Jewish history

Meet the Jews who played pivotal roles in American history

Jews have played pivotal roles throughout key moments in American history. Throughout 2026, monthly online conversations with Jewish historians will journey across American and Jewish history.

A group of young Austrian immigrants wave to the Statue of Liberty upon their arrival in America aboard the S.S. Harding. The 50 Jewish children, who were greeted by their new adoptive families, were fleeing Nazi persecution in their homeland.
STEPHEN LANG and Elsie Fisher in ‘The Optimist.’

Holocaust survivor, troubled teen bond in ‘The Optimist’

Impatience has led to many people losing their own private Garden of Eden.

Parashat Ki Tisa: Sin of the golden calf and the test of patience

 Purim celebrates the grape in a nod to the Persian wine parties.

Purim isn’t Jewish Halloween - it’s a theology of wine and redemption - opinion


Historic collections relocated as Israel Museum closes during war with Iran

The announcement came as Israel and the US have launched coordinated military operations against Iran, with officials urging residents to stay near protected spaces.

 The Israel Museum

Documentary about Jews murdered after Nazi occupation threatened with ban in Poland

The Jews at the heart of Among Neighbors, from California-based filmmaker Yoav Potash, died six months after the end of Nazi occupation.

PELAGIA RADECKA, featured in "Among Neighbors," witnessed the postwar murder of five Jews as a 15-year-old girl.

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.

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

The first volume of the machzor was completed in1272 in Wurzburg, Germany. Today, it is displayed in the National Library in Jerusalem.

‘WORMS MACHZOR,’ 1280; reconstructed cover, Volume 2.

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

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

DIZENGOFF SQUARE, named for the Tel Aviv founding father.

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

Tel Aviv does not boast the long history cities like Jerusalem, Beersheba, or even 2,000-year-old Haifa. 

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

What honoring our parents teaches us about faith, logic, and Judaism

The mitzvah of honoring one's parents is not a narrow religious demand but a foundational moral duty.

RED HEIFER

Parashat Beshalach's lessons on unity, shared risk, and IDF service

A segment of Israeli society – largely comprising traditional, Religious-Zionist, and secular Jews – carries the overwhelming weight of military service.

A STATUE of Deborah dated 1792 stands in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Parashat Beshalach: The joy of ‘mitzvot’

Recounting for the first time the story of an entire people who, after long years of harsh and grueling bondage, emerge into freedom.

JOSEPH’S TOMB in Nablus.

Does history repeat itself? Recognizing the potential danger of modern antisemitism - opinion

It seems that when the term antisemitism is replaced by anti-Zionism, in a twisted manner, legitimacy is achieved globally.

 A pro-Palestinian demonstrator holds a sign, as they take part in a protest against US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Turkey, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Istanbul, November 4, 2023.