Author: Congregation Beth El

Unlikely Heroes: The Monuments Men of World War II

March 10, 2014

By Robin Jacobson.  By the time you read this, “The Monuments Men,” with its all-star cast (George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Hugh Bonneville) will …

The Spies of Eretz Yisroel

February 10, 2014

By Robin Jacobson.  On our first day in Israel seven years ago, my family spent an all-too-brief hour in Zikhron Ya’akov, a picturesque hilltop village near Haifa. So jet-lagged were …

A Stimulating Brew: Coffee and Jews

January 10, 2014

By Robin Jacobson. When you linger over a cup of aromatic, freshly brewed coffee on a wintry day, you may think you are simply savoring a favorite beverage. In truth, …

Bomb: A Thrilling and Tragic Tale

June 1, 2013

Wander any beach this summer and you will notice two types of readers. Some ambitious souls appear to have saved their densest, heaviest, most significant reading for the lazy, languid …

The Aleppo Codex: Secret History of An Ancient Bible

December 1, 2012

By Robin Jacobson. As I write this, bloody street battles rage in the ancient city of Aleppo, as Syrian government and insurgent forces fight for dominance. Hard as it is …

Madeleine Albright’s Journey to her Jewish Past

July 1, 2012

By Robin Jacobson. In January 1997, Madeleine Korbel Albright made history by becoming the first female Secretary of State. Almost immediately, a startling Washington Post story shattered Secretary Albright’s lifelong belief …

Haunted by Anne Frank

June 1, 2012

Seventy years ago this July, a young Jewish girl and her family went into hiding.  Fleeing the Nazis, they took refuge in a secret Amsterdam attic where the girl would …

Into the Dark German Night

November 1, 2011

By Robin Jacobson.  In March 1933, the position of the U.S. Ambassador to Germany fell vacant, and no one, it seemed, wanted the job. Hitler had been Chancellor of Germany …

The Jewish Love Affair with Rembrandt

October 1, 2011

By Robin Jacobson.  No one really knows what the Dutch Protestant artist Rembrandt von Rijn (1606-1669) thought about the Jews. A provocative exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is …

Discovering a Lost World: The Cairo Genizah

June 1, 2011

By Robin Jacobson.  While traveling in the Middle East in 1896, two wealthy, erudite Scottish sisters bought some antique manuscripts. Little did they imagine that this souvenir purchase would lead …