The Incredible Gershwin Brothers
According to most authorities, the family's Judaism was neither religious nor political but, rather, cultural and casual.
A Selection Of Pesach-Related Correspondence By Jewish Writers And Artists
Even standing on their own without musical accompaniment, Shemer’s lyrics were achingly beautiful and highly emotional.
Passover Before & During The Holocaust
Collins was a passionate critic of antisemitism, as to which he advised his troops: “I know that there exists, in some divisions, what your people call antisemitism. It will not be tolerated in my division. Should it crop up, I will hold you personally responsible if I am not made aware of it immediately.
The Official Postcards Of The Thirteenth Through Eighteenth Congresses
Specially produced beautiful and deeply poignant official postcards were issued for all of the pre-Israel Zionist Congresses (all Congresses after 1948 were held in Jerusalem).
Ronald Reagan’s Mixed Record On Israel
Upon assuming office as an anti-Communist conservative, he strongly opposed the notion of a P.L.O. state and supported a militarily strong Israel as America's most reliable Middle East ally. Within a few months of his election, however, he had altered his position and began to encourage "moderate" P.L.O. leaders toward possible autonomy and statehood.
Ten Photographs Originally Signed By Chagall From The Gabriel Tapir Collection
Between 1931 and 1934, Chagall worked obsessively on the series The Bible, even going to Amsterdam to carefully study biblical paintings by Rembrandt and El Greco and to examine the extremes in religious painting. He walked the streets of the city's Jewish quarter to again feel the earlier atmosphere.
The Judaism Of Arthur Miller
Most of Miller’s plays were performed in Israel, beginning with Salesman, which was performed at the Habimah National Theatre in Tel Aviv (1951). He visited Israel several times, once attending a presentation of his All My Sons and sitting next to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on his last day in office, May 17, 1977.
How Morris ‘Two-Gun’ Cohen Saved the Nascent State of Israel
According to Drage’s biography, Cohen was born in London in 1889 to a family that had just arrived from Poland, but most analysts agree that he was actually born in 1887 to a poor Jewish family in a Radzanów, Poland shtetl shortly before his family fled Eastern European pogroms and emigrated to London.
Shavuot At The Kotel In 1967
The Boston Globe reported that by the end of November 1967, more than 400,000 members of the Jewish faith are estimated to have observed the commandment to wear Phylacteries (tefillin) at the city’s Western Wall, formerly known as the Wailing Wall.
Zishe Breitbart, Shtarker for the Ages
Breitbart became a great source of hope to all sorts of Jews, ranging from the wholly unaffiliated to Orthodox and Charedi rabbis, who could dream of a future of national empowerment and, ultimately, a Jewish state defended by Jewish strength.
The Role of the Dreyfus Affair in Ending the Impressionist Era
The impressionists differed in their political and social opinions well before the Affair, and their varying attitudes toward France’s Jewish population proved to be one of the most divisive issues.
Today’s Final Jeopardy Answer: “They All Sang In Hebrew”
Post-World War II Liverpool was generally very antisemitic and Lennon came from an anti-Jewish background. He was known to make impromptu antisemitic comments...
They All Sang In Hebrew (Continued From Last Week)
Many of Dylan’s songs are replete with biblical references hearkening back to his Jewish studies in childhood.
The Jew Who Bombed Both Hiroshima And Nagasaki And Bob Caron’s Contempt for Holocaust...
Recently, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth caused a stir when, pursuant to President Trump’s long overdue purge of content deemed to promote DEI, he absurdly flagged the name Enola Gay for removal, apparently because the name contained the word “gay” (sigh). In fact, the Enola Gay was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of its pilot, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets.
Moses Montefiore and the Damascus Affair
Upon his return to London, Sir Moses was given a hero’s welcome, including a big ceremony and special synagogue services, and, when he met with Queen Victoria to present her with the firman, she honored him by permitting him to add the Lion of Judah holding a banner bearing the word 'Jerusalem' to his coat of arms.
Moses Montefiore’s One Hundredth Birthday
Five decades before Herzl’s Der Jundenstaat, Montefiore was arguably the first contemporary Zionist.
How Chaim Weizmann Became Israel’s First President
The 120 members elected to the Assembly and various invited guests entered the specially-prepared hall, and, when President Weizmann and members of the Cabinet arrived... they were saluted by an honor guard composed of units of the Israeli Army and police force and Hatikvah was played by a combined army-police band.
How Einstein’s Fame and Zionism Almost Lead To His Election as President of Israel
The suggestion that Einstein be invited to assume the presidency of the Jewish State was first publicly disseminated by the evening newspaper Maariv. The idea, which spread quickly, became broadly popular...
The Critical Role of Aaron Aaronsohn and NILI in the Defeat of the Ottomans...
While in the United States, Aaronsohn made some important contacts in the American Jewish community, including with some leading philanthropists, who agreed to finance Aaronsohn’s efforts to establish such an institute.
One Of The Most Miraculous Events In Human History: The Rebirth Of Hebrew As...
Turning himself into a scientific lexicographer, he was determined that each word would have its roots in Biblical sources to the greatest possible extent. However, in many cases, there were no analogs – one estimate is that the Hebrew Bible contains only 6,259 unique words, while modern Hebrew has about 80,000 – so he had to create new words from whole cloth.
The Jewish Prose of Zola (Both Pre- and Post-Dreyfus) and Turgenev
While Zola is celebrated today as a defender of Jewish rights, his fiction, particularly in La Curee, reflects the complexities and contradictions inherent in French attitudes toward Jews in the late 19th century.
Robert Shaw, Harold Pinter, And The Man in the Glass Booth
Despite its unsettled reception, The Man in the Glass Booth was neither suppressed nor forgotten; to the contrary, its notoriety ensured its place in the canon of post-Holocaust drama.
The False Messiahship Of Jacob and Eva Frank
While Jacob Frank emphasized transgression and mystical dialectics between good and evil, Eva’s theological voice, while less documented, seems to have emphasized divine femininity, purity, and mystical royalty.
Pablo Picasso and The Old Jew
Art historians and commentators, who are fascinated by the question of why Picasso singled out a specifically Jewish figure for The Old Jew, have presented many theories on the subject.
The History and Meaning of Tashlich
Although it has become one of the most familiar and participatory rituals of the High Holiday season that is embedded in contemporary Jewish practice, the extralegal origins of Tashlich and the controversies it once generated have largely been forgotten.
Isaac Nathan’s and Lord Byron’s Hebrew Melodies
As the Romantic movement reached its crescendo across Europe in the early nineteenth century, few collaborations seemed as unlikely – and as fruitful – as that between Lord Byron, the scion of English nobility and a literary enfant terrible, and Isaac Nathan, an observant Anglo-Jewish composer and musicologist.
The Anti-Israel Views, Policies, and Actions of James Earl Carter
The long-term consequences of Carter’s engagement with groups like Hamas were reflected not just in diplomatic circles, but also in the shifting narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within American discourse.
The Jewish Art of Samuel Hirszenberg
Hirszenberg was born in Łódź, in the Russian partition of Poland, the eldest son of a poor Jewish weaver, who was initially opposed to Samuel's artistic ambitions, which were viewed as incompatible with the values of traditional Jewish life.
The Astonishing Reign of Joshua Abraham Norton, ‘Emperor of the United States and Protector of...
Much has been written about the theatrical elements of his “reign” and the popular tolerance that allowed a self-declared emperor to roam a major American city free of serious harassment.
The Role of Béla Schick’s Judaism in His Medical and Social Contributions
Across a long life that spanned the collapse of the Habsburg world, two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel, Schick combined scientific innovation with leadership in Jewish medical institutions, philanthropic circles, and public-health education aimed at protecting children – an ethic he framed repeatedly with moral language rooted in Jewish concern for life.