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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

Columns

Film review | An Officer and a Spy

Sara Jo Ben-Zvi

The hero of Roman Polanski’s new film isn’t Dreyfus, or even Zola, but the French officer whose pursuit of justice led to the Jew’s release Sara Jo Ben-Zvi An Officer and a Spy Roman Polanski132 minutesFrench with English subt

Portrait of a People | A Critical Eye

Naomi Samuel

Naomi Samuel Portrait of Émile Zola Paris, 1868Oil on canvas146.5 x 114 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Édouar

Book Review | Next Year in Marienbad

Yemima Hovav

Resorts are a world unto themselves, with their own mores and culture. In the 19th century, the spa towns of western Bohemia were patronized largely by Jews from all over Europe, creating a transient, highly diverse community Yemima Hovav

Quick Looks at Books

Sara Jo Ben-Zvi

Ani Maamin | Walter Kaufmann | Hannah’s War  Sara Jo Ben-Zvi Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth, and the Thirteen Principles of Faith Joshu

Hebrew Hum | One Cup of Water

Anat Hoffman

Sieges make us think of medieval walled cities, but elderly Jerusalemites still remember the siege they lived through during the War of Independence – and may still retain some of the habits it engrained. A cheerful song about tough times 

From the Archives | Too Much of a Good Thing

Yochai Ben-Ghedalia

Jews have always prayed for rain, but those in northern Italy suffered from too much rather than too little, inspiring prayers for protection from flooding Yochai Ben-Ghedalia The Mishnaic tractate Ta’anit (Fasting) devotes exte

Portrait of a People | Westward Ho!

Naomi Samuel

Naomi Samuel Courtesy of the Library of Congress Rio Grande (Colorado River)Oil on canvas51 x 76 cmColo

Portrait of a People | The Art of Weaving

Naomi Samuel

Naomi Samuel Knotted CarpetDessau, 1929Bauhaus Archive, Berlin Otti Berger1898–1944

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