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Features

On Root / How a word for religious faith turned into a refrigerator

And how the story of the Golem of Prague ties into to military training through the Hebrew root form.

By Jeremy Benstein | May 20, 2013 | 09:44 AM

This day in Jewish history / Fans say goodbye to comic Gilda Radner

Gilda Radner, who left an indelible mark on a generation of 'Saturday Night Live' fans with her classic characters, succumbed to cancer at 42.

By David B. Green | May 20, 2013 | 07:24 AM

Word of the Day / Shin gimmel

An abbreviation of the term meaning 'the guard at the periphery,' this term has come to mean any lowly sort forced to take the blame for a hierarchy's worth of headache.

By Ruth Schuster | May 20, 2013 | 05:18 AM

Baz Luhrmann, blood libel and a vaguely Jewish Gatsby

In Luhrmann's film adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, one of literature's most lazily sketched anti-Semitic caricatures is deftly played by ... a Bollywood idol?

By Hephzibah Anderson | May 19, 2013 | 06:05 PM

People waving Palestinian flags in Ramallah during a rally to support the UN statehood bid

Single democratic state in historic Palestine, take two

A new Palestinian initiative seeks to revive the PLO's old-time strategy, abandoned following the Oslo Accords. It includes Israel's Jewish population, but without calling them by name.

By Amira Hass | May 19, 2013 | 02:52 PM | 8

The Gospel according to Sand: We are not Jews

In 'How and When I Stopped Being Jewish,' author and professor Shlomo Sand argues that there is no such thing as a secular Jew.

By Ofer Aderet | May 19, 2013 | 01:56 PM | 27

This day in Jewish history / An NBA all-star player and coach is born

Dolph Schayes, the son of Jewish immigrants from Romania, was named one of the NBA's 50 best players ever in 1996.

By David B. Green | May 19, 2013 | 07:36 AM

Word of the day / Boidem

From Grandma's good china to Uncle Yochai's proclivities - they're all in this place.

By David Sarna Galdi | May 19, 2013 | 05:28 AM

The Jolie dilemma: 'We live in a world obsessed with breasts'

Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her chance of cancer, sent shock waves through the media last week. However, a disproportionately high number of Israeli women live with her 'Ashkenazi gene.'

By Judy Maltz | May 19, 2013 | 01:15 AM | 5

Word of the day / Hermonit

Could this moniker for what is, essentially, a green snowsuit become a victim of peace?

By David Sarna Galdi | May 17, 2013 | 05:49 AM | 4

This day in Jewish history / A 14th-century neighborhood watch begins

In response to groups of slaughter-hungry marauders intent on murdering Jews, the Bishop of Strasbourg formed a local band to track down the perpetrators.

By David B. Green | May 17, 2013 | 05:00 AM

Hungary for Jewish identity

A program called Minyanim is helping young Jews in Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries reconnect with the religion they were cut off from under Nazi and Soviet rule - no aliyah required.

By Judy Maltz | May 16, 2013 | 09:37 PM

Angelina Jolie's 'Jewish genetic mutation': Breast cancer gene is common in Israel, but few opt for preventive mastectomy

A study of 5,405 U.S. women with the common Ashkenazi Jewish mutation that increases carriers' risk of breast cancer, who were treated at the Mayo Clinic during the 1990s, found 45 percent chose prophylactic mastectomy, like Angelina Jolie.

By Dan Even | May 16, 2013 | 03:50 PM | 11

Outgoing Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer.

David's Harp / Fischer's act of desperation

Why the abrupt policy switch on stifling the shekel? The BoI governor may feel that not only his legacy but Israel is at stake.

By David Rosenberg | May 16, 2013 | 09:59 AM | 2

This day in Jewish history / Sammy Davis Jr. dies

One of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century died on this day in 1990 at the age of 64.

By David B. Green | May 16, 2013 | 07:25 AM

Word of the day / Shtinker

You would be right to suspect that this word for 'rat' comes from the word for 'stink'.

By David Sarna Galdi | May 16, 2013 | 05:07 AM

On Root

On Root / What postcards, incest, and revelation have in common

By Jeremy Benstein | 04:45 PM

On Root / In a pickle about Israel's occupation

By Jeremy Benstein | 08:51 AM

On Root / On fiery angels and evil twins

By Jeremy Benstein | 07:55 AM

Word of the Day

Word of the Day / Sigariya

By Elon Gilad | 07:00 AM

Word of the Day / Yok

By Ruth Schuster | 12:04 PM | 2

Word of the Day / Otiyot kiddush levana

By Ronen Shnidman | 06:34 AM

David's Harp

David's Harp / Time to uncork the fiscal champagne?

By David Rosenberg | 05:26 AM

David's Harp / Israel with Open Skies and without El Al

By David Rosenberg | 12:42 PM

David's Harp / Salam Fayyad: The latest victim of the Arab Spring

By David Rosenberg | 04:53 PM | 8

Where are they now?

Where Are They Now? / An Ethiopian refugee who built an Israeli home

By Leora Eren Frucht | 04:35 PM | 3

Where are they now? / The Jackie Robinson of Israeli soccer

By Leora Eren Frucht | 02:39 PM

Where Are They Now? / A notorious Israeli bank robber, two decades on

By Leora Eren Frucht | 06:20 PM

State of the Union

State of the Union / When Talia met Koby

By Danna Harman | 06:12 PM

State of the Union / When Gon met Edu

By Danna Harman | 06:34 PM

State of the Union / When Zvi met Regina

By Danna Harman | 12:58 PM

Someone Else's Simcha

Someone Else's Simcha / Yoel and Dvorah's engagement party - Pleased to meet you, I'm sure

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 01:00 PM

Someone Else's Simcha / Princess Leah Golovey's simchat bat

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 04:19 PM

Someone Else's Simcha / Independence Day at Yozma kindergartens - Bring-your-soldier-to-school day

By Ron Ben-Tovim | 01:25 PM

Exodus to Tel Aviv

If I forget thee, O Tel Aviv

By Judy Maltz | 09:10 AM

The New Jerusalem: Once I believed in the future. Now I believe in Tel Aviv

By Bradley Burston | 09:09 AM | 16

The White City at the end of the rainbow

By Brian Schaefer | 03:42 AM

Double Take

African migrants looking through the fence at the Egyptian-Israeli border on August 4, 2012.

Double Take / African asylum seekers out of the spolight but not in the clear

By Joel Greenberg | 08:39 AM

Double Take / A month after Gaza war, Hamas still rides a wave of popularity

By Joel Greenberg | 07:22 AM | 4

Double Take / The politics of potholes in East Jerusalem

By Joel Greenberg | 09:41 AM