Obsidian: naturally occurring glass History of glass: Glass beads from Old Kingdom Egypt, about 2700-2500 BC People have been using naturally occurring glass since the Stone Age, when they wanted an [...]
Eid al-Adha: an Islamic image of Abraham and Ishmael What is Eid al-Adha? Eid al-Adha is an Islamic holiday. It falls a few months after the end of Ramadan, Eid [...]
Pope Gregory the Great writing, from the 900s AD. Ivory, probably from Kenya. (Now in Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum) A theologian (thee-oh-LOW-gin) is a person who studies religion. The word comes from [...]
Apples For thousands of years, the Jews celebrated their New Year around the beginning of spring, just like everybody else in West Asia. Passover was probably port of this old New Year celebration. Sometime before 100 [...]
The Mishnah is at the top center, the Gemara is in the center of the page, Rashi is on the right, and other later commentators are on the left and bottom. [...]
The remains of the Second Temple in Jerusalem What does the name mean? Synagogue in Greek means a place for coming together, a meeting place, and that is what a synagogue (SIN-ah-gog) [...]
History of Sukkot- a Sukkah - a temporary house just for the holiday When did Sukkot get started? People along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea first began celebrating [...]
Lot's wife turns to a pillar of salt as God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. Morgan Bible, France, 1250s AD (commissioned by Louis IX) One story from the Bible about how nomads were [...]
The Roman emperor Hadrian, 117-138 AD (now in the British Museum) Well, they revolted again During the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the Jews once again tried to get free [...]
Samson and Delilah story: Samson (or David?) wrestles the lion. Silk tapestry, probably from Syria, in the 600s AD Backstory of Samson and Delilah Just as the Jews were finally [...]
