Second Temple
Warfare on Shabbat: The Legacy of the MaccabeesFriday, 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.
Mourning, Memory, and ArtMonday, August 8, 2011 by Richard McBee | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
David Roberts (1796–1864) was a Scottish painter who in the late 1830's traveled extensively in the Levant and Egypt documenting "Orientalist" sites in drawings and watercolors. Among Roberts's paintings was a massive 1849 work, The Destruction of Jerusalem.
Editors' Picks
What Happened on the Temple Mount? Noah Wiener, Bible History Daily. Carbon tests suggest that wooden beams removed from the al-Aqsa Mosque may have originated in the Temple built by King Herod.
Second Temple Torah Lawrence H. Schiffman, LawrenceSchiffman.com. "Fostering the conception that rationales can be offered for almost all the commandments is a product of Hellenistic Judaism in the Second Temple period."
Rationalizing the Commandments Lawrence H. Schiffman, LawrenceSchiffman.com. The Pseudepigraphal Book of Jubilees, a retelling of Genesis, explains the Torah's commandments in terms of God's covenant with the Patriarchs.
Building Herod's Temple Leen Ritmeyer, Biblical Archeology Review. At both the southwest and southeast corners of the Temple Mount, stones weighing over 80 tons are still in place 100 feet above the foundations. How did they get there?
Branching Out Shmarya Rosenberg, Failed Messiah. Virtually every ancient image of the menorah depicts it with curved branches. So, why do Chabad’s hanukkiot have angled straight branches instead?