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Features

This day in Jewish history / The founder of modern Hasidism dies

The Baal Shem Tov's power and influence on Judaism are immeasurable, as he empowered the individual and democratized Jewish practice.

By David B. Green | May 22, 2013 | 07:54 AM

This day in Jewish history / Bob Dylan lays down his first track
By David B. Green
This day in Jewish history / Violent public penance for secret Spanish Jews
By David B. Green | 1
This day in Jewish history / Theodor Herzl finishes his novel 'Old-New Land'
By David B. Green | 2

Word of the day / Hatich

The Hebrew word meaning 'piece' has come to describe the hot guy or gal you want a piece of.

By David Sarna Galdi | May 22, 2013 | 05:43 AM

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi: The Israeli president who earned less than his driver

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wanted to save money to integrate immigrants and build up Israel's defense, but a Knesset committee wouldn't hear of it.

By Ofer Aderet | May 22, 2013 | 01:05 AM | 3

Israel's motley mosaics

The discovery of a fantastic ancient floor in the Negev is just the latest in a series of finds crisscrossing the country.

By Miriam Feinberg Vamosh | May 21, 2013 | 12:36 PM

This day in Jewish history / Two teens kidnap and murder their neighbor

Teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered a neighbor and gained notoriety in their subsequent trial, defended by Clarence Darrow.

By David B. Green | May 21, 2013 | 07:52 AM | 2

Word of the day / Stootz

Here's a sixth sign you've just had a stootz: That isn't your toothbrush.

By David Sarna Galdi | May 21, 2013 | 04:08 AM

U.S. Reform Jewish seminary reconsidering policy against intermarried students

Movement already embraces intermarried couples; now may start ordaining rabbinic students who married outside the faith.

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen | May 21, 2013 | 02:11 AM | 22

One in 19 private Israeli citizens owns a licensed gun - what criteria must they meet?

Following the deadly shooting at the Be'er Sheva bank, here's a look at who meets the specific licensing criteria in Israel, aside from members of the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police, Israel Prison Service and other official bodies.

By Gili Cohen | May 20, 2013 | 11:03 PM | 7

Where are they now? / A former slave reclaims her life

A survivor of the Goel Ratzon cult gets used to freedom after 12 years spent serving the self-styled guru and polygamist, now on trial.

By Leora Eren Frucht | May 20, 2013 | 11:55 AM

Bibi, bed and beyond: Israelis, the joke's on you

The OECD report naming Israel as the poorest country in the West coincided with yet another expenses scandal involving Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu.

By Asher Schechter | May 20, 2013 | 09:45 AM | 2

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 | 4

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 | 2

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 | 24

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 | 58

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 / Boidem

By David Sarna Galdi | 05:28 AM

Word of the day / Hermonit

By David Sarna Galdi | 05:49 AM | 4

Word of the day / Shtinker

By David Sarna Galdi | 05:07 AM

David's Harp

Outgoing Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer.

David's Harp / Fischer's act of desperation

By David Rosenberg | 09:59 AM | 2

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

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