. They thought you put the candles in all at once and it didnt matter what candles, so they put birthday candles in all the spots on the first night. It was really funny and really sweet they took initiative to try
Ah, this is wonderful. I study in Oxford, and I'm very interested in the Jewish history of the city--as you say, it was home to one of the biggest Jewish communities. I know that some of the wealthier landowning Jewish men sold land to the University in its early days. But even before the expulsion, the Jewish community there also experienced extreme violence from the crown and other political figures. Many of the sites were stolen and used for Christian purposes post conversion also. Nowadays there's a Jewish history group which does tours and provides information about this specific history in Oxford, and there's a strong Jewish community at the synagogue
As someone who isn’t Jewish (or religious) I used to go to interfaith meetings and it was all religious sects in the area (I was raised Presbyterian) and so caltholic, Jewish, Muslim kids would all get together and the two I remember are of Jewish religious dates. Also in regards to wool thread, i recommend Etsy, quilting shops, and yarn shops. There is also apparently wool embroidery thread, and some wool yarn is spun so finely that I could see it being able to be used for thick thread. Front porch quilting shop has a wide selection of 100% wool thread It appears that most of the thread is described as embroidery thread. My assumption is that this is because it is thicker than traditional thread. Edit: made it easier to read the text by adding space
It makes perfect sense that Jews would be allowed to swear on the Torah, because making them swear on the Bible would be exactly as meaningful as making their Christian neighbours swear on the Torah, and the whole point of swearing on your Holy Text was to take your oath more seriously.
@@rolandscales9380 sure. And the Koran explicitly refers to Jewish and Christian scriptures. So let's make Muslims swear on the Bible (or the Tanakh) because that would be super logical, meaningful and appropriate. 🤷🏻♀️
It makes perfect sense...if you respect the religious texts of a religion you're not a part of. If the current local ruler is more of the "convert to my religion or I'll murder your whole family" line of thought it's much less likely to happen, which is why it's such a big deal that medieval Jews were allowed to use their own religious texts in kingdoms ruled by other religions.
@@cam4636 Yeah, it does depend on whether you consider it more important that people follow a particular religion or that they take their oaths seriously.
Wow I’m so excited already as a frum Jew for this because i feel like I never get to see how women like me dressed more than like maybe 200 years ago! Could you do a video going in depth on different modes of hair covering in history for Jewish ladies? I know you talked a bit about Jewish vailing, but I’d love to know more about it at various points. Maybe you’ll talk about it in the video though!!!
I'm always a little hesitant to talk about being frum or veiling because those aren't practices that are part of my life, but it seems like people really do want something about head coverings! Maybe Shoshi and I can do a deep dive in the future.
As someone who does cover her hair as an observant Jew (but has zero costume history expertise), I can tell you that exactly how someone chooses to cover her hair (how much of it, with what) is a huge identifying marker within Jewish communities. It would be really interesting if we had information on such distinctions beyond the past 200-300 years.
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has a large permanent exhibit on historical women’s head coverings across many (mostly middle eastern) countries, and had an ashkenazi exhibit about ten years ago. They have a book on Jewish sartorial tradition from these exhibits - could be a good place to start your search!
There are also many medieval and Renaissance images (albeit by non-Jewish artists) that depict Jewish clothing (albeit on various saints and major players in Xtian iconography) Through cross referencing from Jewish images likely by, about or for Jews, certain styles of turban head wraps are quite apparent along with the veiling.
@@SnappyDragon IIRC, the video you did about the Jewish veil a while back showed a hairstyle which is actually discussed in halachic texts, where the veil covers most of the head, but the hair that's braided and then sculpted into a mass at the back of the head is peaking out. There are legal debates from the period between rabbis who discussed whether it it was okay for a married woman to wear her hair like this, and many said it was, because the hair was not wild or loose. I don't remember the source at the moment, but it's quoted in a book by Rabbi Henkin (who died earlier this year) called UNDERSTANDING TZNIUT.
I love this video! But as a portuguese historian i have to point out a few things, the iberian dress would be longer about ankle lenght with just a bit of the trousers showing and the belt wouldn't be as thight to show the waist and the female figure, face covering although not mandatory was also visible, in the elite you could also see alot of luxury in the clothes in terms of design and jewels as well as makeup.Overall as a portuguese woman who still sees the influences of this period on my culture i apreciate the fact that you made an effort to study iberian history!And as a fun fact, for the last part of the video about the jewish expulsion from iberia, Portugal under D.Duarte rule took alot of the escaping spanish jews. Despite feeling the pressure from the portuguese inquisition, wich was allied with the spanish one, to expulse the jews he decided to instead force conversion because he had big plans for expansion on the sea and the jews were one of the most educated groups, because of that he was able to maintain in Portugal the biggest minds of the time period making one of the most brilliant and rich times for Portugal. Sorry for the rant xD
Thank you so much! I did run into a lot of issues finding sources for details like that, probably down to being an English speaker researching a non-English speaking area. For a lot of reasons I'm describing this outfit as a "steaming pile of conjecture" in the video about making it, but it's always good to know more.
@@SnappyDragon thank you so much for talking about sephardi jews even with the limited sources ! i dont know if you usually work with volunteer subscribers, but im sure that there's lots of us portuguese/spanish speakers that would love to help out w translations ☀ also as a portuguese gentile, these informative videos are so important to us ! even when learning the mandatory iberian history today the jewish community is often erased like you said, even in smaller cultural accomplishments (such as the first book printed in portugal with a gutenberg press being a Torah) and also when discussing regional populations and culture (like the amazing historical jewish community of Belmonte!!). Learned so many new information with your video !! ps: im not good with words and dont usually comment, but im v thankful for your work in general (and also the more traction this video gets, the better!)
@@lauraprecioso2152 Yes! I would really recommend "Arabs in history" of Bernard Lewis. In my spcefic history of islam class this was the most useful book, its has everything since the beggining of islam. Its not from a portuguese/spanish author but alot of iberian historians helped writting it and its the easiest book for begginers.Hope it helps!
@@lauraprecioso2152 About specifically women in Medieval Iberia, I know the book (in Spanish) "Velos y desvelos. Cristianas, musulmanas y judías en la España medieval", by Maria Jesús Fuente, and also you can find several short articles written by her on the same subject on the Internet. Note that since she is a Spanish Medievalist, she usually covers late Medieval History (13th-15th Century, the era when Christian rule became the main power in the Iberian peninsula, and because of that it's easier to find iconographic sources), and uses mainly Castilla and Aragon sources, not Portuguese ones.
In England they also found bodies of people who had been murdered in a pogrom , who lined up genetically with modern Ashkenazi except they had no Eastern European or Germanic ancestry.
Check out ‘The Modern Maker, Matthew Gnagy’ for some serious deep tailoring advice and revelations of 16th c. Spanish Tailoring…his incredibly well researched work(on UA-cam) and in print is inspiring. He’s apparently ‘cracked the code’ of the Bara system of proportional measurement and cutting as published in the 16th and 17th c. manuals.
I just found out that 20% of spaniards have jewish blood by DNA. It fascinates me since I received a citizenship based on the fact that my family ran away from Spain in the banishing of the jews, 600 years ago.
Your speech at the end reminds me of 9th grade history class, where our teacher had very different things to say about 1492 Spain. Even though this was in a city with a large Jewish population, no one openly disagreed with him. In following years, I used that class to explain how terrible my high school education was.
In a lot of ages and locations, we were not allowed to own land, and so that is how we ended up being bankers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Also, per my Rabbi, he said that most ships had a Hebrew literate Jew on board to communicate with other ports, as one might not be able to communicate with different languages in each port.
Yup, that's about the size of it! I have some interesting future plans to do with the presence of Jews in marine trade . . . for which I blame @Faye Sterling 100%.
Ngl, that last bit shook me. I, too, am a cultural Jew and my grandparents were holocaust survivors. It hit me hard when you spoke about who history tends to forget. Thank you.
I loved all the little historical stories & interesting facts linked. In with the cultures like the Spanish 'house outfit'. It's is VERY similar to what I wear at home in the summer here in Australia (cotton yoga pants & an oversized knee length long T shirt) for the same reason - the unbearable heat. I was also happy (in a sad way) to learn about some historical facts I hadn't been aware of till now. Like I wasn't aware that the first instance of blood libel took place in England. I thought that it had started up in Germany during the period of the Black Death.
Blood libel? Is this when you are not the direct cause of physical harm or death but something you did indirectly hurt/killed someone? I was raised in a small sect of Christianity and they use the term blood guilty. I am not sure if this concept is common across most christian sects. I don't even know if blood libel and blood guilt are similar concepts.
@@cayman144 Blood libel is the libellous accusation that a particular demographic are guilty of murdering someone (often a child) in order to use the victim’s blood in a ritual. Those accusations are hardly ever true, or even consistent with the religion of the accused.
@@cayman144 Blood guilt is a different unfounded accusation, that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, who was, of course, crucified by Romans. Whenever the gospels refer to "the Jews", it is the leadership of Judea who are meant, not the people as a whole. The leadership was probably involved, being concerned about a rebellion leading to a bloody response from Rome (which indeed happened about 40 years later), but it's unreasonable to apply guilt from a government under occupation to all of the inhabitants, and to their descendants for millenia.
I love this so much. I hope you keep doing these historical vids about Jewish fashion in the past. I'd love to see a '600 years of Jewish fashion' or something like that. I know Jewish history can be full of painful experiences of oppression, but it's great to remember both the resilience of the Jewish people and the way throughout history oppressed people used fashion to do something beautiful and express themselves despite being marginalized by the state/hegemonic culture
My mother-in-law's father was a kosher tailor in Poland. The wool and linen bit is so fascinating! Think there might be rules about lining too?!? Thank you for this video!
Oh, I can't wait for this to premiere! I first discovered your channel through your video about Jewish veiling, and as someone who loves to learn more about the several Jewish communities that have always lived in Europe, clothing is such an important part of that journey and of their lives.
Amazing video! I absolutely love learning about Jewish culture and historical dress. One thing that really resonated with me in this video is your quote "You will find us, if you remember to look." I think this quote works for many minorities- I know there has been lots of discussion in the historical costuming community on gatekeeping the "historical accuracy" of individuals very existence, whether that be asian people, LGBT people or, in this case, jewish people. We were always there, you just have to remember to look
This was brilliant! I really love how you did two different locations too, and how different they look. For my Medieval History course at uni last semester we had a couple of lectures on Jewish history for one of my modules, and they were some of my favourite lectures! I actually recommended your last video on the Jewish veil to my lecturer! As for wool thread, I buy thin and strong yarn labelled as 'embroidery and weaving' yarn, as I find this is a great thickness and should be nice and strong for the seams.
so as evidenced by my stan comment below, i am really into your work. however, as someone who is musta'arabi mizrahi (meaning from arabized populations of jews who have been in the middle east since there have been jews in the world), i strongly strongly caution against conflating sephardic dress with musta'arabi dress. they are not the same cultural context, especially not on the level of what everyday people were doing. i am still doing research into pre-ottoman musta'arabi dress and culture, as it's often very hard to find, so i understand if you weren't able to find much either. it would have been AMAZING if you had done a video on iraqi jewish culture as well, and preferable if you're using their dress style, but i understand that the sources are (somewhat) limited. so while i appreciate your note about this style of dress being from iraq, if you were going to talk about sefarad, in my opinion it would have been more responsible and historically accurate to present this character as being, for example, the daughter of an iraqi jewish trader passing through or immigrated to andalusia. that way you could have still talked about jews in sefarad, since you already have that information/it's easier to find research on in general, without implying that there is/was cultural conformity across the jewish arab world. because that could not be further from the truth! there are similarities, but our ethnic groups are distinct. accurately preserving our heritage, especially post-sephardic immigration into musta'arabi lands, depends on it. and thanks for showing that you know that jewish cultures are super diverse in the intro, it was very well done!
Thanks for your comment! I apologize if I wasn't descriptive enough about how I used the sources I did-- a lot of that is coming in a few weeks in the video focusing on this outfit. Of course it would be a huge problem to use exclusively or primarily Iraqi sources for an Andalusian outfit. There were several situations where there wasn't a piece of evidence specific to Al-Andalus but there *was* evidence directly connecting that garment in Al-Andalus to a similar or equivalent garment in another medieval Islamic territory. For instance, a picture in El Libro de los Juegos shows a Spanish lady wearing sarwal in what was definitely an Andalusian rather than a Visigothic-Spanish fashion, but there don't seem to be surviving sarwal from Al-Andalus. In that case, I based a pattern on extant, similar-looking sarwal from Egypt. I hope this makes more sense!
@@SnappyDragon And thanks for being understanding! Unfortunately it can be a really big intracommunity issue that since the combining of Sephardic communities with Musta'arabi communities in the last 100 years (in Syria anyway, that's the context I know) there has been a really big issue of Sephardic hegemony where Musta'arabi culture is being pretty much erased from the historic record and we are almost never talked about; the whole Levant is represented as being Sephardic with there being "almost no" Jews left, which is absolutely not true. So, I get really protective! Looking forwards to all the details & def very interested in the sources you were able to find.
excellent video! i'm an archaeologist, and my job always deals with the people and objects that no one bothers or wants to write about, the things that history doesn't always want recorded. it's always good to see these things brought to light, and i have such a fondness for learning about historical dress! thank you for the lesson!
We have record of at least one very famous Baghdadi oud player (named Ziryab) moving to Muslim Spain during the Umayyad period! Somewhat earlier than your video is set, in the 9th century, but it's definitely historically plausible to use the music that you chose, there was a lot of culture swapping taking place! We see influences ranging from Syrian to Visigothic in the architecture and objects of the time - so it's very possible that hairstyles were the same, cherry picked based on personal preference from a wide pool. The ruling family was from (recent) Syrian roots, so on a more courtly level styles of hair styling would likely have followed those seen in Syria in the early 11th century/late 10th century. I'm going to go comb through my books and see if there's anything I've missed before now on hair! (sorry for the infodump, I grew up learning about these things and very rarely get a chance to share!)
That Andalussian outfit looks super comfy, I really look forward to seeing the in-depth video of it later. Thank you for telling the stories of your people; I'm now inspired to do some more research. Excellent work!
That state at 18:06 just made me burst into tears from the emotions on your face and the words you were speaking, like legit tears streaming down my face right now. Thank you for teaching us 🤍
So here I have left a link about the awesome group l'am de foc (the master of the fire) they sing in a language long forgotten, called "Occitá" is a mixture of old catalán (the lenguaje from Barcelona) and Sephardic words. The group was dissolved long ago, but the singer, Mara aranda, still does really cool Sephardic music from the Mediterranean
Jewish history is my favorite subject. The alephbet, the calendar, the feasts even the mazzaroth. I always thought much about how the Jewish peoples were the most meticulous record keepers in history and how it became for the benefit of the world. I love how each letter of the alephbet has certain meanings as well as a number associated. Whose words can be powerful and sacred. When more letters are placed together the combinations of meanings increase and after that you can meditate on the profound messages hidden in plain sight in the very first verse of the Torah or think about the significance behind a name. I love how the constellations of the mazzaroth tell a complete and wonderful story from beginning to conclusion. I also love the history outside of the scriptures from the maccabean revolt and it's heroes to the bubonic plague in Europe where it was noticed that the plague was not decimating the Jewish community. Jews were then accused of placing curses on the local populace in order to take over their land and country. This because Jewish people had a traditional concept of sanitation and uncleanliness. In the time of Moses they were instructed not to defecate near their encampments because the spirit of the Lord traveled with them and it was offensive for their sewage to be so near their encampments. They were told not to cohabitate with unclean animals like rats and mice. If vermin we're actually spreading the bubonic plague in Europe then the Jews were at an advantage indeed. We know they were not placing curses but rather blessed with knowledge. I also love the music and the food. Mazzoball soup with dillweed garnish has a featured spot on my ethnic foods of epicness list.
@Rhyannon Ashford - In your research, allow the time to read "Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey" by Isabel Fonseca. It describes the life of the Romani people in eastern Europe into the 1990s and their possible past origins (India?). Generally, they seem to be trapped in a positive feedback loop of under-education that inspires murderous bigotry against them, forcing them to live insular lives of deep poverty that further inspires more murderous bigotry. They suffered as much in the Holocaust as any other group, for example, yet that is seldom discussed. You will need a big box of tissues while you read.
This is so interesting! i love how you explain the Jewish concepts. I'm modox myself, and am super interested in the intersession of historical clothes and halacha ever since I found this corner of the interwebs. I wonder if the overdress would be something not considered acceptable in some circles because of the emphasis around the torso? While, obv, chazal aren't as strict as us in some respects and stricter in others, I wonder if this would be something they wouldn't count as arva since you are technically covered, but hypothetically could be because the whole idea is the silhouette. I'd love to see you do more videos on other Jewish communities clothes across Europe (and other places, obv lol but I understand that's not really your wheelhouse). I recently did a Jewish tour of ancient Rome and the guide's insights into regular life was so interesting. Edit: lol by recently I obviously mean in 2019.... strange how that feels like only months ago.
The bliaut's silhouette and the evolution of more fitted kirtles + the "gates of hell" sideless surcoat that followed it were considered pretty shocking by some Christians, so it would not surprise me if there were Jews who felt the same way!
I'm so interested in seeing this video. Most historical videos (fashion or otherwise) rarely give you anything. But a glimpse at the lives of minorities (if you're lucky) during the period they're talking about.
I'm not Jewish, but I'm excited to see this! I'll be revisiting your veil video for arranging mine (without blue stripes) if I ever finish my medieval ensemble.
I love that she makes the distinction on HAIR covering, often spoken of as head covering. I listened to a podcast from michael heiser an ancient Hebrew scholar, where he argued that in ancient Greek times, a woman’s hair was thought of as a part of the reproductive system....
Thank you for lifting this perspective! This was both interesting and important. Beautiful outfits. I've sewn medieval wool clothing before with either thin embroidery yarn (I've used a brand named Appleton, mostly because they come in so many colours that it's easy to find a match) or that kind of thin wool yarn that you use to mend old socks (that I have no idea what it's called in English unfortunately. Stoppgarn in Swedish if anyone else can find a better dictionary than I did)
i literally teared up 30 seconds in and paused to write this comment. thank you so much for this video, your attention to detail -- both in sewing and history -- really shines. as a mizrahi/ashke/sephardi jew i love your work!! will def be sending this one to my friends as well.
Marvelous! You combined laws, history, garment construction, religious laws and more! Some of my favourite things. I stumbled upon this video and will watch others in the future. I've been sewing almost 5 decades and still learning.
Thanks fo another fascinating dive into this overlooked area of historical dress! As for wool thread, darning wool is a good option because it is fine yet strong, but often only comes in small quantities (same with embroidery wool). You might have better luck looking for lace-weight wool yarn which can sometimes be bought in bulk on cones for weaving or knitting machines.
My favourite info about Jewish diaspora in Europe is about "hungarian" Jews that were relocated to the Panonian plains during roman rule and stayed there after roman borders retreated south. There's evidence of their uninterrupted presence in what's now Hungary as early as late antiquity (about 300 a.d.) and they have and interesting history regarding emancipation in the 19th century, related to the reform you mentioned. Unfortunately, soon after, they became prime targets for exnophobic attacks and many emigrated. There also used to be an important community of orthodox Jews in Satu-Mare at the time, then still within Hungarian borders, and I read that many of them fled to the east coast, specifically New York, and re-established themselves there. I'm not sure if "Hungarian" Jews count as Ashkenazi, because their migration route was a bit different than that of the Russian/east European diaspora, so maybe some cultural aspects differ? Also not sure if the quotation marks are necessary or not, technically they did and probably do speak Hungarian. But they had lived in the area for longer than ethnic Hungarians, is what I'm trying to say.
Wow, tearing up at that last bit-so much sadness for how people were (and still are) treated, but your words are also so beautiful, powerful, and strong. Thank you so much for your videos!
This was great. It's true, many of us were educated to picture European history as white and Christian. Learning about the long centuries of Islamic rule in Spain was eye opening, and seeing so many people of African descent depicted in European art lets you know that everybody was traveling everywhere, whether voluntarily or not. We all need to get used to each other, there is no denying that. It's a big world full of wonderful and interesting varieties of people, and we all need to have our rights and dignity protected as we share the planet.
I can’t believe i discovered your channel! As a jewish girl with ashkenazi blood, i am so excited to hear more about my ancestors lives. The most I know about Renaissance Jews comes from Shakespeare’s “the Merchant of Venice” and it’s not the best depiction. I love historical dress and my heritage. thank you for being an awesome creator ✡️💚
This video is so impressive I think I learned more form that video than from some hour long documentary. I tend to like the what if stories that some historical documentaries provide. But your concretness of facts so seemingly simple as clothing and the number of lives those two outfits could have stood for left chills running down my spine at the end.
Well, I am subscribing. 4th video today and am very impressed with info, humor, history and everything! Great when I want to stay out of all the breaking/depressing news too. Have to show this to my aunt.
OH MY GOSH- I'm starting to get into historical costuming and history bounding and I've been debating if I should document my work or not creating modern interpretations of historical garments and making them for modern frum fashion. I'm so happy you're making videos on these subjects!!!
Thank you! I am researching Yemenite Jews in the 1500s. This is so helpful! Also, if you still need woolen thread, try Lucia Tuch und Stoff in Germany.
I was not raised jewish, my mother was Italian and my father was german-french and my step father was from Arkansas and I was also "adopted" into a Mexican family(whom I love more than anything and are basically the only family I have left) but I've always felt a strong connection to jewish culture. I love the culture and the food( which I do cook on occasion yum!) and the family aspects and all the love shared. I just love all of it! Thank you for all of your videos they are lovely, educational, and entertaining 💚💜😸
I really appreciate this video and I'm really looking forward to seeing the more in-depth ones! As someone who's culturally Jewish, and have been dipping my toes into the SCA in the Before Times (virtual events are not my cuppa), but with literally zero historical research skills, its been intimidating to know where to start on any persona, let alone to try and incorporate the history of my own heritage into it, as I have even less of an idea on where to start for that.
I'm from a family of Eastern European Jews. I became a Baha'i after learning about the different religions. All the religions have the same spiritual teaching, like the Golden Rule. To be a Baha'i is to love all mankind and to work for unity.
I live in York, and for a uni essay I had to research into the local medieval history (believe me there's lots of it here). There's an account of a mass'acre of approx. 150 jewish people (in 1190) in what is now called 'Clifford's Tower' in William of Newburgh's 'Histories of English Affairs' - the effects were so extreme there wasn't a jewish population here again until the late 1800's. The council only marked the action in the 1970's which means for about 800 years the massacre went unrecognised by the public.
I think your best option would be to reach out to your local fiber arts guild and see if you can get a spinner interested in a commission. Personally, I find this fascinating and as a spinner and a Jew, but I am also located on the other side of the country, so less than ideal for a collab. I've read about considerations for spinning sewing thread, but never thought of putting them into practice. Ideally for wool sewing thread, you'd want to find someone with considerable experience doing worsted fiber prep as the smoother and sleeker that spun yarn is, the better it would be for sewing. I've never made top before and have never really had a desire to until now, lol. Commercially, I've been finding a lot of 50/50 wool acrylic for applique which is frustrating. I'd almost suggest using crewel embroidery thread or tapestry yarn, but both are much chunkier than traditional sewing thread.
Yup, tapestry yarn is lovely stuff and I just used some for a non-sha'atnez embroidery project, but I probably wouldn't want to sew with it. Someone did recommend a brand of wool embroidery yarn that can be used for machine-embroidery, so I have high hopes for that!
@@SnappyDragon That does sound promising! Random sidenote, a friend of mine gifted me with a roving of 33%wool, 33% linen, and 33% silk a couple years back. I spun it up and gave it back to her and named the finished yarn "Trayf" It was a very different spin than what I'm used to.
Thank you. The costumes are beautiful. The content was thought-provoking. History isn't always (or even usually) about what we easily see but about what you may find if you are willing to search a little deeper.
Wow! This video was amazing, you really filled in huge gaps in my knowledge of the time and place! Your seams are beautiful, those garments you model are really something to be proud of in more ways than one. Thank you for telling me stuff I didn't know I didn't know!
V- thank you so much for your videos! I always love the historical and cultural context that you add alongside some darn good sewing! This video had me thoroughly engaged from beginning to end, was very moving, and has left me very contemplative. Also, I love that pink gown! Anyway, thank you for your perspective! I love hearing your historical research.
As always, really great video! I'll have to keep an eye out for wool sewing thread for you; so far I've done well with Devere yarns in my sewing, but that was mostly when it came to felling and decorative top-stitching. Since I'm considering using it again for the construction of one of my upcoming projects, I'll have to tell you how it goes!
I’m so glad I found your videos and your channel through the CoSy playlist. This video was excellent. I’m completely new to this topic and am really interested to learn more. I thought your ending was particularly poignant as well. As I’m totally new to this area of research (both the historical dress and the cultural/geographic/religious variations within it), I hadn’t heard of many of the specific names for the garments before so it would be great to see them spelt out on screen to (as you did for some of the other words). Thanks again for this video and I’m looking forward to watching more of your videos in the future!
Great video! I just learned last year that my family is descended from Sephardic Jews from Spain. Having been raised Catholic, this was more than a bit surprising, and goes to your point of erasure. I do not know (yet, the family is doing some research on it) whether there was forced conversion for survival, but it seems likely.
I know this comment is late, but you mentioned wanting a source for wool sewing thread: my suggestions would be to consider wool embroidery thread, aka Crewel embroidery thread. My other suggestion would be to spin your own - a bit of spinning wool and a drop spindle, and you can make your own sewing threads all day long. :) Both of these suggestions are only suitable for handsewing, unfortunately. Edit to add: Yarn could be another option, but be aware that commercial yarns are spun basically as little as needed to hold together (to minimize processing and maximize profits; less twists = running the machines less = less overhead), so if you use knitting/crocheting yarn, be aware that you will need to uptwist it for strength, which is why I don't really recommend it. Crewel floss is designed to go into and out of fabric a lot - it should withstand the abrasion in a way regular wool yarns won't.
Very powerful ending. The vlog whetted my appetite for more about Medieval and Renaissance Jewish communities as well as dress. Especially in Aragon (I loved the Caroline Roe Isaac of Girona mysteries).
I really needed to thank you for this video. I watched it yesterday and in this morning I woke up crying (for the second time lol) because I was thinking of this video. The re-enacting and the information you gave is really really important and it also means so much to me because of my Ashkenazi and Sephardi roots. Also I’m a history nerd and I love to search about historical fashion. This video is really special for me and it really touched the deepest part of my soul. Thank you so much again and keep with this wonderful work ❤
Who knows the play "Nathan the Wise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing? It's set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and tells the story of a Jew (said Nathan), a Muslim (Sultan Saladin), the adoptive daughter of Nathan and some unnamed Christian Templar. The play is a plea for friendship and understanding between the three religions. Sadly, the play was only written in the 18th century and its message was not heard in many periods of history. :(
I love this type of video! Whenever I read historical books, like Jane Austen or the Brontë's or something, I always imagine my place in that world and how my family would get there with us being Jewish and all. It’s so interesting to think about and there is an abysmally small amount of historical evidence for so many eras!
AMAZING video! I love how detailed this is. I only have an amateur interest in social history and material culture myself but I've noticed it can be difficult to find records of this kind of history (particularly from Medieval Spain) so I really appreciate how much effort and research went into this!
Wool thread is widely available online, but it tends to be rather thick and require use of an upholstery needle. If you want something finer you should have a go at hand spinning with a drop spindle (not expensive). It will still be a bit thick but when waxed can be thinner than commercial wool thread. This is the method I use with some of my felted art pieces.
I'll do my best! Although I will definitely have to call in some reinforcements because in the Jewish communities I've been part of, people being frum was not really a thing.
This is so interesting, and as a Jewish woman, it brings me such joy to learn about the sartorial history of my people. Todah rabah and shalom aleichem ✡️❤️
I’ve seen wool sewing thread spools for machine sewing at one of my local fabric stores, G Street Fabrics, maybe. But I’ve also taken wool embroidery thread, spun it tighter on my spindle, and hand sewn with that.
re: wool thread... the only wool sewing machine thread that I've ever seen is Aurifil, and that's 50/50 wool/acrylic. If you are hand sewing, there are several 100% wool embroidery threads that are firmly twisted and fine enough to be used for sewing seams. I like Rustic Wool Moire (avail on etsy), though you need to use slightly shorter lengths to avoid sewing with thread that's worn thin from passing through the fabric a zillion times. 15 ish inches seems to work well for me. Wool threads for fine crewel embroidery are also a good bet - crewel work involves a lot of passes through tightly woven cotton, so the threads tend to be on the sturdier side. It's more expensive, but you can also get a LOT of colors. Waxing your thread makes a HUGE difference, esp if you wax, run it under an iron to melt the wax INTO the thread, then add another light coat on the surface if needed (I usually don't, but I also sew on wool fabric that's not too tightly woven. YMMV).
So interesting learning about the lived histories of groups not focused on in mainstream American history textbooks. Sharing on my Twitter accounts and with family. Thank you for your hard work.
since you asked about our favorite often forgotten part of history. i do a lot of research into queer history, and often run into a similar issue to what you mentioned where, even though we are everywhere and everywhen, missing records of what local queer people were up to is very common, due either to erasure or the need of queer people at the time to stay hidden.
I really appreciate you. I am also Jewish and I like historical costuming and its so rare and interesting to see what my ancestors went through and may have wore.
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Honey, I over-heated just watching this! I am allergic to wool. I only wear cotton dresses. Wish I could sew since it is almost impossible to find cotton dresses in plus sizes.
I didn't realize sha-atnez applied to thread! I'm on a medieval kick at the moment, and the discussion of sha'atnez got me wondering about medieval men's clothing. Men's braies were underwear and therefore presumably linen. Chausses, or hose were worn over, and had to be tied onto the braies or later a doublet in order to stay up. Hose were usually wool for better fit and elasticity. Do we know if hose and braies were considered separate garments? Did Jewish men stick to linen hose? There's some indication that wool braies existed, but it's thought that they were meant to match a pair of hose, and separate linen ones worn underneath for laundry.
"Ask two Jews, get three opinions" is such a wonderful little turn of phrase that always tickles me. Very sobering conclusion, and rightly so.
It must be an Ashkenazi saying, as exactly the same phrasing exists in Polish: where two Poles, there are three opinions. :)
@@berlineczka Actually it is ask two Jews and get FOUR opinions. As in "On the other hand." I'm part Ashkenazi Jew myself.
@@suzettekath9860 Yeah, I guess this saying has a number of variations in both Jiddish and Polish. I once heard "three Poles, six opinions" as well.
The only thing two Carpenters can agree on, is that the 3rd one is wrong. Ha
@@suzettekath9860 that’s how I’ve always heard it corollary- ask two rabbis, get 6 opinions. 🤣
This was marvelous. We should all take time to question not who history remembers but who was left and why. These two outfits were great, I would happily wear them both. I love seeing you share the history of your people that is so often left out or forgotten.
Hystory is told by the winners
Agreed- and thank you for posting all of this!
Tell me you’re starved for decent historical representation without telling me you’re starved for decent historical representation:
I read the title and got so excited I teared up!
As someone who is jewish who knows very little about my own culture, I love your videos about Judaism and Jewish history within the topic of historical dress, and it's a way I feel able to connect to my heritage in a way that I haven't been able to before! thank you!
I'm in the same boat! A lot of the "religious/spiritual" elements don't click for me, but the culture and the history is something I'm really excited to have found a way to connect to.
You should contact ANU Museum of the Jewish People from what I know they are very nice about answering questions like thet
@@bestaqua23 i recommend them as well! I live in Tel Aviv and actually went there back when it was called bet hatfutsot (The diaspora museum in Hebrew). Highly recommend them. They are a great resource.
@@Jennaw95 I found a link for either the Tel Aviv museum or the Israel museum (I know big difference lol...also hi, I too am Tel Avivit!) that had an exhibit on Jewish dress from different communities around the world, but that's literally all I could find.
@@Ashley_tipsyshades which Tel Aviv museum? We don’t have a museum just called the Tel Aviv museum lol.
ושלום מלב העיר !
"We were there." This brought tears to my eyes because I've started to research my Jewish roots in France and Belgium. It's SO DIFFICULT to find good information, and I know that's not an accident. Thank you for this video and for all the work you're doing.
I'm "lucky" enough in that respect that most of my Jewish ancestors emigrated in the 1880s (a notable period of unrest, for certain!), and so records from that point forth take place in the US. Records from beforehand are ... questionable. Land changed hands so much in Europe - was it Galicia-Lodomeria? was it Poland? Was it Prussia? Was it Denmark? Was it Germany? No worries, it was literally ALL of those at one point or another! So good luck finding records from a time and place you don't even know to look in, because it's a nation who no longer exists, and who knows where any of those records WENT.
In your case - Belgium is a very new nation, on the European scale of things. If your ancestors lived on the land that is now part of Belgium, you will very likely be looking for a completely different nation's name on the map if you want any good data about those lines of descent. France has been a bit more stable for a much longer time, but Alsace-Lorraine has changed hands a comical number of times.
Most of the diaspora that spread Jewish folk throughout central Europe took place a good thousand years ago,, but due to the endogamous nature of many Jewish communities, the genetics are traceable even after such a time in a new place, because we did not completely genetically assimilate into local populations. Mitochondrial DNA or, if you have a Y chromosome, following that direct line of descent, can give you an incredible amount of information about who *did not* overtake your genes along the way. The fact that so many Eastern and Central European Ashkenazi Jews share the same haplogroups, and the same haplogroup as the Middle East for the last four thousand years, is an amazing testament to how strongly we perpetuated our own continuous line among ourselves.
The Jewish community in France was expelled in 1392 and moved to Poland. Most of the Jewish community in France today came from Spain and North Africa. The Jewish community in Belgium came from Amsterdam after the Holocaust. I probably have distant relatives there I haven't met, but not a lot. The Nazis were pretty thorough. 😖 I have a video on another channel about Jewish genetics and ancestry.
You will be hard-pressed to find good information on the era anywhere.
Morgan Donner has a video “How to make a 500-year-old dress” uploaded on January 28, 2021 that has a link to wool thread.
Unsung hero. Thank you from everyone here.
When I started dating my bf, he and his family hadn't even met a jewish person before. Around the holidays I wanted to throw them a hanukkah, since they never had one, but there was some funny confusion around the menorah. They thought you put the candles in all at once and it didnt matter what candles, so they put birthday candles in all the spots on the first night. It was really funny and really sweet they took initiative to try
Ah, this is wonderful. I study in Oxford, and I'm very interested in the Jewish history of the city--as you say, it was home to one of the biggest Jewish communities. I know that some of the wealthier landowning Jewish men sold land to the University in its early days. But even before the expulsion, the Jewish community there also experienced extreme violence from the crown and other political figures. Many of the sites were stolen and used for Christian purposes post conversion also. Nowadays there's a Jewish history group which does tours and provides information about this specific history in Oxford, and there's a strong Jewish community at the synagogue
I'm hoping to visit the UK sometime in the next few years and I will have so much exploring to do!
As someone who isn’t Jewish (or religious) I used to go to interfaith meetings and it was all religious sects in the area (I was raised Presbyterian) and so caltholic, Jewish, Muslim kids would all get together and the two I remember are of Jewish religious dates.
Also in regards to wool thread, i recommend Etsy, quilting shops, and yarn shops. There is also apparently wool embroidery thread, and some wool yarn is spun so finely that I could see it being able to be used for thick thread. Front porch quilting shop has a wide selection of 100% wool thread
It appears that most of the thread is described as embroidery thread. My assumption is that this is because it is thicker than traditional thread.
Edit: made it easier to read the text by adding space
It makes perfect sense that Jews would be allowed to swear on the Torah, because making them swear on the Bible would be exactly as meaningful as making their Christian neighbours swear on the Torah, and the whole point of swearing on your Holy Text was to take your oath more seriously.
Except that the Torah (aka the Pentateuch) is a substantive part of the Christian Bible too.
@@rolandscales9380 As a Christian, I have to tell you that this is deeply unhelpful and wrong.
@@rolandscales9380 sure. And the Koran explicitly refers to Jewish and Christian scriptures. So let's make Muslims swear on the Bible (or the Tanakh) because that would be super logical, meaningful and appropriate. 🤷🏻♀️
It makes perfect sense...if you respect the religious texts of a religion you're not a part of. If the current local ruler is more of the "convert to my religion or I'll murder your whole family" line of thought it's much less likely to happen, which is why it's such a big deal that medieval Jews were allowed to use their own religious texts in kingdoms ruled by other religions.
@@cam4636
Yeah, it does depend on whether you consider it more important that people follow a particular religion or that they take their oaths seriously.
Wow I’m so excited already as a frum Jew for this because i feel like I never get to see how women like me dressed more than like maybe 200 years ago! Could you do a video going in depth on different modes of hair covering in history for Jewish ladies? I know you talked a bit about Jewish vailing, but I’d love to know more about it at various points. Maybe you’ll talk about it in the video though!!!
I'm always a little hesitant to talk about being frum or veiling because those aren't practices that are part of my life, but it seems like people really do want something about head coverings! Maybe Shoshi and I can do a deep dive in the future.
As someone who does cover her hair as an observant Jew (but has zero costume history expertise), I can tell you that exactly how someone chooses to cover her hair (how much of it, with what) is a huge identifying marker within Jewish communities. It would be really interesting if we had information on such distinctions beyond the past 200-300 years.
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has a large permanent exhibit on historical women’s head coverings across many (mostly middle eastern) countries, and had an ashkenazi exhibit about ten years ago. They have a book on Jewish sartorial tradition from these exhibits - could be a good place to start your search!
There are also many medieval and Renaissance images (albeit by non-Jewish artists) that depict Jewish clothing (albeit on various saints and major players in Xtian iconography) Through cross referencing from Jewish images likely by, about or for Jews, certain styles of turban head wraps are quite apparent along with the veiling.
@@SnappyDragon IIRC, the video you did about the Jewish veil a while back showed a hairstyle which is actually discussed in halachic texts, where the veil covers most of the head, but the hair that's braided and then sculpted into a mass at the back of the head is peaking out. There are legal debates from the period between rabbis who discussed whether it it was okay for a married woman to wear her hair like this, and many said it was, because the hair was not wild or loose. I don't remember the source at the moment, but it's quoted in a book by Rabbi Henkin (who died earlier this year) called UNDERSTANDING TZNIUT.
I love this video! But as a portuguese historian i have to point out a few things, the iberian dress would be longer about ankle lenght with just a bit of the trousers showing and the belt wouldn't be as thight to show the waist and the female figure, face covering although not mandatory was also visible, in the elite you could also see alot of luxury in the clothes in terms of design and jewels as well as makeup.Overall as a portuguese woman who still sees the influences of this period on my culture i apreciate the fact that you made an effort to study iberian history!And as a fun fact, for the last part of the video about the jewish expulsion from iberia, Portugal under D.Duarte rule took alot of the escaping spanish jews. Despite feeling the pressure from the portuguese inquisition, wich was allied with the spanish one, to expulse the jews he decided to instead force conversion because he had big plans for expansion on the sea and the jews were one of the most educated groups, because of that he was able to maintain in Portugal the biggest minds of the time period making one of the most brilliant and rich times for Portugal.
Sorry for the rant xD
Thank you so much! I did run into a lot of issues finding sources for details like that, probably down to being an English speaker researching a non-English speaking area. For a lot of reasons I'm describing this outfit as a "steaming pile of conjecture" in the video about making it, but it's always good to know more.
@@SnappyDragon thank you so much for talking about sephardi jews even with the limited sources ! i dont know if you usually work with volunteer subscribers, but im sure that there's lots of us portuguese/spanish speakers that would love to help out w translations ☀
also as a portuguese gentile, these informative videos are so important to us ! even when learning the mandatory iberian history today the jewish community is often erased like you said, even in smaller cultural accomplishments (such as the first book printed in portugal with a gutenberg press being a Torah) and also when discussing regional populations and culture (like the amazing historical jewish community of Belmonte!!). Learned so many new information with your video !!
ps: im not good with words and dont usually comment, but im v thankful for your work in general (and also the more traction this video gets, the better!)
Yumi do you happen to have any recommendations of portuguese or spanish books that go deeper into these subjects? 👀 would love to learn more ☀
@@lauraprecioso2152 Yes! I would really recommend "Arabs in history" of Bernard Lewis. In my spcefic history of islam class this was the most useful book, its has everything since the beggining of islam. Its not from a portuguese/spanish author but alot of iberian historians helped writting it and its the easiest book for begginers.Hope it helps!
@@lauraprecioso2152 About specifically women in Medieval Iberia, I know the book (in Spanish) "Velos y desvelos. Cristianas, musulmanas y judías en la España medieval", by Maria Jesús Fuente, and also you can find several short articles written by her on the same subject on the Internet. Note that since she is a Spanish Medievalist, she usually covers late Medieval History (13th-15th Century, the era when Christian rule became the main power in the Iberian peninsula, and because of that it's easier to find iconographic sources), and uses mainly Castilla and Aragon sources, not Portuguese ones.
There was an archeology dig recently in England that found evidence of medieval Jews keeping kosher from the food residue on pots.
Oh that's so cool! Excuse me while I go look it up 😃
In England they also found bodies of people who had been murdered in a pogrom , who lined up genetically with modern Ashkenazi except they had no Eastern European or Germanic ancestry.
I'm excited to see historic Spanish dress. I only ever find English and French references
That's part of what made this video so fun. I love researching and showing things that don't get enough attention.
@@SnappyDragon I was struck by how it wouldn't look out of place on a young hijabi woman today!
Check out ‘The Modern Maker, Matthew Gnagy’ for some serious deep tailoring advice and revelations of 16th c. Spanish Tailoring…his incredibly well researched work(on UA-cam) and in print is inspiring. He’s apparently ‘cracked the code’ of the Bara system of proportional measurement and cutting as published in the 16th and 17th c. manuals.
The cinematic punch of you saying "erased" as your two dressed up selves walk off camera... i started crying
As a Spaniard who is obsessed with medieval history this video was truly a blessing, thank you!
I just found out that 20% of spaniards have jewish blood by DNA. It fascinates me since I received a citizenship based on the fact that my family ran away from Spain in the banishing of the jews, 600 years ago.
Your speech at the end reminds me of 9th grade history class, where our teacher had very different things to say about 1492 Spain. Even though this was in a city with a large Jewish population, no one openly disagreed with him. In following years, I used that class to explain how terrible my high school education was.
In a lot of ages and locations, we were not allowed to own land, and so that is how we ended up being bankers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Also, per my Rabbi, he said that most ships had a Hebrew literate Jew on board to communicate with other ports, as one might not be able to communicate with different languages in each port.
Yup, that's about the size of it! I have some interesting future plans to do with the presence of Jews in marine trade . . . for which I blame @Faye Sterling 100%.
There were also involved in the transatlantic slave trade
@@gnostic268 So was everyone else. Is there a point you are trying to make, or are you simply trying to be annoying?
Ngl, that last bit shook me. I, too, am a cultural Jew and my grandparents were holocaust survivors. It hit me hard when you spoke about who history tends to forget. Thank you.
As someone whose ancestors are part Sephardi I am very exited about the Spanish ensemble!
I loved all the little historical stories & interesting facts linked. In with the cultures like the Spanish 'house outfit'.
It's is VERY similar to what I wear at home in the summer here in Australia (cotton yoga pants & an oversized knee length long T shirt) for the same reason - the unbearable heat.
I was also happy (in a sad way) to learn about some historical facts I hadn't been aware of till now. Like I wasn't aware that the first instance of blood libel took place in England. I thought that it had started up in Germany during the period of the Black Death.
England was also the first place in "modern" times (1290) to expel their Jewish population. And it came into effect on Tisha b'Av.
Blood libel? Is this when you are not the direct cause of physical harm or death but something you did indirectly hurt/killed someone?
I was raised in a small sect of Christianity and they use the term blood guilty. I am not sure if this concept is common across most christian sects.
I don't even know if blood libel and blood guilt are similar concepts.
@@cayman144
Blood libel is the libellous accusation that a particular demographic are guilty of murdering someone (often a child) in order to use the victim’s blood in a ritual. Those accusations are hardly ever true, or even consistent with the religion of the accused.
@@cayman144 Blood guilt is a different unfounded accusation, that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, who was, of course, crucified by Romans. Whenever the gospels refer to "the Jews", it is the leadership of Judea who are meant, not the people as a whole. The leadership was probably involved, being concerned about a rebellion leading to a bloody response from Rome (which indeed happened about 40 years later), but it's unreasonable to apply guilt from a government under occupation to all of the inhabitants, and to their descendants for millenia.
I love this so much. I hope you keep doing these historical vids about Jewish fashion in the past. I'd love to see a '600 years of Jewish fashion' or something like that. I know Jewish history can be full of painful experiences of oppression, but it's great to remember both the resilience of the Jewish people and the way throughout history oppressed people used fashion to do something beautiful and express themselves despite being marginalized by the state/hegemonic culture
Morgan Donner used wool thread for her Greenland Dress. Darned if I can’t remember what the company was. But they have loads of colors. It’s amazing.
My mother-in-law's father was a kosher tailor in Poland. The wool and linen bit is so fascinating! Think there might be rules about lining too?!? Thank you for this video!
Oh, I can't wait for this to premiere! I first discovered your channel through your video about Jewish veiling, and as someone who loves to learn more about the several Jewish communities that have always lived in Europe, clothing is such an important part of that journey and of their lives.
Amazing video! I absolutely love learning about Jewish culture and historical dress. One thing that really resonated with me in this video is your quote "You will find us, if you remember to look." I think this quote works for many minorities- I know there has been lots of discussion in the historical costuming community on gatekeeping the "historical accuracy" of individuals very existence, whether that be asian people, LGBT people or, in this case, jewish people. We were always there, you just have to remember to look
Thank you! The fact that it applies to all sorts of other marginalized people is why I said it.
This was brilliant! I really love how you did two different locations too, and how different they look. For my Medieval History course at uni last semester we had a couple of lectures on Jewish history for one of my modules, and they were some of my favourite lectures! I actually recommended your last video on the Jewish veil to my lecturer! As for wool thread, I buy thin and strong yarn labelled as 'embroidery and weaving' yarn, as I find this is a great thickness and should be nice and strong for the seams.
so as evidenced by my stan comment below, i am really into your work. however, as someone who is musta'arabi mizrahi (meaning from arabized populations of jews who have been in the middle east since there have been jews in the world), i strongly strongly caution against conflating sephardic dress with musta'arabi dress. they are not the same cultural context, especially not on the level of what everyday people were doing.
i am still doing research into pre-ottoman musta'arabi dress and culture, as it's often very hard to find, so i understand if you weren't able to find much either. it would have been AMAZING if you had done a video on iraqi jewish culture as well, and preferable if you're using their dress style, but i understand that the sources are (somewhat) limited. so while i appreciate your note about this style of dress being from iraq, if you were going to talk about sefarad, in my opinion it would have been more responsible and historically accurate to present this character as being, for example, the daughter of an iraqi jewish trader passing through or immigrated to andalusia. that way you could have still talked about jews in sefarad, since you already have that information/it's easier to find research on in general, without implying that there is/was cultural conformity across the jewish arab world. because that could not be further from the truth! there are similarities, but our ethnic groups are distinct. accurately preserving our heritage, especially post-sephardic immigration into musta'arabi lands, depends on it. and thanks for showing that you know that jewish cultures are super diverse in the intro, it was very well done!
Thanks for your comment! I apologize if I wasn't descriptive enough about how I used the sources I did-- a lot of that is coming in a few weeks in the video focusing on this outfit. Of course it would be a huge problem to use exclusively or primarily Iraqi sources for an Andalusian outfit. There were several situations where there wasn't a piece of evidence specific to Al-Andalus but there *was* evidence directly connecting that garment in Al-Andalus to a similar or equivalent garment in another medieval Islamic territory. For instance, a picture in El Libro de los Juegos shows a Spanish lady wearing sarwal in what was definitely an Andalusian rather than a Visigothic-Spanish fashion, but there don't seem to be surviving sarwal from Al-Andalus. In that case, I based a pattern on extant, similar-looking sarwal from Egypt.
I hope this makes more sense!
@@SnappyDragon Ah ok awesome, thank you for clarifying!! It wasn't super clear in the caption you shared. Can't wait for the next two.
@@SnappyDragon And thanks for being understanding! Unfortunately it can be a really big intracommunity issue that since the combining of Sephardic communities with Musta'arabi communities in the last 100 years (in Syria anyway, that's the context I know) there has been a really big issue of Sephardic hegemony where Musta'arabi culture is being pretty much erased from the historic record and we are almost never talked about; the whole Levant is represented as being Sephardic with there being "almost no" Jews left, which is absolutely not true. So, I get really protective! Looking forwards to all the details & def very interested in the sources you were able to find.
@@lemonbalm3781 The way that Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews are pushed aside, 'the other' and being made invisible really takes the piss
excellent video! i'm an archaeologist, and my job always deals with the people and objects that no one bothers or wants to write about, the things that history doesn't always want recorded. it's always good to see these things brought to light, and i have such a fondness for learning about historical dress! thank you for the lesson!
We have record of at least one very famous Baghdadi oud player (named Ziryab) moving to Muslim Spain during the Umayyad period! Somewhat earlier than your video is set, in the 9th century, but it's definitely historically plausible to use the music that you chose, there was a lot of culture swapping taking place!
We see influences ranging from Syrian to Visigothic in the architecture and objects of the time - so it's very possible that hairstyles were the same, cherry picked based on personal preference from a wide pool. The ruling family was from (recent) Syrian roots, so on a more courtly level styles of hair styling would likely have followed those seen in Syria in the early 11th century/late 10th century. I'm going to go comb through my books and see if there's anything I've missed before now on hair!
(sorry for the infodump, I grew up learning about these things and very rarely get a chance to share!)
That Andalussian outfit looks super comfy, I really look forward to seeing the in-depth video of it later. Thank you for telling the stories of your people; I'm now inspired to do some more research. Excellent work!
That state at 18:06 just made me burst into tears from the emotions on your face and the words you were speaking, like legit tears streaming down my face right now. Thank you for teaching us 🤍
So here I have left a link about the awesome group l'am de foc (the master of the fire) they sing in a language long forgotten, called "Occitá" is a mixture of old catalán (the lenguaje from Barcelona) and Sephardic words. The group was dissolved long ago, but the singer, Mara aranda, still does really cool Sephardic music from the Mediterranean
Jewish history is my favorite subject. The alephbet, the calendar, the feasts even the mazzaroth.
I always thought much about how the Jewish peoples were the most meticulous record keepers in history and how it became for the benefit of the world.
I love how each letter of the alephbet has certain meanings as well as a number associated. Whose words can be powerful and sacred. When more letters are placed together the combinations of meanings increase and after that you can meditate on the profound messages hidden in plain sight in the very first verse of the Torah or think about the significance behind a name.
I love how the constellations of the mazzaroth tell a complete and wonderful story from beginning to conclusion.
I also love the history outside of the scriptures from the maccabean revolt and it's heroes to the bubonic plague in Europe where it was noticed that the plague was not decimating the Jewish community.
Jews were then accused of placing curses on the local populace in order to take over their land and country. This because Jewish people had a traditional concept of sanitation and uncleanliness. In the time of Moses they were instructed not to defecate near their encampments because the spirit of the Lord traveled with them and it was offensive for their sewage to be so near their encampments. They were told not to cohabitate with unclean animals like rats and mice. If vermin we're actually spreading the bubonic plague in Europe then the Jews were at an advantage indeed.
We know they were not placing curses but rather blessed with knowledge.
I also love the music and the food. Mazzoball soup with dillweed garnish has a featured spot on my ethnic foods of epicness list.
I love your videos about Judaism in historical costuming. It makes me want to do the research on my own Romani history.
@Rhyannon Ashford - In your research, allow the time to read "Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey" by Isabel Fonseca. It describes the life of the Romani people in eastern Europe into the 1990s and their possible past origins (India?). Generally, they seem to be trapped in a positive feedback loop of under-education that inspires murderous bigotry against them, forcing them to live insular lives of deep poverty that further inspires more murderous bigotry. They suffered as much in the Holocaust as any other group, for example, yet that is seldom discussed. You will need a big box of tissues while you read.
This is so interesting! i love how you explain the Jewish concepts. I'm modox myself, and am super interested in the intersession of historical clothes and halacha ever since I found this corner of the interwebs. I wonder if the overdress would be something not considered acceptable in some circles because of the emphasis around the torso? While, obv, chazal aren't as strict as us in some respects and stricter in others, I wonder if this would be something they wouldn't count as arva since you are technically covered, but hypothetically could be because the whole idea is the silhouette. I'd love to see you do more videos on other Jewish communities clothes across Europe (and other places, obv lol but I understand that's not really your wheelhouse). I recently did a Jewish tour of ancient Rome and the guide's insights into regular life was so interesting.
Edit: lol by recently I obviously mean in 2019.... strange how that feels like only months ago.
The bliaut's silhouette and the evolution of more fitted kirtles + the "gates of hell" sideless surcoat that followed it were considered pretty shocking by some Christians, so it would not surprise me if there were Jews who felt the same way!
I'm so interested in seeing this video. Most historical videos (fashion or otherwise) rarely give you anything. But a glimpse at the lives of minorities (if you're lucky) during the period they're talking about.
I'm not Jewish, but I'm excited to see this! I'll be revisiting your veil video for arranging mine (without blue stripes) if I ever finish my medieval ensemble.
(i found you through hat pin swashbuckling though)
I love that she makes the distinction on HAIR covering, often spoken of as head covering. I listened to a podcast from michael heiser an ancient Hebrew scholar, where he argued that in ancient Greek times, a woman’s hair was thought of as a part of the reproductive system....
I have curly red hair, and really wanted to colour it partly green/blue. Thankyou for showing me how awesome it'll look xx
What I do if I’m sewing woollen cloth, is to pull threads out of the fabric I am sewing. Same with linen. Works very well.
Thank you for lifting this perspective! This was both interesting and important. Beautiful outfits.
I've sewn medieval wool clothing before with either thin embroidery yarn (I've used a brand named Appleton, mostly because they come in so many colours that it's easy to find a match) or that kind of thin wool yarn that you use to mend old socks (that I have no idea what it's called in English unfortunately. Stoppgarn in Swedish if anyone else can find a better dictionary than I did)
The literal translation of “stoppgarn” is “darning yarn”, and I do get some hits for that on Google.
Unfortunately, darning yarn is usually a wool/nylon blend, not pure wool.
i literally teared up 30 seconds in and paused to write this comment. thank you so much for this video, your attention to detail -- both in sewing and history -- really shines. as a mizrahi/ashke/sephardi jew i love your work!! will def be sending this one to my friends as well.
"We were there, and you will find us if you remember to look. And if you can't find us, it isn't happenstance; it's because we were erased."
Marvelous! You combined laws, history, garment construction, religious laws and more! Some of my favourite things. I stumbled upon this video and will watch others in the future. I've been sewing almost 5 decades and still learning.
I didn't expect this video to make me cry. Thank you for this vital information.
Thanks fo another fascinating dive into this overlooked area of historical dress! As for wool thread, darning wool is a good option because it is fine yet strong, but often only comes in small quantities (same with embroidery wool). You might have better luck looking for lace-weight wool yarn which can sometimes be bought in bulk on cones for weaving or knitting machines.
My favourite info about Jewish diaspora in Europe is about "hungarian" Jews that were relocated to the Panonian plains during roman rule and stayed there after roman borders retreated south. There's evidence of their uninterrupted presence in what's now Hungary as early as late antiquity (about 300 a.d.) and they have and interesting history regarding emancipation in the 19th century, related to the reform you mentioned.
Unfortunately, soon after, they became prime targets for exnophobic attacks and many emigrated. There also used to be an important community of orthodox Jews in Satu-Mare at the time, then still within Hungarian borders, and I read that many of them fled to the east coast, specifically New York, and re-established themselves there.
I'm not sure if "Hungarian" Jews count as Ashkenazi, because their migration route was a bit different than that of the Russian/east European diaspora, so maybe some cultural aspects differ? Also not sure if the quotation marks are necessary or not, technically they did and probably do speak Hungarian. But they had lived in the area for longer than ethnic Hungarians, is what I'm trying to say.
Wow, tearing up at that last bit-so much sadness for how people were (and still are) treated, but your words are also so beautiful, powerful, and strong. Thank you so much for your videos!
Israeli Jew here! I love historical fashion videos and was absolutely not expecting one about Jews! So cool :))
All the more reason to have done it! Thanks for watching 💚
This was great. It's true, many of us were educated to picture European history as white and Christian. Learning about the long centuries of Islamic rule in Spain was eye opening, and seeing so many people of African descent depicted in European art lets you know that everybody was traveling everywhere, whether voluntarily or not. We all need to get used to each other, there is no denying that. It's a big world full of wonderful and interesting varieties of people, and we all need to have our rights and dignity protected as we share the planet.
You made me cry! Thank you for this V! I'm looking forward to the sewing videos!
I can’t believe i discovered your channel! As a jewish girl with ashkenazi blood, i am so excited to hear more about my ancestors lives. The most I know about Renaissance Jews comes from Shakespeare’s “the Merchant of Venice” and it’s not the best depiction. I love historical dress and my heritage. thank you for being an awesome creator ✡️💚
This video is so impressive I think I learned more form that video than from some hour long documentary. I tend to like the what if stories that some historical documentaries provide. But your concretness of facts so seemingly simple as clothing and the number of lives those two outfits could have stood for left chills running down my spine at the end.
Well, I am subscribing. 4th video today and am very impressed with info, humor, history and everything! Great when I want to stay out of all the breaking/depressing news too. Have to show this to my aunt.
OH MY GOSH- I'm starting to get into historical costuming and history bounding and I've been debating if I should document my work or not creating modern interpretations of historical garments and making them for modern frum fashion. I'm so happy you're making videos on these subjects!!!
Thank you! I am researching Yemenite Jews in the 1500s. This is so helpful! Also, if you still need woolen thread, try Lucia Tuch und Stoff in Germany.
Love how practical and thoughtful in the simplicity of design garments were.
I was not raised jewish, my mother was Italian and my father was german-french and my step father was from Arkansas and I was also "adopted" into a Mexican family(whom I love more than anything and are basically the only family I have left) but I've always felt a strong connection to jewish culture. I love the culture and the food( which I do cook on occasion yum!) and the family aspects and all the love shared. I just love all of it! Thank you for all of your videos they are lovely, educational, and entertaining 💚💜😸
oh I am VERY much looking forward to the additional videos about these outfits!
I really appreciate this video and I'm really looking forward to seeing the more in-depth ones! As someone who's culturally Jewish, and have been dipping my toes into the SCA in the Before Times (virtual events are not my cuppa), but with literally zero historical research skills, its been intimidating to know where to start on any persona, let alone to try and incorporate the history of my own heritage into it, as I have even less of an idea on where to start for that.
I'm from a family of Eastern European Jews. I became a Baha'i after learning about the different religions. All the religions have the same spiritual teaching, like the Golden Rule. To be a Baha'i is to love all mankind and to work for unity.
I live in York, and for a uni essay I had to research into the local medieval history (believe me there's lots of it here). There's an account of a mass'acre of approx. 150 jewish people (in 1190) in what is now called 'Clifford's Tower' in William of Newburgh's 'Histories of English Affairs' - the effects were so extreme there wasn't a jewish population here again until the late 1800's. The council only marked the action in the 1970's which means for about 800 years the massacre went unrecognised by the public.
I think your best option would be to reach out to your local fiber arts guild and see if you can get a spinner interested in a commission. Personally, I find this fascinating and as a spinner and a Jew, but I am also located on the other side of the country, so less than ideal for a collab. I've read about considerations for spinning sewing thread, but never thought of putting them into practice. Ideally for wool sewing thread, you'd want to find someone with considerable experience doing worsted fiber prep as the smoother and sleeker that spun yarn is, the better it would be for sewing. I've never made top before and have never really had a desire to until now, lol.
Commercially, I've been finding a lot of 50/50 wool acrylic for applique which is frustrating. I'd almost suggest using crewel embroidery thread or tapestry yarn, but both are much chunkier than traditional sewing thread.
Yup, tapestry yarn is lovely stuff and I just used some for a non-sha'atnez embroidery project, but I probably wouldn't want to sew with it. Someone did recommend a brand of wool embroidery yarn that can be used for machine-embroidery, so I have high hopes for that!
@@SnappyDragon That does sound promising!
Random sidenote, a friend of mine gifted me with a roving of 33%wool, 33% linen, and 33% silk a couple years back. I spun it up and gave it back to her and named the finished yarn "Trayf" It was a very different spin than what I'm used to.
Thank you. The costumes are beautiful. The content was thought-provoking. History isn't always (or even usually) about what we easily see but about what you may find if you are willing to search a little deeper.
Wow! This video was amazing, you really filled in huge gaps in my knowledge of the time and place! Your seams are beautiful, those garments you model are really something to be proud of in more ways than one. Thank you for telling me stuff I didn't know I didn't know!
Beautiful work on the clothing! Better than that, the description and explanation. The passion, and the anger. Thank you.
V- thank you so much for your videos! I always love the historical and cultural context that you add alongside some darn good sewing! This video had me thoroughly engaged from beginning to end, was very moving, and has left me very contemplative.
Also, I love that pink gown!
Anyway, thank you for your perspective! I love hearing your historical research.
On a historical videos binge and this was recommended. Glad I watched. Finding info on medieval Jewish anything is difficult. Thank you for this.
Thank you for this video! I love to see different cultures represented in historical fashion 🥰
As always, really great video! I'll have to keep an eye out for wool sewing thread for you; so far I've done well with Devere yarns in my sewing, but that was mostly when it came to felling and decorative top-stitching. Since I'm considering using it again for the construction of one of my upcoming projects, I'll have to tell you how it goes!
I’m so glad I found your videos and your channel through the CoSy playlist. This video was excellent. I’m completely new to this topic and am really interested to learn more. I thought your ending was particularly poignant as well. As I’m totally new to this area of research (both the historical dress and the cultural/geographic/religious variations within it), I hadn’t heard of many of the specific names for the garments before so it would be great to see them spelt out on screen to (as you did for some of the other words). Thanks again for this video and I’m looking forward to watching more of your videos in the future!
I'm so excited for the research/sewing tutorials! I've been wanting to create garb from this period.
I have both Sephardic and Ashkenazi ancestors, so I enjoyed learning what they wore.
Great video! I just learned last year that my family is descended from Sephardic Jews from Spain. Having been raised Catholic, this was more than a bit surprising, and goes to your point of erasure. I do not know (yet, the family is doing some research on it) whether there was forced conversion for survival, but it seems likely.
It's very common
I know this comment is late, but you mentioned wanting a source for wool sewing thread: my suggestions would be to consider wool embroidery thread, aka Crewel embroidery thread. My other suggestion would be to spin your own - a bit of spinning wool and a drop spindle, and you can make your own sewing threads all day long. :) Both of these suggestions are only suitable for handsewing, unfortunately.
Edit to add: Yarn could be another option, but be aware that commercial yarns are spun basically as little as needed to hold together (to minimize processing and maximize profits; less twists = running the machines less = less overhead), so if you use knitting/crocheting yarn, be aware that you will need to uptwist it for strength, which is why I don't really recommend it. Crewel floss is designed to go into and out of fabric a lot - it should withstand the abrasion in a way regular wool yarns won't.
Very powerful ending. The vlog whetted my appetite for more about Medieval and Renaissance Jewish communities as well as dress. Especially in Aragon (I loved the Caroline Roe Isaac of Girona mysteries).
I'll have to add them to my reading list! I love me some historical fiction.
I really needed to thank you for this video. I watched it yesterday and in this morning I woke up crying (for the second time lol) because I was thinking of this video. The re-enacting and the information you gave is really really important and it also means so much to me because of my Ashkenazi and Sephardi roots. Also I’m a history nerd and I love to search about historical fashion. This video is really special for me and it really touched the deepest part of my soul. Thank you so much again and keep with this wonderful work ❤
Who knows the play "Nathan the Wise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing?
It's set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and tells the story of a Jew (said Nathan), a Muslim (Sultan Saladin), the adoptive daughter of Nathan and some unnamed Christian Templar.
The play is a plea for friendship and understanding between the three religions.
Sadly, the play was only written in the 18th century and its message was not heard in many periods of history. :(
These are both gorgeous outfits! Thank you for doing such a difficult deep dive!
I am not Jewish but as a black woman in the historical fashion world, I feel the "we were there" statement.
I love the conviction in your voice when you speak. Thank you for educating me on the history and fashion of the medieval Jews in Spain and England.
I love this type of video! Whenever I read historical books, like Jane Austen or the Brontë's or something, I always imagine my place in that world and how my family would get there with us being Jewish and all. It’s so interesting to think about and there is an abysmally small amount of historical evidence for so many eras!
Love everything about this. And that pink overdress is so hecking cute!
Wow I didn’t even think of thread when I thought about mixed fabric
AMAZING video! I love how detailed this is. I only have an amateur interest in social history and material culture myself but I've noticed it can be difficult to find records of this kind of history (particularly from Medieval Spain) so I really appreciate how much effort and research went into this!
Wool thread is widely available online, but it tends to be rather thick and require use of an upholstery needle. If you want something finer you should have a go at hand spinning with a drop spindle (not expensive). It will still be a bit thick but when waxed can be thinner than commercial wool thread. This is the method I use with some of my felted art pieces.
I absolutely loved this video and shared it in several Facebook groups. Amazing content
Thank you so much for sharing!
I love the Spain's head cover for the thumb nail
I'm also frum and would absolutely love it if you could make a video about historic veiling methods!
I'll do my best! Although I will definitely have to call in some reinforcements because in the Jewish communities I've been part of, people being frum was not really a thing.
@@SnappyDragon Thank you
This is so interesting, and as a Jewish woman, it brings me such joy to learn about the sartorial history of my people. Todah rabah and shalom aleichem ✡️❤️
I’ve seen wool sewing thread spools for machine sewing at one of my local fabric stores, G Street Fabrics, maybe. But I’ve also taken wool embroidery thread, spun it tighter on my spindle, and hand sewn with that.
I love your videos about Jewish history! I was raised in denial of my culture, and your videos provide starting point for the research
re: wool thread... the only wool sewing machine thread that I've ever seen is Aurifil, and that's 50/50 wool/acrylic. If you are hand sewing, there are several 100% wool embroidery threads that are firmly twisted and fine enough to be used for sewing seams. I like Rustic Wool Moire (avail on etsy), though you need to use slightly shorter lengths to avoid sewing with thread that's worn thin from passing through the fabric a zillion times. 15 ish inches seems to work well for me. Wool threads for fine crewel embroidery are also a good bet - crewel work involves a lot of passes through tightly woven cotton, so the threads tend to be on the sturdier side. It's more expensive, but you can also get a LOT of colors.
Waxing your thread makes a HUGE difference, esp if you wax, run it under an iron to melt the wax INTO the thread, then add another light coat on the surface if needed (I usually don't, but I also sew on wool fabric that's not too tightly woven. YMMV).
So interesting learning about the lived histories of groups not focused on in mainstream American history textbooks.
Sharing on my Twitter accounts and with family. Thank you for your hard work.
Thank you for sharing!
since you asked about our favorite often forgotten part of history. i do a lot of research into queer history, and often run into a similar issue to what you mentioned where, even though we are everywhere and everywhen, missing records of what local queer people were up to is very common, due either to erasure or the need of queer people at the time to stay hidden.
I really appreciate you.
I am also Jewish and I like historical costuming and its so rare and interesting to see what my ancestors went through and may have wore.
I learned so much! I love when you do videos like this! Thank you for the extra links to learn more :)
Thanks for the fashion history lesson! Glad to learn these forgotten/inconvenient histories.