Did Plato Really Meet the Prophet Jeremiah?
There's a famous story about Plato encountering the Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the ruins of Jerusalem. But did it actually happen?
There's a famous story about Plato encountering the Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the ruins of Jerusalem. But did it actually happen?
When a drunken king orders an execution, no court can save the condemned. The king might sober up, stand on his head, but he can't undo his own decree...
Stern-faced officers dragged a tall man ashore, muttering curses in French. His name was Alfred Dreyfus, and he was there not because he committed a crime, but because he was Jewish.
The Subbotniks are a community with ties to the Jewish people. Some are non-Jews drawn to Shabbat, while others have embraced conversion. Pre-Holocaust, they numbered in the tens of thousands, sparking significant discussions among Jewish legal scholars.
Young Eliyahu barely knew his father, who passed away a few years after his birth. His mother also died young, and from the age of four, he was raised by his uncle, the renowned Rabbi Yehuda Curiel. Excelling in his studies, he received rabbinic ordination at 18 and became the chief rabbi of Livorno. He was fondly known as "Rav Eliyahu Benamozegh."
A young scholar raised concerns, arguing it looked like idol worship. The community sought guidance from the distinguished Ben Ish Chai in Baghdad.
Whenever tensions flared between the Romans and the Jews in the Land of Israel, Roman citizens would incite hostility against the Jews of Alexandria. In what became known as the "Diaspora Revolt," the entire Jewish population of Alexandria was wiped out. The Jerusalem Talmud recounts this horrific event, noting that blood flowed into the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Cyprus.
A small figure clad in red ascended the stairs, flanked by two hooded executioners. Despite signs of torture, he paused on each step to shout in a hoarse voice, "Hashem is God," a total of 52 times.
When the second stamp reached his hands, the collector tore it to pieces and, to be sure, burned the fragments. Now the stamp he owned became the only one in the world, and its value skyrocketed to over a million dollars.
The Romaniote Jewish community is one of the oldest yet least known. Tragically, most of its members perished during the Holocaust, leaving this ancient community largely unfamiliar.
Explore why ancient sages considered the communal bathhouse a place of great risk and the special blessings they instituted for it.
Discover how King Ptolemy gathered seventy Jewish elders in Alexandria to translate a sacred text. Eager for precision, he isolated each elder to prevent shared versions.
How Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon’s views on faith ignited fierce opposition, book burnings, repentance, and lasting lessons for Jewish history
Sometimes, parting with jewelry wasn't about mitzvahs, but rather necessity—paying taxes. Our ancestors in the Diaspora faced constant taxes, each time under a new pretext. Just as they earned a few coins, a new order demanded yet another tax.
The Torah mentions woven gold threads along with hammered gold. How were these threads created?
During a special prayer, the entire Jewish community of Metz gathered closely in the synagogue. Suddenly, amidst the emotional rendition by the cantor, a loud noise echoed "as if a great building was collapsing."
Peer review can obscure biases, hiding selective, arbitrary, and subjective decisions. Censorship harms the public's right to accurate information and reduces trust in science.
The so-called messenger from Israel turned out to be a con artist, exploiting the name of the well-known false messiah Sabbatai Zevi, who was not yet recognized for who he truly was, as multitudes followed him.
Picture Rabbi Shabtai leading the Shabbat melodies, with Prague’s most esteemed joining in, three centuries ago. But what if you could actually hear it today?
Professor Olaf Gerhard Tichsen regularly attended the lectures of Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschütz in Altona. After years of study, he was awarded a "Friend" certificate by the yeshiva. It was likely given out of fear of the monarchy, yet it remains intriguing.