Jewish history

The first 'Oneg Shabbat' archive cache is recovered from the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, September 1946. (public domain)

Can we handle the uncomfortable truths unearthed in WWII’s Oneg Shabbat archive?

A $2-million pledge from Taube Philanthropies promises to fix ‘glaring omissions’ at National WWII Museum and grow distance-learning for Holocaust-related programs

December 11, 2018, 9:15 pm

Can we handle the uncomfortable truths unearthed in WWII’s Oneg Shabbat archive?

A $2-million pledge from Taube Philanthropies promises to fix ‘glaring omissions’ at National WWII Museum and grow distance-learning for Holocaust-related programs

By Matt Lebovic

Despite its humble appearance, The Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum’s Nieuwenhuys menorah is worth more than many of the city’s houses. (Courtesy of the the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum/via JTA)

December 3, 2018, 6:02 am

In Holland, one of the world’s most expensive menorahs hides in plain sight

The Nieuwenhuys candelabra may not appear unusual, but on loan from the royal family to the Jewish Historical Museum, it’s the item’s history that would fetch an estimated $450,000

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Zabolon Simantov holding his Jewish prayer book. (Ezzatullah Mehrdad/ Times of Israel)

November 28, 2018, 9:56 pm

Afghanistan’s last Jew fights to keep his home — the country’s sole synagogue

Since 2005, Zabolon Simantov has lived alone in Kabul’s only synagogue. In this volatile region, he is the final guardian of a once-flourishing 1,500-year-old Jewish community

By Ezzatullah Mehrdad

'Mavericks, Mystics, & False Messiahs,' by Rabbi Pini Dunner. (Courtesy Toby Press)

November 27, 2018, 11:57 pm

From miracle men to global spies, book of Jewish wild cards is sure to surprise

Out on December 1, ‘Mavericks, Mystics & False Messiahs’ by Rabbi Pini Dunner brings alive historical peculiarities — including a Jewish Dalai Lama

By Rich Tenorio

Vendors take a break in Amsterdam’s Waterloo Square Market, October 25, 2017. (Huub Zeeman/Flickr/via JTA)

November 11, 2018, 8:41 pm

Is this the last stand for Amsterdam’s Jewish market?

The Waterloo Square bazaar, established in 1893, is a cultural melting pot that survived world wars and economic downturns — but the latest municipal changes may spell its end

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Betti Rosenbaum Bachenheimer, namesake of the author's mother and original writer of the recipe book; one of the original recipes, handwritten in ancient German script. (Courtesy)

October 22, 2018, 2:34 pm

A great-grandma’s recipes recall sweet stories of pre-Holocaust life in Germany

Strangers across the globe share in some unexpected lessons when one reporter’s mother rediscovers a long-lost cookbook handwritten in ancient German script

By Steve North

Pinchas Gutter tours the concentration camp where his parents and twin sister were murdered during World War II in this screenshot from 'The Last Goodbye.' (Courtesy Museum of Jewish Heritage)

October 7, 2018, 6:01 am

In NY, virtual reality puts a human face on the horrors of a Nazi death camp

A new multimedia display at the Museum of Jewish Heritage uses virtual reality and personal artifacts to flesh out the murdered Jews the Nazis tried to view as mere numbers

By Cathryn J. Prince

Members of the Creative Committee of the People’s Art School, Vitebsk, winter 1919. Seated: Yuri (Yehuda) Pen (third from left), Marc Chagall (center), Vera Ermolaeva (second from right), Kazimir Malevich right). Gelatin silver print. (Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris)

October 1, 2018, 11:33 am

After the Russian Revolution, Chagall ran an art school for the proletariat

A new exhibit at New York’s Jewish Museum highlights a brief period when one of the world’s most famous Jewish artists convinced the Bolsheviks to nurture working-class talent

By Cathryn J. Prince

A float advertising the incubator show. (Courtesy Dawn Raffel)

September 30, 2018, 4:07 am

As hospitals prematurely spurned incubators, this carnival showman saved lives

A new book details how, despite his bunk credentials, ‘Dr.’ Martin Arthur Couney successfully nurtured thousands of preemie babies back to health on the sideshow midways of America

By Rich Tenorio

David Maxa delivers a sermon during Shabbat services at Prague’s Spanish Synagogue during the European Union of Progressive Judaism’s biennial, April 2018. (Courtesy of Maxa/via JTA)

September 23, 2018, 10:15 pm

A new Torah scroll symbolizes a Liberal Jewish revival in the Czech Republic

A relic originating in the country is being returned after having spent the last several decades at a Reform synagogue in London

By Margarita Gokun Silver

Jewish merchants come from around the world to buy from Moroccan etrog growers like Mohammed Douch in Assads, September 8, 2015. (Ben Sales/JTA)

September 21, 2018, 8:20 am

How a Chinese fruit became a Sukkot symbol

A new book researched over a decade by Rabbi David Moster says that ancient Jews used any fruit on hand for the four species ritual, including pomegranates, dates, figs, or grapes

By Josefin Dolsten

Rabbi Asher Faith carries a new Torah scroll being dedicated alongside the new congregation at the dedication of the prayer space in the Medieval Jewish Prayer House in Budapest, September 6, 2018. (Márton Merész)

September 9, 2018, 2:54 am

In Budapest, a medieval synagogue dormant for hundreds of years is rededicated

As hundreds gather to celebrate the renewal of an ancient prayer house, Hungary’s Jewish community fights for the restoration of similar sites abandoned since antiquity

By Yaakov Schwartz

'Christ the Remunerator,' (1837) by Dutch-French Romantic era painter Ary Scheffer. (Flickr/ Waiting for the Word)

September 8, 2018, 2:57 pm

In a forensic pilgrimage, a scholar asks, ‘What did Jesus look like?’

Prof. Joan E. Taylor continues a journey she began years ago on a kibbutz in Israel, as she examines the dress, skin tone, and hair style of the Christian Messiah in her new book

By Rich Tenorio

Rabbi Jehoshua Raskin shares a ride with other visitors to Lyubavichi, Russia, August 26, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

September 1, 2018, 5:51 pm

A tiny Russian village of Chabad fame dreams of becoming Jewish pilgrimage site

Running water, gas and electricity are not readily available in the birthplace of one of the world’s biggest Hasidic movements, but rising tourism may change that

By Cnaan Liphshiz

July 20, 2018, 4:16 pm

Yaakov Selavan

A war in Gaza, a pair of underpants and Tisha B’Av

How do you get through your fear and rush in under fire to save your friends?