search
Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan is The Times of Israel's Jewish World and Archaeology editor.
Dr. Sharon Nazarian, the Anti-Defamation League's Senior Vice President for International Affairs, at the Israel Social Cohesion Summit, October 16, 2018. (Sharon Amit)
October 19, 2018, 5:03 am
Once a witness to unchecked hate, now she travels the globe to fight it
A Jew who fled Iran, the ADL’s Sharon Nazarian has become a bridge-builder, raising alarms against injustices and the dangers of illiberal government power around the world
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Excavation of a mass burial in Jerusalem's Russian compound, summer 2018. (Kfir Arbiv/Israel Antiquities Authority)
October 12, 2018, 8:32 am
Ancient beheading site found in Jerusalem, evidence of ‘holy’ king’s bloody rule
Archaeologists now know whodunnit — the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus — after uncovering a 2,000-year-old mass burial ground in the municipality’s backyard
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The inscription as it was found in the excavation near the Jerusalem International Convention Center, winter 2018. (Danit Levy, Israel Antiquities Authority)
October 9, 2018, 3:27 pm
Earliest known stone carving of Hebrew word ‘Jerusalem’ found near city entrance
Unearthed in what was an artisan’s village 2.5 km from ancient Temple, inscribed column from 100 BCE features Aramaic, Hebrew, two of the languages used by Jerusalemites of the era
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Portrait of a man thought to be Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519.(public domain)
October 8, 2018, 9:56 pm
Christopher Columbus — the hidden Jew?
With a murky past, theories abound for the origin story of the intrepid explorer — from pirate to crypto-Jew
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Perpetrators of an elaborate hoax against academic journals (from left) mathematics Ph.D. James Lindsay, UK academic Helen Pluckrose and philosophy professor Peter Boghossian. (courtesy)
October 5, 2018, 5:08 pm
Duped academic journal publishes rewrite of ‘Mein Kampf’ as feminist manifesto
To highlight alleged intellectual bias in university ‘grievance studies’ programs, three scholars write 20 absurd papers; seven are accepted to top publications
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Male human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis. (Gilles San Martin, CC-BY-SA, via wikipedia)
September 25, 2018, 10:38 am
A bit player in human history, the mighty louse is important — and here to stay
From the migration of early hominids to Jewish rebels at Masada, the perfectly adapted parasite is a portal in time to shed light on even the smallest of mysteries
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Rena Rossner, author of 'The Sisters of the Winter Wood,' September 20, 2018, in the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the West Bank. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)
September 23, 2018, 4:17 am
Book world’s hot new fantasy author is an Orthodox Jew with a magical shtetl
Judaism is the jumping off point for Rena Rossner’s ‘The Sisters of the Winter Wood,’ a Yiddish-inflected retelling of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Romanian Jews, seen through a glass door, attend a religious service ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, at the Great Synagogue in Bucharest, Romania, September 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru/Mediafax)
September 18, 2018, 1:44 pm
How the haunting Kol Nidre melody harnessed the power to convert
The ancient Ashkenazi musical setting of Aramaic vow renunciation has shocked and transformed thinkers from Heine, Herzl and Rosenzweig to non-Jewish artists and intellectuals
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Microscopic traces of ancient starches extracted from the Raqefet Cave (left) are compared to the references Stanford University Prof. Li Liu and her research replicated in their beer brewing experiments. (Credit: Li Liu)
September 12, 2018, 7:18 pm
13,000-year-old brewery discovered in Israel, the oldest in the world
Ancient Natufians tamed seven species of wild grains for ancient ale, according to new Stanford University study
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
American Veterans Archaeological Recovery co-founder Stephen Humphreys (right) at the Beth Shearim Excavation, August 2018. (courtesy)
September 7, 2018, 4:09 pm
US vets combat PTSD by sifting through the past at archaeological dig in Israel
American Veterans Archaeological Recovery sends demobilized servicemen to excavate historic Beit She’arim as gateway to healing
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The clay impression of a face used to seal 2,000-year-old documents was discovered in August 2018 at the Maresha excavations as part of a trove of 1,020 sealings. (Asaf Stern)
September 6, 2018, 2:28 pm
1,020 untouched clay sealings discovered after two millennia in hidden cave
A find of international significance in central Israel, the Hellenistic-era trove puts the ancient cosmopolitan city of Maresha ‘back on the map’
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Israel Antiquities Authority professionals assess damage at the Robinson's Arch section of the Western Wall after a stone fell on July 23, 2018. (Hannah Estrin)
August 29, 2018, 7:31 pm
Still no budget for conservation at Western Wall section where boulder fell
Antiquities Authority says it’s ‘ready to get to work’ shoring up wall adjacent to egalitarian prayer area, but government isn’t transferring necessary funds
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Assistant professor of dendrochronology Dr. Charlotte Pearson in her lab at the University of Arizona. (Robert D. Demers)
August 23, 2018, 9:24 pm
New carbon-dating tool could pinpoint ancient eruption, gauge if tied to Exodus
Calibration technique aims to show exactly when Thera erupted on Santorini, some 4,000 years ago. Volcanic blast has been linked to rise and fall of civilizations, even the Plagues
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Ossuary in Peki'in cave (Mariana Salzberger, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
August 20, 2018, 2:48 pm
Anomalous blue-eyed people came to Israel 6,500 years ago from Iran, DNA shows
Study of bones from massive Galilee necropolis helps fill 3,000-year gap in knowledge of ancient Levant settlers
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The gold Hellenistic-era earring unearthed in the City of David's Givati Parking Lot excavations belonged to an upper class man or woman in Jerusalem. (Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
August 8, 2018, 9:11 am
Rare 2,200-year-old earring a goldmine for scholars of Hellenistic-era Jerusalem
Gold filigree animal-headed jewelry item illuminates an opaque era of Jerusalem’s history — and may reset ancient city borders
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Load More