history
Sayeret Matkal with the Mercedes they used to deceive the Ugandans (Photo courtesy of IDF Spokesman, via Wikimedia Commons). עברית: חיילי צה"ל עם שובם ממבצע אנטבה. המדליה ניתנה לכל הלוחמים במבצע
50 years since Entebbe
‘Zero hour is coming’: How Israel went from negotiating over hostages to the daring raid at Entebbe
By Ben Sales and Stav Levaton
The Entebbe rescue operation, whose 50th anniversary is approaching, is the stuff of Israeli legend. A new trove of archival documents shows how the government took the fateful decision — despite the risks
250 years: Since the beginning, part of the American journey
By Yafa Negrete
(Photo by KristineKaren via iStock)
July 1, 2026, 9:24 am
Why Pinhas is the perfect parasha for the semiquincentennial of the United States
What parasha could be more appropriate for the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding ... than a parasha centering one of the key tools of our democracy?
By Tammy A. Hepps
America at 250 (By Yafa Negrete)
July 1, 2026, 8:28 am
250 years: Since the beginning, part of the American journey
These Pittsburgh-connected individuals and families represent a small sample of the many Jewish Americans whose work helped shape both our city and our country.
By Yafa Negrete
Sayeret Matkal with the Mercedes they used to deceive the Ugandans (Photo courtesy of IDF Spokesman, via Wikimedia Commons). עברית: חיילי צה"ל עם שובם ממבצע אנטבה. המדליה ניתנה לכל הלוחמים במבצע
June 29, 2026, 3:31 pm
‘Zero hour is coming’: How Israel went from negotiating over hostages to the daring raid at Entebbe
The Entebbe rescue operation, whose 50th anniversary is approaching, is the stuff of Israeli legend. A new trove of archival documents shows how the government took the fateful decision — despite the risks
By Ben Sales and Stav Levaton
A pen and ink portrait of Mordecai Moses Mordecai on bone, c.1750, from the Sheftall Family Trust and Congregation Mickve Israel in Philadelphia and the John L. Loeb, Jr. Database of Early American Jewish Portraits
June 25, 2026, 9:28 am
A semiquincentennial tribute
Mordecai Moses Mordecai and his family came to the Forks of the Ohio before the Declaration of Independence to start a life on the frontier. Or, maybe not.
By Eric Lidji
The home plate from Forbes Field in the floor of Posvar Hall (Photo courtesy of Eric Lidji)
May 18, 2026, 9:20 am
My own memory lane
Revisiting a core memory with help from the historic record
By Eric Lidji
Daniela Gerson is the author of "The Wanderers." Photo by Kait Lavo
May 15, 2026, 11:47 am
‘The Wanderers’ tells the story of Poland’s Holocaust survivors who fled to the Soviet Union
Daniela Gerson was surprised to learn that most survivors, like her grandparents, survived not in concentration camps, ghettos or forests, but in the mountains of Sibera.
By Shira Li Bartov
In its heyday in the 1930s, the Lechem Aniyum Society gathered weekly in the old Beth Jacob synagogue to prepare some 200 boxes of food for local delivery. (Image courtesy Rauh Jewish Archives)
April 20, 2026, 9:18 am
Meat out of the pot
Before the New Deal and the Great Society, the Lechem Aniyum Society met a simple need: delivering kosher food to those who could not afford it.
By Eric Lidji
Of the 58 volumes from the Goodwill Collection placed at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, only three are easily discoverable today. (Photo courtesy of Eric Lidji)
March 18, 2026, 9:22 am
The Goodwill Collection
In the last era of turmoil overseas and rising threats at home, one Jewish communal leader sent Jewish books to libraries across the region.
By Eric Lidji
HFLA's board of directors gather at Rodef Shalom Congregation in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Hirsh)
March 11, 2026, 8:52 pm
Anniversary brings rebrand and recommitment to Hebrew Free Loan Association
More than century after organization's start, HFLA remains 'focused on finding all the ways that we can be a valuable resource to help people in our community'
By Adam Reinherz
A view of the Great Isaiah Scroll on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Feb. 26, 2026 (Photo by Sharon Altshul)
February 27, 2026, 9:56 am
Israel Museum displays Great Isaiah Scroll
Rare four-month exhibition offers the first full public viewing since 1968.
By Sharon Altshul
The annual “Traffic Essay Contest” invited students throughout the Pittsburgh area to write about the importance of road safety. This Certificate of Merit was issued to David P. Rosenfield, who became a noted pharmacist in Pittsburgh. It was signed by committee Chairman Dr. A. L. Lewin. (Image courtesy Rauh Jewish Archives)
February 16, 2026, 1:19 pm
When cars brought chaos, chaos brought ideas
Under several Jewish leaders, the Better Traffic Committee spent the late 1920s and 1930s advancing novel ideas to educate the public about the dangers of the car.
By Eric Lidji
A ship docks in Tangier, Morocco. (Photo by Photo by Sasha P via Pexels)
February 15, 2026, 12:08 pm
From Dresden to Tangier to Pittsburgh: Survivor Jerry Guttman tells a story of escape and resilience
'You don't have to necessarily stay where you are just because you're there. There are opportunities'
By Adam Reinherz
Ohave Zedeck was the main shul in Oakcliffe. It bought a house at Craft and Niagara in 1921 and expanded into the front yard in 1936. The building is gone today. (Photo courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives)
January 22, 2026, 1:35 pm
Shai Miller’s Old Country
Dispatches from a 20-minute drive through Oakcliffe with its historian emeritus.
By Eric Lidji
At the archives of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum, the front page of the original issue of the Nazi family magazine "Sonnie ins Hous" (Sunshine in the House) shows baby Hessy Taft as the ideal German Aryan baby. (GALI TIBBON/AFP via Getty Images)
January 13, 2026, 10:05 am
A Jewish baby became the face of Nazi Aryan propaganda. Her life story outlasted the lie.
“I feel a sense of revenge,” said Hessy Levinsons Taft, who died Jan. 1 at 91.
By Grace Gilson
In its heyday in the mid-1960s, Papercraft built a massive factory at the new RIDC Park in O’Hara Township filled with specialized equipment for managing the entire production of wrapping paper. (Image courtesy of Rauh Jewish Archives)
December 21, 2025, 12:16 pm
Christmas, made possible by Jewish Pittsburgh
In the days of Jewish manufacturing, Santa always stopped in Pittsburgh.
By Eric Lidji
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