When Orr Blumovitz was born, his parents could not have known that naming him after a beloved book character would set him on a path filled with endless hours of reading and hundreds of books—a life rich in knowledge, curiosity, and giving. Books shaped Orr’s world until his tragic death in an attack targeting an IDF armored vehicle in June 2024. Today, they form a lasting part of his legacy.
One of the earliest firsthand accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust was written in 1944 by a 21-year-old Jewish woman. Revolutionary in many ways, it would remain her only book. She never wrote again, living out her life quietly and modestly. Who was Renia Kukielka?
Rosen was one of the leading sluggers in Major League Baseball during the 1950s. Decades later he became a highly successful baseball executive. Rosen, who was Jewish, is remembered for his toughness — and his heart
Foreign influences on modern Jewish culture are nothing new to us. We did, after all, spend millennia wandering the Earth. Still, sometimes the path of a piece of music can be extremely unpredictable. This is the story of a Hanukkah song which began as something entirely different, created in another world, before eventually developing into an Israeli children’s favorite.
One of the sweetest and most beloved characters in children’s literature was created in the minds of a Jewish refugee couple. Who were Margret and Hans Rey? How did their talent allow them to escape Nazi Europe by the skin of their teeth, and what other character beloved by generations of young boys and girls did they create? This is the story of the author and illustrator whose innocent and optimistic children’s books continue to brighten our lives to this day.
The story of how one man’s successful photography company was able to document life in Israel across several decades. Why did he later decide to destroy his life’s work? Dan Hadani is celebrating his 100th birthday, and to mark it he told us of his personal journey which led him to granting all of us an invaluable gift of photographic documentation. This was his creation – now it’s our story.
The 1936 Olympics in Berlin were an international event which Hitler used as an awesome spectacle. He wanted to show off Aryan Germany rising from the ashes, with its crowds giving the Nazi salute and shouting “sieg heil”. Yet still, Jewish athletes participated in competitions, and a delegation was even invited from Mandatory Palestine, which would be allowed to march under the Jewish flag. How did the Nazis attempt to legitimize the 1936 Olympics? What did the Germans really want? And how was the Nazi invitation received back home in the Land of Israel?
This summer’s Paris Olympics warrants a historical look at some of European Jewry’s athletic stars… and tragic losses
The Ivy League-trained linguist and lawyer, professional baseball player and American spy was an enigma in life — and he remains so. Somehow, a number of Berg’s documents entered the collections of the National Library of Israel.
