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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 531

Rossella Tercatin

Rossella Tercatin

Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter.
Dr. Jodi Magness from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as she excavates at Huqoq in the Galilee. Magness and her team began excavating the site in 2011 and concluded their fieldwork in 2023. (Jim Haberman)
March 15, 2025, 7:22 am
Could 1,600-year-old Galilee synagogue rewrite history of Jewish life under the Romans?
New radiocarbon dating at grand Huqoq sanctuary near Tiberias puts its construction after the empire embraced Christianity, suggests Jews in Holy Land still enjoyed ‘relative prosperity’
By Rossella Tercatin
In 2018, Paradesi Jews from all over the world gathered in Cochin to celebrate the 450th anniversary of their synagogue. (Shalva Weil)
March 14, 2025, 9:27 pm
Burning Haman: The lost Purim tradition of India’s ancient Cochin Jewish community
For centuries, Cochin Jews marked Purim by burning effigies of Haman, while the holiday represented the day when Jews from all backgrounds celebrated together
By Rossella Tercatin
Archaeologists at Ostia Antica near Rome, Italy, unveiled what they believe is the oldest mikveh ever found outside the land of Israel in March 2025. (Parco archeologico di Ostia antica)
March 14, 2025, 12:14 pm
Roman-era Jewish bath in Italy may be oldest outside of Israel, points to vibrant Diaspora
Newly excavated site in Ostia Antica, dating as early as the 3rd century CE, offers fresh insight and new enigmas about the city’s potential melting pot of Roman Empire communities
By Rossella Tercatin
Israelis dressed in costumes walk on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem on March 12, 2025, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 13, 2025, 10:54 am
Jerusalem gets ready for rare triple Purim: ‘The main goal is to take care of others’
In a sporadic occurrence that will next repeat itself in 2045, Jews in the capital get to celebrate a three-day holiday
By Rossella Tercatin
Tinshemet Cave, a Middle Paleolithic site in central Israel, during excavations. (Yossi Zaidner)
March 11, 2025, 4:27 pm
Sapiens and Neanderthals coexisted in prehistoric Israel, rare cave burials show
Using dentists’ tools, archaeologists painstakingly uncover evidence that Israel’s Tinshemet Cave housed hominins who shared rituals and knowledge, and possibly lived in harmony
By Rossella Tercatin
Archaeologists examine a rare skeleton bound in iron rings found in the remains of a church some three kilometers northwest of Jerusalem. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
March 10, 2025, 4:14 pm
Chained in faith: 5th-century female skeleton may be world’s 1st self-mortifying Christian nun
Cutting-edge technology allows a team of Israeli researchers to determine that mysterious ironclad remains found in a church near Jerusalem belonged to a woman
By Rossella Tercatin
The Moreno Family from Tangier dressed up to emulate the Andalusian past in an instance of ‘Reenactment Tourism.’ Photography Studio in the Alhambra compound, Spain 1953. (Courtesy of Daniel Moreno)
March 10, 2025, 8:28 am
Morocco’s Spanish-speaking Jewish minority illuminated in prizewinning book
National Jewish Book Award recipient Aviad Moreno’s work focuses on northern Morocco’s Hispanic Jews, whose yearning for a ‘homeland’ was often for Spain, not elusive Israel
By Rossella Tercatin
Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli attends a session ain the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 9, 2025, 10:57 pm
Religious Services minister backs down from bid to control appointments of city rabbis
Following High Court petition by Tzohar and ITIM groups, Michael Malkieli rolls back regulations guaranteeing him control of selection committees
By Rossella Tercatin
Left: Meir Orbach from the the Zinman Institute of Archaeology – University of Haifa holding the Extinct rhino jaw from Nesher Ramla site. (Prof. Reuven Yeshurun). Right: Auroch skeleton. (Wikipedia)
March 7, 2025, 4:04 pm
Early humans in Israel really liked their steaks, new study shows
While the region offered a great diversity of fauna, Middle Paleolithic humans favored hunting the ancestor of cows, archaeological remains from the Nesher Ramla site have revealed
By Rossella Tercatin
The Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court seen on August 3, 2017. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
March 6, 2025, 12:53 pm
Half of Israelis in rabbinical courts say they were wronged – survey
According to a study by the ITIM nonprofit, one in five Israelis also report their connection to Judaism was negatively impacted by the experience
By Rossella Tercatin
Archaeologists from Bar Ilan University, in cooperation with the Staff Officer of Archaeology, excavated the site of Sartaba/Alexandrium in the Jordan Valley in February 2025. The excavation’s director Dr. Dvir Raviv from Bar Ilan, points to a column capital on the eastern slope of the hill. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
March 6, 2025, 5:56 am
Jewish rebels and earthquake rubble: New dig aims to solve a pair of historical enigmas
Sartaba/Alexandrium was built by the Hasmoneans and expanded by Herod. A team of archaeologists has launched a first excavation in 40 years to probe the final days of the fortress
By Rossella Tercatin
An archaeological site under Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate featuring a 2nd century CE Roman gate and plaza dating was opened to the public on February 26, 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
March 5, 2025, 2:45 pm
Biblical-themed exhibit inaugurated at Roman site under Damascus Gate in Jerusalem
A 2nd-century gate in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter offers a glimpse into the capital’s multilayered history — and complex present
By Rossella Tercatin
Pope Francis flanked by Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, right, during his visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
March 4, 2025, 5:52 am
For Rome’s Jews, ties with ailing pope are personal. And increasingly complicated
With 2,000 years of history between the Jewish community and the Catholic Church, relations have been positive in recent decades. But October 7 has stirred up age-old apprehensions
By Rossella Tercatin
Rachel Neiman, a spokesperson at the National Library of Israel, examines a 15th-century manuscript featuring Mezukak Shivatayim ('Distilled Sevenfold'), a previously lost commentary on Maimonines’s Misheh Torah is on display at the National Library of Israel in February 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
February 27, 2025, 11:10 am
Lost & found: Early commentary on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah on display in Jerusalem
Now housed at the National Library, 15th-cent. Mezukak Shivatayim extensively quotes Jewish sages whose works are unknown to scholars, opening the way to recover thinkers’ lost wisdom
By Rossella Tercatin
Ultra-Orthodox extremists opposed to the draft protest and clash with police outside a conference honoring Haredi soldiers, in Jerusalem, January 28, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
February 21, 2025, 10:32 am
October 7 changed Israel forever. But the ultra-Orthodox? Not so much, report suggests
Israel Democracy Institute’s study indicates that Haredi solidarity with the rest of society was transient
By Rossella Tercatin
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