For most American Jews today, Shavuot is not exactly a big-ticket holiday. Observance lags behind springtime Passover, and it pales in comparison to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the fall “high holidays.” But 150 years ago, Shavuot was the one day...

With baseball season well underway, now's a good time to consider the role of women, including Jewish women, in baseball. At both the professional and college levels, a growing number of women are now part of the sport—as players, coaches, sportswriters,...

(JTA) — A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible became the most expensive book ever sold Wednesday when it drew a price of $38.1 million at auction at Sotheby’s in New York City. The buyer of the item, known as the Codex Sassoon, was revealed to be the American...

(JTA) — Decades before Sandy Koufax sat out the first game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, and 18 years before Greenberg chased Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in the late 1930s, a college athlete made some overlooked...

Maxwell Greenberg, Ph.D., will be the guest scholar at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community’s next Shabbat morning learning program at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, in the Arts & Education Building on the JCC Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone...

A New York City auction house plans to sell a number of Holocaust-related items Saturday. A can of Zyklon B, the poison gas used to kills Jews and other concentration camp inmates, is among the items listed for sale. The lot also includes a patch...

(JTA) — A high-profile movie project depicting Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War could star “Jane the Virgin” actress Yael Grobglas. Oded Raz — known for directing the Israeli box office hit “Maktub,” which now streams on Netflix...

Defying the advice of his own State Department, President Harry Truman recognized the new state of Israel 75 years ago this Sunday, becoming the first world leader to do so just 11 minutes after the nation’s creation. Truman’s decision was...

A recent New York Times feature about a troubled World War II veteran has inadvertently shed fresh light on the Roosevelt administration’s refusal to bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz. The story also implicitly undermines one of the major themes...

(New York Jewish Week) — After stops in London, Tel Aviv and other locales, the world’s oldest nearly complete Hebrew Bible will be on view in New York City beginning on Sunday. Known as the Codex Sassoon, the book — which was written by a single...

April 27, 1955 — Uzi Is Unveiled During Parade The Uzi submachine gun makes its public debut as an IDF weapon during a Yom HaAtzmaut parade. Named for its inventor, Uziel Gal, the Uzi was first used in the field two months earlier during Operation...

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on “The Librarians”, the official online publication of the National Library of Israel. Check it out for more stories on Jewish, Israeli, and Middle Eastern history, heritage and culture. It is reprinted...