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Land of Israel
Even a mass murderer can have a personal library. Some of the books from Heinrich Himmler’s private collection, containing his signature, can be found today at the National Library of Israel. How did they get here?
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Judaism
A beautiful illustration from a book printed in 1601 for the Jewish community in Venice contains the first-ever printed documentation of the Lag BaOmer holiday haircut tradition
“Remember me in happiness”: The last testament of Esther Cailingold, a soldier and teacher who fell in the battle for the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City during Israel’s War of Independence
Diaspora
Reports and books written by senior members of the Nazi regime deposited in the National Library of Israel reveal chilling texts describing “The Night of Broken Glass” from the Nazi perspective…
A special dedication in a copy of the book “Mesilat Yasharim” sparked some fascinating detective work tracing the history of the Austrian Jewish community during the Holocaust, and the story of a young man and his family who were murdered by the Nazis…
The story of how the most zealous of the biblical prophets ended up becoming everyone’s most anticipated Passover dinner guest
This long-forgotten Passover custom was dealt a bitter blow by a sharp wife in a 15th century Haggadah…
In 2012, artist Maty Grünberg decided to revisit his 1984 work, The Bezalel Haggadah – ranked among the finest modern illustrated Haggadot. The resulting volume, The Sister of the Bezalel Haggadah, reveals the artist’s creative process, from concept to final print.
Hostage-taking and forced migration were just two methods used by Russian forces in Ukraine and Poland a century ago
After serving together in the US Army’s Training Film Division during World War II, the two illustrators parted ways: Stan Lee went on to create immortal superheroes, and Dr. Seuss used his talents to try to atone for his anti-Japanese propaganda through a new and compassionate children’s book
Middle East
The works of Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, served as core medical texts for some 500 years in Europe. His groundbreaking philosophical teachings also transcended borders…
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