In light of Israeli ultra-Orthodoxy’s outspoken opposition to the draft, the rabbinic response to conscription in 19th- century Russia and Hungary provides a welcome contrast
Uri Safrai
In the Middle Ages, wars were considere
Not all Jewish communities attacked in the Russian pogroms of 1881 conformed to the stereotype of easy prey. Pockets of resistance spawned self-defense organizations to contend with the ongoing threat
Netta Ehrlich
The Russian p
A Torah scroll sounds like a superlative gift for the first world statesman to recognize the State of Israel. But what exactly made the Torah scroll presented by Chaim Weizmann to Harry S. Truman so special?
Joel Peerless
On May
Despite their leaders’ current vitriol against army service, Vizhnitz Hasidim once provided living proof that today’s efforts to engage the Haredi community with national priorities are by no means unprecedented. As early as 1959, Vizhnitz
Jews have traditionally sent New Year cards even when times were hard. The messages show that even the direst circumstances offered hope
Nili Leshem
In 1946, Lehi commander Yehoshua Cohen wrote to his parents from the British pr
Which Jerusalem synagogue is located in the “Valley of Giants,” what’s beneath the synagogue’s glass floor, and why is a drawer built into the ark?
Tamar HaYardeni
Where To?
Emek Refaim Synagogue4 Yael Street, Baka
Sara Jo Ben-Zvi
Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber in Auschwitz
Michael Calvin with Naftali Schiff2026, 233 pages
Undeniable: The Untold Story of the Boys Who Escaped Gas Chamber 5
Jonathan KalmusJRoots Films, 20
People Love Dead Jews | The Letters Project | Abraham Joshua Heschel
Sara Jo Ben-Zvi
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present
Dara HornW. W. Nort
Haggai Olshanetsky
A Companion to Late Ancient Jews and Judaism: 3rd Century BCE–7th Century CE
Edited by Naomi Koltun-Fromm and Gwynn KesslerWiley Blackwell, 2020, 560 pages
An important addition to the academic bookshelf,
Karl Marx | The Lady of Hebrew and Her Lovers of Zion | Esther in America
Sara Jo Ben-Zvi
Karl Marx
Shlomo AvineriYale University Press, 2019, 240 pages