Jewish history

Is antisemitism inevitable? A disturbing old-new view of Jew-hatred - opinion

We have to be prepared for the possibility that democracy will fail the Jews.

 A person holds a placard during a demonstration against antisemitism, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Brussels, Belgium December 10, 2023.
‘WORMS MACHZOR,’ 1280; reconstructed cover, Volume 2.

How a machzor survived over six centuries and Nazi attacks to make it to Israel

DIZENGOFF SQUARE, named for the Tel Aviv founding father.

This month in Jewish history: The first permanent government of Israel

 MAN walks in the Jewish outpost of Yahish Zion, near the Jewish settlement of Psagot, in the West Bank.

Israel's heart is not in Tel Aviv - it is in Judea and Samaria - opinion


Hanukkah: The Maccabees weren’t symbols; they were fighters - opinion

The Maccabees prevailed because they refused erasure – militarily, culturally, and spiritually. Contemporary Jewish survival requires the same multi-front refusal.

The Maccabees receive their father's blessing, 1873.

The Great Inversion: When Israel became the Diaspora's shield - opinion

It is no longer the Diaspora nurturing and protecting tenuous Israel. Now it is the reverse.

An illustrative image of a Star of David.

This week in Jewish history: Yearning for Zion

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History.

PORTRAIT OF Jewish poet Naftali Herz Imber, from The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1920.

Prophet Zechariah: Not by might nor power, but by spirit

These words are a declaration of faith and a clear-cut explanation of Jewish survival.

Mourners accompany the body of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was murdered during the Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, on December 14.

Beyond the Headlines: First night of Hanukkah in Australia - opinion

A weekly glimpse into the Israel you won’t read about in the news

Rabbi Aharon Tzohar with Saba Shmuel.

This Hanukkah, my synagogue is illuminating our walls with relics of our Jewish immigrant stories

What better place to encourage people to learn and share their own immigrant history, digging out the details of who came when, from where and why?

An exhibition launching in December 2025 at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York City celebrates congregants' family immigration stories.

Jews need new story of Hanukkah or risk losing next Jewish generation to disillusionment - opinion

It is time for a new Hanukkah, kind and compassionate, turning narrow nationalism into a universalist pursuit of the world to come promised by our prophets.

 An illustrative image of Hanukkah candles lit.

The struggle to perceive miracles in real time links Hanukkah’s origins to recent events - opinion

From the Maccabees to modern Israel, people miss miracles as they occur and grasp them only later.

The site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last year, in Beirut’s southern suburbs: Today’s Jews can’t perceive the miraculous nature of the events of the last two years, the writer maintains.

Greek textbooks discuss Judaism, Holocaust in detail, but fall short on antisemitism

Greek textbooks give limited attention to local Jewish history and contributions to Greek society. Even though they include Jewish history and misfortunes, the books leave antisemitism behind.

A slogan reading "Outside the Jewish Snakes" is written outside a Jewish synagoue in the central Greek town of Trikala, some 300 kilometers north of Athens, on December 31, 2019

Zionism beyond Europe: Restoring the Mizrahi narrative in Jewish education - opinion

Theodor Herzl stood on the shoulders of these pioneers, and his ideas for a Jewish state can be traced directly to them.

 Jewish girls at a school performance in Benghazi, Lybia.