Current
6 min read
On Halloween 1926, Harry Houdini died in Detroit at 52. A century later, his name is still shorthand for the impossible escape. Yet history’s most famous magician and the world’s first international superstar started life as Erik Weisz, a Hungarian Jew. Houdini built his legend on stunts that should have killed him. He broke free […]
History
10 min read
This Halloween, millions of kids will put on pointy black hats, paint warts on their noses and stir pretend cauldrons. That costume has a dark history. “The common image of a witch in the Western tradition is a woman who is usually older, ugly, who wears a pointy hat, flies on a broomstick, cooks over […]
In a world that celebrates flexibility and going with the flow, it’s surprising how often the Torah describes the Jewish people as an am k’shei oref, a stiff-necked people. It hardly sounds like a compliment. Yet throughout Jewish history, that same stubborn determination is often what kept our people faithful to the Torah and its […]
Step off the train at Świdnica Miasto, a station in a small town in Poland's Lower Silesia, turn right, and you can't miss her. A larger-than-life portrait of a Irena Sendler, painted in shades of gray, covers the side of the building at 3 Dworcowa Street, a name that simply means Station Street. She is […]
Video
Abraham camped there. Joshua fought there. Archaeologists said nobody lived there. A northern gate, a fire and a beheaded idol are reopening the case.
