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Issues 51-100

Old meets new by the Siloam Pool. Illustration using a photograph by Oren Cohen for Megalim Institute, City of David

Articles

By embracing train travel, the Hasidic movement showed that despite its conservatism, it was in fact thoroughly modern. Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter of Ger, author of the Hasidic work Imrei Emet, taking leave of his followers at the station before setting out on a visit to Mandate Palestine | Photo: Virtual Shtetl, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

The Hasidic Track – Hasidic Train Line

Ze’ev Kitsis

Change followed swiftly in the wake of the railway, making the steam engine’s power and speed synonymous with modernity. Yet the ostensibly conservative Hasidic movement eagerly embraced the noisy, crowded carriages of train travel. New way

The movement begun by the Ba’al Shem Tov spread rapidly, with new branches and dynasties every generation. Rabbi Yisrael Hopstein, the Maggid of Kozhenits, and his son and successor, Rabbi Moshe Elyakim Beriah, 19th century engraving | Episcopal Library, Sendomeje

Old Sparks, New Vessels – Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov

Roee Horen

Hasidism’s emergence at the dawn of modernity – and the movement’s subsequent, unprecedented success – can be attributed to Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov’s skillful use of surprising sources to weave innovation into the fabric of Jewish tradi

Time written in the stars. Ancient Egyptian structure of time and space detailed beneath the body of Nut, goddess of the sky. Papyrus copy of a ceiling frieze from the temple of Hathor at Dendera, Egyptian Museum, Cairo | Photo: Ann Ronan Pictures, Getty Images Israel

Counting the Hours – Measuring Time

Eshbal Ratzon

Way back when man began marking time, the natural unit of choice was the day. When did people begin breaking days into hours, and why were some hours longer than others? And if an Egyptian, a Babylonian, and a Jew arranged to meet, who woul

Who knew which immigration wave they were part of? Immigrants at the port in Jaffa at the turn of the 20th century | Library of Congress collection

Zionist History by Numbers – Israeli Immigration

Hizky Shoham

The waves of Jewish immigration to land of Israel in the 19th and early 20th centuries are known as the First Aliya, the Second, and so on. But did these numbers always mean what they do today? Hizky Shoham Modern Zionist

Eye on the Crescent – Muslim Calendar

Tehila Bigman

For Jews, declaring the new moon based on eyewitness testimony is ancient history. But the Muslim calendar still depends on this method, generating increasing controversy Tehila Bigman Religious power struggles have frequently m

Going with the Flow – Levi Eshkol

Arnon Lammfromm

Arguably Israel’s least charismatic leader, Levi Eshkol nonetheless translated his management and coordination skills into real achievements in agriculture, settlement, and – above all – harnessing the country’s scant water resources Arnon