Jewish history

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

Few modern terms carry as much weight and controversy as the Hebrew word geula, or “redemption.” Redemption is the terminus of history.

(Illustrative). Hand opens door to allow stream of light to enter.
A Hanukkah candlelighting ceremony at the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands, December 1943.

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

GOODWILL: PROVIDING volunteer massage therapy to soldiers at an IDF outpost in Samaria, March 12.

Parashat Emor: The social revolution

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


Meet the Jews who played pivotal roles in American history

Jews have played pivotal roles throughout key moments in American history. Throughout 2026, monthly online conversations with Jewish historians will journey across American and Jewish history.

A group of young Austrian immigrants wave to the Statue of Liberty upon their arrival in America aboard the S.S. Harding. The 50 Jewish children, who were greeted by their new adoptive families, were fleeing Nazi persecution in their homeland.

Holocaust survivor, troubled teen bond in ‘The Optimist’

Written and directed by Finn Taylor, the film is opening in theaters across the US on March 11 and will likely be released in Israel in the coming year.

STEPHEN LANG and Elsie Fisher in ‘The Optimist.’

Parashat Ki Tisa: Sin of the golden calf and the test of patience

Impatience at Sinai led to the golden calf, teaching that true faith and redemption demand patience, not glittering shortcuts.

Impatience has led to many people losing their own private Garden of Eden.

Purim isn’t Jewish Halloween - it’s a theology of wine and redemption - opinion

On Purim, drown our adversaries in drink, catapult our consciousness to a refined world.

 Purim celebrates the grape in a nod to the Persian wine parties.

Historic collections relocated as Israel Museum closes during war with Iran

The announcement came as Israel and the US have launched coordinated military operations against Iran, with officials urging residents to stay near protected spaces.

 The Israel Museum

Documentary about Jews murdered after Nazi occupation threatened with ban in Poland

The Jews at the heart of Among Neighbors, from California-based filmmaker Yoav Potash, died six months after the end of Nazi occupation.

PELAGIA RADECKA, featured in "Among Neighbors," witnessed the postwar murder of five Jews as a 15-year-old girl.

Is antisemitism inevitable? A disturbing old-new view of Jew-hatred - opinion

We have to be prepared for the possibility that democracy will fail the Jews.

 A person holds a placard during a demonstration against antisemitism, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Brussels, Belgium December 10, 2023.

How a machzor survived over six centuries and Nazi attacks to make it to Israel

The first volume of the machzor was completed in1272 in Wurzburg, Germany. Today, it is displayed in the National Library in Jerusalem.

‘WORMS MACHZOR,’ 1280; reconstructed cover, Volume 2.

This month in Jewish history: The first permanent government of Israel

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

DIZENGOFF SQUARE, named for the Tel Aviv founding father.

Israel's heart is not in Tel Aviv - it is in Judea and Samaria - opinion

Tel Aviv does not boast the long history cities like Jerusalem, Beersheba, or even 2,000-year-old Haifa. 

 MAN walks in the Jewish outpost of Yahish Zion, near the Jewish settlement of Psagot, in the West Bank.