Jewish history

This week in Jewish history: Nobel prize winners, biochemists, and the Baba Sali

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

|BySTEVEN DRUCKER
Baba Baruch, heir of Baba Sali, speaks to prime minister Yitzhak Shamir during traditional ceremonies in Netivot, 1988.
Statue of a mans head wearing headphones.

The high price of not listening: What Pharaoh teaches us about power and humility

Pharaoh ignored every warning until his nation collapsed. His mistake isn’t ancient, it’s painfully familiar today.

|ByMOSHE TARAGIN
A memorial ceremony at the Nova festival marking two years since the October 7 massacre when Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, murdering more than 1200 people. October 07, 2025.

One degree of separation: How Jews connect through trauma, unite in hope - opinion

By every rational measure, such repeated traumas should have left the Jews scattered, fragmented, and broken. But as our story goes, that’s not what happened.

|ByANAT WEISSMAN
ETHIOPIAN JEWS take part in a prayer of the Sigd holiday on the Armon Hanatziv Promenade overlooking Jerusalem, in November 2025.

Zionism didn’t start in Europe, and Ethiopian Jews can prove it - opinion

For more than 2,500 years, Ethiopian Jewish leaders preserved Jewish law, ritual, and identity in one of the most isolated Jewish communities on Earth.

|BySHMUEL LEGESSE

Kazakhstan textbooks promote tolerance, respect for Judaism, Israel - IMPACT report finds

Kazakhstan's school curriculum offers a largely positive portrayal of Judaism and Jewish history and, in many cases, a balanced approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

APRIL 9, 2025ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
A man holds a mobile phone while walking past a board with a Kazakh state flag during a protest against LPG cost rise following authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022

Life lessons: My Passover in Soviet unfreedom - opinion

The history of Soviet Jewish refuseniks demonstrates Jewish resilience throughout the generations.

APRIL 9, 2025ByGIL TROY
Hazorfim - Passover plate, the Linia collection, NIS 574

The Indian Jewish journey to Israel: A story of return, not invasion - opinion

For the Jews of India, Israel was not viewed as a foreign land to colonize but rather as the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.

APRIL 7, 2025ByPAUSHALI LASS
Steeped in history and flavor, Nahoum’s Bakery in Kolkata stands as a sweet reminder of the city’s rich Baghdadi Jewish legacy. For centuries, Jews in India maintained a connection to the land of Israel, the writer recalls.

'Embracing Exile': Defending Jewish Diaspora as source of identity, prosperity, pride - review

In his book Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora, David Kraemer seeks to provide a “fuller picture” of issues related to Jewish identity, place, and home.

APRIL 6, 2025ByGLENN C. ALTSCHULER
The Holy Land model, featured at the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, depicts Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period as seen from the east. The Temple Mount and Herod’s Temple are located in the middle.

This week in Jewish history: Nebi Musa riots, death of Reb Aryeh Levin

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars.

APRIL 4, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
Biochemist Edmond Fischer.

My Word: A Passover lesson to be learned - opinion

We are commanded to tell the children the story of the Exodus as if it happened to each of us personally. It is the ultimate teachable moment.

APRIL 4, 2025ByLIAT COLLINS
EXCAVATIONS AT the City of David. How will children who don’t know their own history be prepared for the future?

Why Judaism warns against unanimous decisions in government - opinion

A decision made unanimously by a large group and which determines a person’s future is guided by external considerations rather than by the merits of the matter at hand.

APRIL 2, 2025ByTOVA HERZL
A plenum session and a vote on reviving the Ultra Orthodox enlistment bill at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on June 11, 2024.

This week in Jewish history: Birth of Hebrew University

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars.

MARCH 29, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
THE HEBREW University of Jerusalem opens, 1925.

'Letters from Home': Exploring tension among Jews in in the Second Temple era - review

The relationship between the Jewish communities of Egypt and Israel created an underlying tension, not unlike the modern-day relationship between world Jewry and the Jews of the State of Israel.

MARCH 29, 2025ByALAN ROSENBAUM
A RECONSTRUCTION of the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate, the northern entrance to Babylon, on display at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Mourning Alexander Mashkevich, a uniter of World Jewry - opinion

Alexander Mashkevich did not just support Jewish communities—he saw it as his mission to strengthen, develop, and unite them.

MARCH 26, 2025ByDR. MICHAEL MIRILASHVILI
MASHKEVITCH 311