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Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan is The Times of Israel's Jewish World and Archaeology editor.
Illustrative: A farmer looks across as swarms of desert locusts feed on her crops, in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya January 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
November 24, 2020, 6:52 pm
Plague-busters: Israeli team combats swarms of locusts in war-torn Ethiopia
To fight the worst Desert Locust threat in 70 years, Start-Up Nation delegation flies in with innovative techniques, utilizing drones and nighttime spraying
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
'Isresilience' co-authors Dr. Naomi L. Baum and Michael Dickson (Courtesy)
November 18, 2020, 3:17 pm
LISTEN: How Israelis mastered the art of resilience to thrive against all odds
‘Isresilience’ authors Michael Dickson and Dr. Naomi L. Baum share the three keys to becoming resilient people and ‘bouncing forward’ under adversity
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Children from the religious community of Hispin in the Golan volunteering at the excavation, pointing to the engraved figures dating to circa 11th century BCE, at a fort which could be the earliest evidence of the biblical 'Geshurites.' (Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority)
November 11, 2020, 3:11 pm
King David-era fort found in Golan, may be 1st evidence of Bible’s ‘Geshurites’
Stunning stone etching of two horned individuals at prayer found at mouth of rare circa-11th century citadel in Israel’s north; could predate famous Geshur site, Tel Bethsaida
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Excavation director Yevgeny Aharonovich stands next to an unused Second Temple-era olive press at the ancient settlement of Kafr Murr, today a neighborhood of Beit El, November 3, 2020. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/ToI)
November 9, 2020, 6:44 am
Beit El settlement expansion threatens to bury Jewish Second Temple heritage
As apartment towers rise in West Bank town, remains of Jewish village conquered by Romans fight the elements — and population boom — for a chance at preservation in planned park
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
A hoard of gold coins dating to the Abbasid Caliphate is pictured during a press presentation of the discovery at an archeological site near Tel Aviv in central Israel (Heidi Levine / POOL / AFP)
November 5, 2020, 9:47 am
WATCH: Israel Antiquities Authority coin head displays treasures from the vault
Dr. Donald T. Ariel joins the ToI Community’s exclusive Behind the Headlines series for a deep dive into early and rare coins found in excavations in Israel
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
2,000-year-old seal with the image of Apollo discovered in the City of David near Jerusalem's Western Wall. (Eliyahu Yanai/City of David)
October 29, 2020, 1:45 pm
In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem
Sun god, a symbol of health and prosperity, was the only member of the pagan pantheon used by Jews during the Second Temple period, says City of David archaeologist Eli Shukron
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Circa 400 CE Byzantine church excavated at Banias Nature Reserve. (Yaniv Cohen)
October 28, 2020, 12:16 pm
Ancient church found where Jesus said to tell Peter to establish Christianity
4th-century church, one of earliest in Israel, was built atop temple to Pan at spot in Banias where New Testament says Peter saw Jesus as Messiah, was told to spread his teachings
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
MK and Chair of the Committee David Bitan, Chair of the Jewish Agency Isaac 'Boogie' Herzog, Secretary-General of the Jewish Agency Josh Schwartz, and MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, at the Knesset Aliya Committee's observance of the anniversary of the Pittsburgh terrorist attack, October 27, 2020. (Becca Wertman)
October 27, 2020, 5:22 pm
2 years on, MKs seek ways to remember Pittsburgh massacre, prevent another
Head of Knesset Committee for Immigration David Bitan tasks roundtable to envision a memorial to the fallen at Tree of Life synagogue and implement an annual national ceremony
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Workers lift the 3rd-century CE Roman boundary stone at Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at Nafah in the Golan Heights (Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
October 27, 2020, 11:16 am
Greek inscription links modern Israeli army base to 1,700-year-old Roman village
3rd century border stone discovered in secondary use under a previously unknown 14th century Mamluk roadside inn
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Ethiopian Bible manuscript from circa 15th century. (Faitlovitch Collection at TAU)
October 23, 2020, 1:58 pm
Scholarly SWAT team forged to rescue endangered Ethiopian Jewish oral tradition
Tel Aviv University’s new ‘Orit Guardians’ is world’s only graduate program to focus on Ethiopian Jewish scriptures; will train Ethiopian-Israeli student to record oral tradition
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Illustrative: Amit Rahav (Yanky) and Shira Haas (Esty) in Netflix's 'Unorthodox' (Netflix)
October 21, 2020, 3:26 pm
LISTEN: Everything is kosher and nothing is unorthodox in sex, says therapist
In an extremely frank conversation, Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus busts myths and recommends reimagining androcentric ideas of what sex really is
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Prof. Yehoshua Blau poses for a picture at his home in Jerusalem on August 22, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 20, 2020, 8:51 pm
Prof. Yehoshua Blau, giant of Semitic languages, dies at 101
Israel Prize-winning scholar of biblical Hebrew grammar and Judeo-Arabic fled the Nazis in 1938 to settle in pre-state Israel, where he continued publishing even after hitting 100
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The 2,700-year-old limestone two shekel weight next to a modern two shekel coin. (Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)
October 13, 2020, 2:27 pm
Weight, weight: Western wall dig uncovers flubbed 2,700-year-old 2-shekel stone
23-gram limestone weight displays ‘very rare’ — and perhaps ignorant — craftsmanship by local who was likely unfamiliar with Egyptian style used at the time
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
'Great Royal Visit,' March 8, 1929. L-to-r: P.L.O. Guy (above), A. Murray Dryer, David Rockefeller, Geoffrey Shpton, Mary 'Tod' Clarck, Edward DeLoach, Robert Lamon, Abby Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., James Henry Breasted, Harry Parker, unidentified fez-wearer. (courtesy Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)
October 7, 2020, 4:58 pm
Digging at Armageddon: Tumultuous saga of doomed search for Solomon’s Lost City
LISTEN: Author Prof. Eric Cline excavates mounds of archives to paint colorful picture of cast of characters at 1920s-1930s Megiddo dig during field of archaeology’s infancy
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Dr. Filipe Natalio, seen here at a site in the Negev Desert, holding a flint tool. (screenshot)
October 5, 2020, 9:09 pm
Cave dwellers forged their tools in fire 300,000 years ago, Israeli study shows
Weizmann Institute findings based on AI analysis of flint from Qesem Cave, using tool-making re-enactment, hi-tech Raman spectroscopy, and machine learning
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
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