Jewish history

'Eishet Chayil': Who is the biblical woman of valor? - book review

Eishet Chayil is re-examined as a theological statement about women’s role in Jewish survival, leadership, and destiny.

Hannah Arendt, pictured in 1958, was a German-American historian and philosopher. She was imprisoned by the Nazis for doing research into antisemitism.
’LIFT THE BAN’ rally organized by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of ‘Palestine Action’ under anti-terrorism laws, in London’s Parliament Square, Sept. 6, 2025

‘Broken Glass’ 2026: History repeats itself as Britain's Jews face new wave of terror - opinion

RABBI JOSEPH DWECK teaches at The Habura.

'The Restoration of Israel': Recovering a forgotten Sephardi Zionist voice - review

(Illustrative). Hand opens door to allow stream of light to enter.

Entering the fourth room: We are living in a new stage of Jewish history - opinion


Staro Sajmiste: Belgrade's fairground of death for the Balkans' Jews

From formidable fairground to a camp of death, the dark history of the Nazi camp within Belgrade’s borders

 Prisoners of the Staro Sajmište concentration camp in Belgrade.

Maryland man arrested for threats to Philadelphia Jewish museum  

Clift A. Seferlis was arrested on June 17 and charged with mailing threatening communications, one of which made reference to “Kristallnacht,” a Nazi pogrom carried out in 1938.

 Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, March 16, 2024

This week in Jewish history: Haganah formed in Israel, Google acquires Waze

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History.

 THE WAZE app came out in 2013 (hence, the older-model smartphone pictured)

A Name Worthy of Gratitude

Why “Donald” should join “Alexander” as a name of honor in Jewish history

US President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025.

Shavuot 2025: Why do we group Jewish holidays together?

By adding Purim to the duo of Passover and Shavuot, this trio reminds us that hiddenness is not static. It is dynamic.

 PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG attends a ‘Book of Esther’ reading wearing a protective mask, at the Ahavat Tzion synagogue in Beit Shemesh in 2022. ‘God is hiding His face, and we are experiencing a world in which it seems that God is absent,’ says the writer.

Shavuot in 1948: Harvesting the first fruits of Israeli statehood under siege

It was the collision of Israel’s past with its present and future. The offerings may have been meager. The dairy dishes improvised. But the spirit was resolute.

 SHAVUOT, ONE of the three pilgrimage festivals, marked the wheat harvest in biblical Israel. It concludes the seven-week period beginning at Passover

Reaccepting the Torah: Looking back the first Shavuot after the fall of Nazi Germany

For many Holocaust survivors, May 18, 1945 was the first Shavuot they were able to celebrate after years of war.

 AMERICAN CHAPLAIN Rabbi Herschel Schacter conducts religious services at the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945

Shavuot's mystical incident: Uncovering the secrets of King David’s Tomb

“We have conclusive evidence that Kings David, King Solomon, and King Hezkiyahu are all buried on Har Zion,” one rabbi told The Jerusalem Post.

 PEOPLE PRAYING at King David's Tomb

'The Jews, 5,000 Years and Counting:' Jewish history can be funny - review

The Jews: 5,000 Years and Counting achieves an incredible feat: It covers our entire “epic journey through time, space, and guilt” in 224 pages.

BEN-GURION AIRPORT security, Terminal 1, during the COVID-19 pandemic

This week in Jewish history: Shavuot, and the Six Day War

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History.

DAVID RUBINGER’S iconic photo of the IDF paratroopers at the Kotel during the Six Day War in 1967.