Abigail Klein Leichman

Abigail Klein Leichman is a journalist who made aliya with her family in 2007, following 13 years as a features writer and copy editor at The Record , the daily newspaper of northern New Jersey. She has been freelancing since 1984 for a wide variety of secular and Jewish publications and is a staff writer for ISRAEL21c.

A SECTION of Jonathan Vidgop’s family tree on the walls of the Am haZikaron office in Tel Aviv.

Perpetual Jewish family traits: Jewish genealogy, history explored by Am haZikaron Institute

FEDAYEEN OF the PFLP in mountains east of the Jordan River, early 1969. They carry Soviet and Egyptian weapons.

'The Arab Case for Israel': Explaining the conflict between Jews and Arabs - review

SIMON BETUEL in his home studio.

Simon Betuel: Cosmetics producer by day, artist by night


Dream Care: This haredi male nurse is helping redefine private nursing care in Israel

After seeing patients fall through the cracks, a haredi nurse set out to reinvent care at home.

Matan Nitzky with assorted Dream Care patients

She moved to Israel during war and this chess champion says she would do it again

Despite all that’s entailed in adjusting to life as a new immigrant, Gara has no regrets.

CHESS CHAMPION Tícia Gara.

Live from the mamad: Laughter is the best medicine amid war

Even comedic masters of timing don’t stand a chance if their set is interrupted by air raid sirens. 

(L TO R) Ana Vincenti, Moe Braun, Martin Winiar, and Hanna Castiel TLV fan Stav Setty.

Be a refusenik: Survival guide for Jewish students facing campus antisemitism

New playbook for Jewish defiance on campus takes a page from Soviet refuseniks.

David Hazony (from L) Natan Sharansky, Rawan Osman, Izabella Tabarovsky, and  Noah Shufutinsky at the January launch event for Be a Refusenik at the Menachem  Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Shmuel Yerish: From teaching in Ukraine to creating Jewish kids' toys in Hadera

Rabbi Shmuel Yerish is grateful that “here in Israel you can live a full Jewish life, without judgment or reproach.”

RABBI SHMUEL YERISH and family in Hadera.

Anchored in the Earth: The theraputic farm helping Israel's combat veterans

Now in its second year, the initiative serves approximately 60 veterans across four cohorts, providing a structured path toward healing and reintegration through farm-based therapeutic work.

IDF VETERANS work the fields as part of Kaima’s Anchored in the Earth therapeutic farming program.

Late Blossoms: Imagined encounters in Anna Ticho’s literary salon - book review

Each story imagines a visit from one historic female artist or poet who 'shaped the emerging State of Israel’s literary, artistic, cultural, and intellectual scenes.'

Ticho House in Jerusalem.

Aliyah: A wedding postponed, a dream fulfilled

When the sudden onset of the 12-Day War with Iran grounded the NBN flight, her other, previously purchased ticket enabled her to secure one of the scarce rescue flights leaving the US.

 Shira Sedek Ben-Zekhariah arrives at Ben-Gurion Airport, June 26, 2025.

'Why Am I a Jew?' A sincere attempt at addressing big questions about Judaism - book review

Rosner’s book was written primarily for non-practicing Jews perplexed by Judaism in general and by apparent contradictions between Jewish and Western values in particular. 

Statue of Spinoza by Nicolas Dings in Zwanenburgwal, Amsterdam, with the inscription ‘The objective of the state is freedom,’ quoted from his ‘Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.’

Israel's ‘palace’ of art and architecture in Ma’aleh Adumim marks 15 years

The Moshe Castel Museum of Art marks 15 years of presenting the works of underappreciated Israeli artists to the public.

 SELF-PORTRAIT of Pinchas Shaar (1923-1996).