Lev Levanda spent decades advocating for Jewish assimilation into Russian culture. It all changed after pogroms shook the empire…


“Your rabbi was taken as a hostage”: Accounts of Russian Tactics in WWI
Hostage-taking and forced migration were just two methods used by Russian forces in Ukraine and Poland a century ago

Photographed Together: Begin’s Father and Sharon’s Grandfather
Long before the State of Israel, the two men worked together at a Jewish bank and Jewish self-defense organization in Brest-Litovsk

Did Esperanto Answer the ‘Jewish Question’?
How Jewish was the international tongue that never quite made it…?

This Remarkable Woman Made the First Israeli Flag in Jerusalem
Rebecca Affachiner trailblazed across multiple continents, and she did it all as a single, religious Jewish woman…

Elie Wiesel’s Haunting, Mysterious and Brilliant Master
“Mr. Shushani” reportedly knew the entire Hebrew Bible, Talmud and countless other texts by heart. His Nobel-laureate student never knew his real name.

How Did This Jewish Scholar Defend the Cossacks and Survive the Soviets?
The complicated and all-but-forgotten legacy of Saul Borovoi

Manmade Climate Change 150 Years Ago? In Yiddish?!
1871 article: “Hardly anybody knows that war affects the weather strongly and causes heavy rain falls, strong winds, thunder and lightning.”

Sukkot During World War I: Open Roofs and ‘Mysterious’ Ditches
Photo taken by an Austrian soldier provides a rare glimpse

Moving Testimony: A Prayer from the Anusim of the Communist Revolution
A rare manuscript reveals that even in the midst of Soviet oppression there were Jews who insisted on preserving a remnant of their ancestors’ faith.