Beneath the veil of Iran’s current regime, its people have nurtured their pre-Islamic roots with pride. Until June 12, 2025, the Zoroastrian faith, the Sassanid-Persian Empire, and above all Cyrus, “king of kings,” were all part of an ident
Two rabbis, a stonemason’s guild, a Jewish merchant, and the archbishop of Cologne all helped solve the riddle presented by a magnificent, medieval prayer book found in Amsterdam
Ephraim Shoham-Steiner
In September 2019, an armo
Fifty years ago, Israelis lived and worked freely in Iran. How did those peaceful relations turn to war, and how do Iranians perceive Israel now, after half a century under the Islamic Republic?
David Menashri
The Islamic Revolu
Crypto-Jews are usually associated with the conversos of early modern Spain and Portugal, but less than two hundred years ago, the Jews of Mashhad, Iran, met a similar fate. How did a century in hiding affect Jewish life in this community?
What led a young, acculturated Jew from Prague to seek guidance at the court of the Bełz Hasidic master? What brought this spiritual seeker back to his hometown and then to Tel Aviv? And how was that journey linked to this poet’s homosexual
Jerusalem’s water supply has been vulnerable to attack since antiquity, prompting ingenious solutions that have long intrigued archaeologists. What made the city’s water source so unusual – and how was it protected from enemies?
Tamar HaYar
Nestled in the botanical gardens on the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus is a small burial cave dating from the Second Temple period. A century ago, this ancient site briefly came to life
Tamar HaYardeni
Where To?
Nican
Much as Nazi Vienna couldn’t stand it, the gasoline-powered car was invented by a Jewish-born Austrian engineer. Siegfried Marcus has been all but forgotten, however, owing largely to his lack of business acumen
Gabriel Alexander
The Sages | For the Freedom of Zion | A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse
Sara Jo Ben-Zvi
The SagesCharacter, Context and Creativity - Yeshivot of Babylonia and Israe