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Waiting for Elijah – Elijah in the Haggadah

Chana Shacham-Rosby

When the Pesach Seder took shape almost two thousand years ago, it made no mention of Elijah the prophet. How did the biblical zealot find his way into the haggadah? Medieval Ashkenazic traditions may hold...

ArticlesEuropeIssue 64 | March 2023Medieval PeriodPesach

Hasmonean Palaces

Eyal Regev

Did the later Hasmoneans really become Hellenized, as many have theorized? Or were they like their palaces – Hellenist on the outside but Jewish within? The Hasmoneans were among the first to struggle to forge...

AntiquityArticlesHanukkahIssue 45 | November 2018Land of IsraelReligions

Evasive Action – Building the Second Temple

Yaakov Medan

The Second Temple was begun with a building permit from the Persian empire, but when it was rescinded the exiles found creative ways to continue construction. The "illegal" building they erected inspired later generations in...

AntiquityArticlesIssue 1 | April 2010JerusalemPurim

Bar Kokhba – The Fighters’ Antique

Nir Rachkovsky

Rappelling to access hidden passages within the depths of the Te'omim cave, archeologists discovered a treasure trove of coins from the Bar Kokhba revolt. The greatest surprise was one peruta, a small bronze coin minted...

AntiquityArticlesHolidaysIssue 1 | April 2010Lag B'OmerLand of IsraelMiddle East

The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur

כותב

This article was published in issue 54 | Tishrei 5781 | September 2020 The leader who remade Lubavitch as a global brand. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch, also known as Rayatz, in the 1920s Photo:...

Festivals of Tishrei

Divinely Plagued

כותב

Seldom can any individual distill the defining events of his sojourn in this world into a single sentence. Yet sometimes a few words from a familiar, seminal text can evoke just such a sense of...

Pesach

Planting Seedlings

ישראל גולדמן

Beginnings Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees in the Jewish calendar, has gained significantly in popularity over the generations. From a date of mainly fiscal significance for calculating agricultural tithes, it was expanded by...

Tu Bishvat

Esther – the Persian Version

תמר עילם גינדין

The book of Esther is a strange bird in the biblical zoo: God is totally absent, at least in name; assimilation is never vilified, and much of the story takes place around Passover, though the...

Purim

A Brief History of the Hasmoneans

כותב

Hasmonean generations (click image to enlarge) All in the Family Priestly families preferred to marry within their own privileged class, but the Hasmoneans took this practice to something of an extreme. Despite the rivalry between...

Hanukkah

Zohar Unzipped

כותב

Outside the Box The Zohar is structured as a commentary on the Torah, divided into sections corresponding to the weekly portion. The commentaries in the Zohar are traditionally believed to have been handed down from...

Lag baOmer

Z-rated: For Forties Plus

כותב

The Riddle of Knowledge What is it about this book that has had such a dramatic effect on the Jewish imagination, impressing its signature not only on Kabbala, but also on Jewish philosophy and literature...

Lag baOmer

Holidays

Waiting for Elijah – Elijah in the Haggadah

Hasmonean Palaces

Evasive Action – Building the Second Temple

Bar Kokhba – The Fighters’ Antique

The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur

Divinely Plagued

Planting Seedlings

Esther – the Persian Version

A Brief History of the Hasmoneans

Zohar Unzipped

Z-rated: For Forties Plus

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Holidays

Waiting for Elijah – Elijah in the Haggadah

Hasmonean Palaces

Evasive Action – Building the Second Temple

Bar Kokhba – The Fighters’ Antique

The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur

Divinely Plagued

Planting Seedlings

Esther – the Persian Version

A Brief History of the Hasmoneans

Zohar Unzipped

Z-rated: For Forties Plus

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