Jessica Steinberg

Jessica Steinberg covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center.

December 4, 2021, 9:26 am

Jerusalem’s Train Theater takes a short ride to a new playhouse

The Karon Theater offers more space and facilities for the city’s beloved children’s theater, with its original train carriage still on site

By Jessica Steinberg

Miss Universe contestants in Israel on December 1, 2021, with stylist Stephanie Strauch (bottom left), Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hasson-Nahoum (bottom middle) and Ilanit Melchior, director of Jerusalem tourism (bottom right) (Courtesy Moran Sameulof)

December 3, 2021, 5:26 am

Miss Universe contestants model ‘pre-loved’ clothing fashion show

A Hanukkah fashion event with Haboydem, a Jerusalem secondhand shop that supports women’s rehab and employment training for people with disabilities

By Jessica Steinberg

Amos Gitai (bottom) with Keren Mor (left) and Yuval Sherf, checking takes during filming of 'Jerusalem Light Rail.' The director will be honored at the Solidarity and Human Rights Film December 9-18, 2021 for 40 years of making films about human rights (Courtesy Amos Gitai)

December 2, 2021, 1:42 pm

Festival showcases films striving to make world a better place

The Solidarity and Human Rights Film Festival opens December 9 at Tel Aviv Cinematheque

By Jessica Steinberg

Lit Hanukkah menorahs are part of the tour in Jerusalem's Old City during the eight-day holiday, which begins November 28, 2021 (Courtesy Michal Ben Atar)

November 28, 2021, 6:08 am

The tours, events and shows that will light up your Hanukkah

Archaeological digs, cupcake decorations, museum tours and neighborhood explorations are some of the activities on offer during the eight-day holiday

By Jessica Steinberg

Noted Jewish philosopher and writer Bernard Henri-Lévy during the filming of 'The Will to See,' about suffering in war-torn areas worldwide, which will be screened at the Jewish Film Festival, November 29-December 2, 2021 (Courtesy 'The Will to See' PR)

November 24, 2021, 6:14 am

Cinematheque’s Jewish Film Fest brings range of movies for Hanukkah viewing

The annual film event includes screenings, discussions and talks with filmmakers and creators exploring Jewish thinkers, artists and activists

By Jessica Steinberg

Motta Brim, one of the participating artists in the 5th Jerusalem Biennale, which opened November 11 and runs through December 30, 2021, at various sites around the city (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

November 21, 2021, 12:15 pm

‘Four Cubits,’ the fifth Jerusalem Biennale, takes cue from pandemic

Ancient two-meter measurement is theme of this year’s Jewish art exhibition, which explores personal spaces and isolation; event runs through December 30

By Jessica Steinberg

Actor and 'Fauda' co-creator Lior Raz filming the fourth season of the action drama in November 2021 (Courtesy Yes TV)

November 17, 2021, 7:08 pm

‘Fauda,’ Israel’s favorite action drama series, films fourth season

Latest installment will pick up where last season ended, with unrest on Lebanon border and in the West Bank

By Jessica Steinberg

German singer Thomas Anders will perform in Tel Aviv, on February 1, 2022 (Courtesy: Thomas Anders PR)

November 17, 2021, 4:19 pm

German pop singer Thomas Anders schedules Israel concert

The German X-Factor judge and vocalist of the Modern Talking Band will return to Tel Aviv on February 1

By Jessica Steinberg

Oud player Wassim Odeh, who will perform November 19, 2021, at the Jerusalem Oud Festival produced by the Jerusalem Confederation House. (Courtesy Hisam Abu Ayoub)

November 16, 2021, 11:59 pm

This oud player lives for music, steers clear of politics

Wassim Odeh has performed with Arabs and Jews his entire life, and believes ‘good music speaks to everyone’

By Jessica Steinberg

The photomontaged pictures of Helena Citron and Frank Wunsch, an Auschwitz prisoner and her SS officer who pursued a romance in the concentration camp, now the subject of an award-winning documentary, 'Love It Was Not" (Courtesy Love It Was Not)

November 16, 2021, 4:17 am

Israeli film on SS officer’s romance with Jewish prisoner heads to Apple, Amazon

‘Love It Was Not’ utilizes creative photomontage, interviews and archival testimony to describe a wildly improbable Auschwitz love affair

By Jessica Steinberg

From the official poster for the Justin Bieber world tour, when the mega pop star will be performing in Israel on October 13, 2022 (Courtesy PR)

November 15, 2021, 6:26 pm

Pop icon Justin Bieber announces 2022 concert in Tel Aviv

Singer will perform October 13 in Ganei Yehoshua, as part of Justice World Tour that was delayed by COVID

By Jessica Steinberg

The 1,500-year-old silver cuff inscribed with the words of the Shema prayer in Greek, forms the center of 'Hear, O Israel: The Magic of the Shema,' a new archaeological exhibit at the Israel Museum that closes April 2022. (Courtesy Elie Posner)

November 12, 2021, 8:48 am

Hear, O Israel: There are magic powers in the Shema

An Israel Museum exhibit takes a deeper look at amulets inscribed with the elemental Jewish prayer

By Jessica Steinberg

Issa Anis Kassissieh, the official Ambassador of the Holy Land Santa, kayaks in the Jordan River in the Golan Heights as part of his Christmas 2021 greeting (Courtesy Omri Masika and Roi Peretz)

November 11, 2021, 2:14 pm

Israel’s Santa sends season’s greetings from the Golan Heights

Jerusalem’s Old City Santa, Issa Anis Kassissieh, takes a kayaking trip on the River Jordan, tree and presents in tow

By Jessica Steinberg

Writer Stuart Schoffman, a longtime journalist and translator in Jerusalem, died at 74 on November 7, 2021 (Courtesy Stuart Schoffman Facebook page)

November 8, 2021, 1:35 pm

Stuart Schoffman, a master and devotee of Hebrew culture, dies at 74

A journalist, screenwriter, thinker and translator of some of Israel’s greatest writers, Schoffman was known for his words and warmth; colleague recalls a ‘genius and a mensch’

By Jessica Steinberg

Holocaust survivor Bernard Krutz and his first cousin Esti Kisseloff meet for the first time on November 4, 2021, with the 1956 Yad Vashem testimony that helped prove their familial relationship. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

November 5, 2021, 11:13 am

Holocaust hidden child, who never knew his family, meets a cousin for first time

Bernard Krutz never knew his name, age or parents, but in Israel on Thursday, he forged a link to his past through a cousin he discovered with DNA testing

By Jessica Steinberg