Jewish history

Keeping time: How Jews preserved ritual and hope in the Holocaust’s darkest days

Yad Vashem exhibition chronicles the times and lives of Jewish communities before and during the Holocaust.

|ByBARRY DAVIS
A Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony at the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands, December 1943.
GOODWILL: PROVIDING volunteer massage therapy to soldiers at an IDF outpost in Samaria, March 12.

Parashat Emor: The social revolution

This portion is read during the days of the Counting of the Omer, when Judaism emphasizes mutual respect and love between people as preparation for receiving the Torah on the festival of Shavuot.

|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Adding Hebrew letters to a dreidel at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.

Jewish Shanghai: From refuge to renewal, exploring the living history of a city’s Jewish legacy

In this episode of The Jerusalem Post Podcast – Travel Edition, Mark and David discover Shanghai's Jewish history.

|ByJERUSALEM POST PODCASTS
PROF. YISRAEL AUMANN speaks at a Nov. 2005 news conference at the Hebrew University, after winning the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on conflict and cooperation through game theory analysis. He shares the prize with American economist Thomas Schelling.

From Passover to sirens: Why Jewish survival still demands action - opinion

In every single generation, there are those who would seek our destruction – but we are still here.

|BySTEWART WEISS

The Indian Jewish journey to Israel: A story of return, not invasion - opinion

For the Jews of India, Israel was not viewed as a foreign land to colonize but rather as the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.

APRIL 7, 2025ByPAUSHALI LASS
Steeped in history and flavor, Nahoum’s Bakery in Kolkata stands as a sweet reminder of the city’s rich Baghdadi Jewish legacy. For centuries, Jews in India maintained a connection to the land of Israel, the writer recalls.

'Embracing Exile': Defending Jewish Diaspora as source of identity, prosperity, pride - review

In his book Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora, David Kraemer seeks to provide a “fuller picture” of issues related to Jewish identity, place, and home.

APRIL 6, 2025ByGLENN C. ALTSCHULER
The Holy Land model, featured at the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, depicts Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period as seen from the east. The Temple Mount and Herod’s Temple are located in the middle.

This week in Jewish history: Nebi Musa riots, death of Reb Aryeh Levin

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars.

APRIL 4, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
Biochemist Edmond Fischer.

My Word: A Passover lesson to be learned - opinion

We are commanded to tell the children the story of the Exodus as if it happened to each of us personally. It is the ultimate teachable moment.

APRIL 4, 2025ByLIAT COLLINS
EXCAVATIONS AT the City of David. How will children who don’t know their own history be prepared for the future?

Why Judaism warns against unanimous decisions in government - opinion

A decision made unanimously by a large group and which determines a person’s future is guided by external considerations rather than by the merits of the matter at hand.

APRIL 2, 2025ByTOVA HERZL
A plenum session and a vote on reviving the Ultra Orthodox enlistment bill at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on June 11, 2024.

This week in Jewish history: Birth of Hebrew University

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars.

MARCH 29, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
THE HEBREW University of Jerusalem opens, 1925.

'Letters from Home': Exploring tension among Jews in in the Second Temple era - review

The relationship between the Jewish communities of Egypt and Israel created an underlying tension, not unlike the modern-day relationship between world Jewry and the Jews of the State of Israel.

MARCH 29, 2025ByALAN ROSENBAUM
A RECONSTRUCTION of the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate, the northern entrance to Babylon, on display at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Mourning Alexander Mashkevich, a uniter of World Jewry - opinion

Alexander Mashkevich did not just support Jewish communities—he saw it as his mission to strengthen, develop, and unite them.

MARCH 26, 2025ByDR. MICHAEL MIRILASHVILI
MASHKEVITCH 311

How antisemitic vandals unwittingly delivered a message of hope to the world - opinion

When our people are defaced and defiled, we shine through as a holy and spiritual nation – a people who stand by each other in the face of hate and emerge stronger in spite of it. 

MARCH 22, 2025ByAREYAH KALTMANN
CLOWN DOCTORS entertain children fleeing Ukraine, at a tent town in Humenné, Slovakia, in February 2022.

Editor's Notes: October 7 reshaped Israel forever, we must choose how to define it - comment

This time period will be remembered for how it sharply shaped every aspect of Israeli life.

MARCH 20, 2025ByZVIKA KLEIN
“Welcome to the October 7 Memorial Museum,” the AI driven avatar says in 2075. “You are about to embark on a journey through one of the most transformative events in modern Jewish history. Please follow me.”