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Issues 51-100

Articles

Pure Life – Ancient Ritual Baths

Eyal Regev

Recently discovered ancient mikveh installations suggest that they were used much more than required by Jewish law. What can archaeology teach us about the role of ritual purity in our ancestors’ everyday lives? Eyal Regev Can m

Reaching for the Sky – Water Towers

Tehila Bigman

Water towers have long been one of the most obvious landmarks of Zionist settlements, often becoming a focus of civic pride as well. What made these clumsy-looking utilities local icons? Tehila Bigman Water towers have been arou

Why Is This Passover Different? – Ethiopian Pesach

Sharon Shalom

How does Ethiopian Jewry’s observance of Pesach differ from that of most Jews, and why? Are these differences a function of this community’s historic isolation or a matter of principle? And what can they teach us about the nature of Jewish

Building Zion the Bauhaus Way – Zionist Architecture

Tamar HaYardeni

How did the International Style, associated primarily with the Bauhaus school, become the signature look of Zionist construction? Tamar HaYardeni Creating a state isn’t easy. For one thing, it requires a clear understanding of t

Gateway to the Mountain – Jews on the Mountain

Ben Shragge

Between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, the Jews of Derbent clung to their unique culture despite invaders, revolution, and civil war. Largely uprooted by 20th-century challenges, they still preserve the memory of the town they

Columns

From the Archives | The Wehrmacht’s Jewish Soldier

Janne Moehring

How did Walter Dirr, born to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, come to be drafted into Hitler’s army? Clues from a family archive Janne Moehring The curious case of Walter Dirr begins with his father, Robert Heinrich Dirr (

Portrait of a People | Spreading Palms

Yael Mali

Yael Mali The date palm has long been one of the Holy Land’s agricultural and economic mainstays – and an emblem of its rise and fall

From the Archives | Hasidim at Heart

Dani Hacker and Tanya Regev

What do Israel’s third president, businessman and publisher Salman Schocken, and Breslov Hasidic leader Rabbi Yisroel Dov Ber Odesser have in common? A pamphlet distributed in Jerusalem connects them all Dani Hacker and Tanya Regev

Tale of a Trail | Mikveh Israel

Tamar HaYardeni

Jules Védrines was the first to fly to the Holy Land, though he skipped Jerusalem. But what made the famous pilot miss his designated landing at Mikveh Israel? Tamar HaYardeni Where To? Mikveh IsraelThe temporary landing strip b

Tale of a Trail | Northern Dead Sea

Tamar HaYardeni

Though the planet’s lowest point might sound like hell on earth, a few crazy dreamers discovered its heavenly promise of health and beauty. The story of Dead Sea Works’ rise from the sands Tamar HaYardeni Where To? Northern Dead

Sporting with History | Against All Odds

Haim Kaufmann

Though the 1936 Berlin Olympics are perhaps best remembered for black runner Jesse Owens’ stunning victories, Jewish athletes’ achievements proved equally embarrassing for Hitler Haim Kaufmann In 1931, Germany was selected to ho