Jewish history

Like Moses, Israel needs leaders who understand different perspectives - opinion

Moses defined the quality every great leader needs: the ability to understand every human spirit.

|ByMOSHE TARAGIN
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, learning at the Har Etzion yeshiva he led, 2014. He was awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish Religious Literature that same year.
Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is consoled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he attends the funeral of his son Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, an Israeli solider, who was killed in northern Gaza during the ground operation by Israel's military in Gaza.

Was Netanyahu chosen by God, or judged too harshly by man? - opinion

There was a young man who was chosen. He did not choose himself. In fact, he had no plans to enter politics and no ambition to become prime minister. Yet God often chooses people who never expect it.

|ByMIKE EVANS
Eleven minutes after Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, president Harry Truman recognized the new state, beginning one of the most consequential alliances in modern history.PremiumPremium

Thank you, America - but Israel cannot take your support for granted - opinion

From Truman’s recognition to today’s uncertainties, the US-Israel relationship remains vital, but not guaranteed

|ByNACHMAN SHAI
Samaritans are seen celebrating Shavuot.

Meeting our ancient cousins: What the Samaritans can teach about Jewish continuity - opinion

The existence of the Samaritans reminds us that possessing a text is not enough. The greater wonder is the survival of a people and a living tradition.

|ByJONATHAN LIEBERMAN

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.

DECEMBER 3, 2025ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
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.

NOVEMBER 30, 2025ByASHLEY PERRY
Jewish girls at a school performance in Benghazi, Lybia.

AI opens vast trove of medieval Jewish records from the Cairo Geniza

The Cairo Geniza, the biggest collection of medieval Jewish documents in the world, has been the object of countless hours of study by scholars for more than a century.

NOVEMBER 26, 2025ByREUTERS
A researcher of MiDRASH, a project dedicated to analysing the National Library of Israel’s digital database of all known Hebrew manuscripts using Machine Learning, including manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza, holds up a 12th century fragment of a Yom Kippur liturgy in Jerusalem November 24, 2025.

This month in Jewish history: Operation Moses, Hanukkah, and Spinoza

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

NOVEMBER 22, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
ETHIOPIAN IMMIGRANTS upon their arrival at an absorption center in Ashkelon, 1984.

Haaretz’s claims on brit milah: Separating fact from misconception - opinion

That this family continues to have a strong connection to our nation, history, and customs speaks to how brit milah – unchanged itself across millennia – continues to preserve the Jewish people.

NOVEMBER 11, 2025ByHAYIM LEITER
THE WRITER, second from left, performs a circumcision in the presence of four generations, great-grandfather to newborn. Just as much as the Jewish people have continuously kept the commandment of circumcision, the practice has preserved our identity, he asserts.

Beyond the beaches and medieval walls: Discovering Jewish Rhodes

From airport signs, restaurant menus on buzzing streets, and business cards in Hebrew, an Israeli visitor can almost feel at home in Rhodes.

OCTOBER 25, 2025ByGIL LEWINSKY
KAHAL SHALOM Synagogue.

Mermaids and a talking donkey: A treasure trove of ‘midrashic’ interpretations - review

Zev T. Gershon's '100 Wonders in the World of Torah' includes entries of little-known stories and oddities.

OCTOBER 5, 2025ByALAN ROSENBAUM
‘BALAAM AND The Angel,’ 1493 woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle.

The fascinating history of Jews in Montenegro

This small Adriatic nation, nestled between the mountains and the sea, with barely 600,000 citizens, has a rich Jewish history.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2025ByMICHAEL FREUND
TODAY, THE Jewish community in Montenegro is small but vibrant.

Back to Budapest: A mixed experience

Before the Holocaust, 24% of Budapest’s population had been Jewish. Today, there are some 100,000 Hungarian Jews.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2025ByANNA KRYCER
THE WRITER and some of her family outside the synagogue, at the same spot where her parents stood after their wedding in December 1947.

Rosh Hashanah: One union

God wants us to be in unity: that we honor one another, and that we respect each other’s wishes and aspirations.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2025ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
UNITY DOES not mean uniformity of opinion.