Traducción al español: Kalman Gabay En una mañana gris del 11 de abril de 1961, a las 9 de la mañana, una figura delgada, de cabellera rala, vestida de traje y llevando lentes oscuros, ingresó a la cabina de vidrio en la sala del Beit Haam, en Jerusalén. Se sintió el murmullo de la audiencia […]

Traducción al español: Kalman Gabay Esta es la maravillosa historia del manuscrito más antiguo de la Biblia, el diamante de la corona. Como corresponde a quien refleja en sus páginas la epopeya bíblica plena de drama y misterio, su historia también está compuesta de innumerables tramas y giros sorprendentes. La Festividad de Simjat Torá nos […]

The Jewish People are characterized by dualities: exile and redemption; slavery and liberty; Holocaust and revival; calamity and heroism; restraint and uprising; Memorial Day and Independence Day. This duality was, in fact, the historical backdrop behind the United Nations’ final vote in favor of the Partition Plan for Palestine on November 29, 1947 in the […]

Different estimates show the number of Jews living in the world between 14.4 and 17.5 million – about half in Israel and more than half of the rest in the United States. But the bond to Judaism is not about strength in numbers.Here are five small and distant Jewish communities in the far corners of the […]

The renowned author Shalom Aleichem thought Schund was trash literature and called for casting it entirely out; the critic Simeon Dubnow claimed that Schund characters are all flat and cheesy; and I.L. Peretz, the founding father of Yiddish literature loathed it altogether. But the more the refined intellectuals scorned upon Schund, the more young authors such as […]

It was a cloudy morning on April 11th 1961, when a gaunt, thin haired man in a suit and dark glasses entered the shielded glass booth at “Beit HaAm” auditorium in Jerusalem. The audience was rustling. The man sat down with a slight twitch in the corner of his lips. Television cameras focused on his […]

The origins of Sigd, the unique holiday of the Beta Israel community, are vague. One version dates back to the 6th century and the ending of the Jewish-Christian war during the reign of Gebre Mesqel, King of Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia. But the earliest mention of Sigd in writing is from the 15th century at […]

Karl Katz, who was one of Beit Hatfutsot planners, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 88. We mourn the bright man, who left his mark in the Museum of the Jewish People, as well as on many other Jewish museums and institutes. May he rest in peace. Read the New York Times obituary     […]

“You want it darker” was Leonard Cohen’s last album, released shortly before the great musician’s death. The album’s theme song is “Hineni” in which Cohen added extracts from the Kaddish prayer. In the dramatic peak he cries: “I’m ready my lord. Hineni! Hineni!” He passed away 17 days later, on November 7, 2016, at 82. […]

In the years since World War II several diplomats have been honored as Righteous of the World for their effort to rescue Jews from their inevitable death and the hand of the Nazis. Visas and travel documents were the most obvious survival methods for many Jews. But the story of Japanese vice consul to Lithuania Chiune Sugihara […]

While most of us remember the 1995 murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Jewish history’s earlier political assassinations may be less familiar. A politically-motivated murder in the biblical era and two during the British mandate still have consequences that are felt to this day. Gedaliah ben Ahikam Filled with massacres, rape and bloodlust, the Bible […]