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Ezra


Warfare on Shabbat: The Legacy of the Maccabees Warfare on Shabbat: The Legacy of the Maccabees
Friday, December 14, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Ezra and Nehemiah were so successful in instilling Shabbat observance that Jews refused to take up arms on Shabbat to defend themselves—with disastrous results.
The Sigd Festival Comes Home to Jerusalem The Sigd Festival Comes Home to Jerusalem
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 by Shai Afsai | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

On the Sigd, Ethiopian Jews would walk to a mountaintop and pray to return to Jerusalem.  Now they are in Jerusalem, and the Sigd is a national holiday in Israel.
Editors' Picks
Hear, O Israel? Michael L. Satlow, Then and Now. There is no evidence of public Torah readings until the first century B.C.E.  So, how much did the Jews of antiquity know about the Bible?