Jews had no real state of their own for more than 1900 years. Nevertheless, individual Jews managed to carve out niches of influence within the

Halachah (Jewish Law) decrees that someone is Jewish if their mother is Jewish or if they convert. People who convert to Judaism gain the title

The first great Jewish Western composer was the Renaissance Italian, Salomone de Rossi, who set Hebrew texts to music. North America and Israel formed the

Many leading Marxist theorists of the 19th century, including Karl Marx himself, were born into Jewish families. Yet the atheistic and internationalist beliefs of individual

Joseph Ben Ephraim Caro (also spelt ‘Karo’) was apparently born in Toledo, Castille, Spain in 1488 and died in 1575. After the Jews’ expulsion from

The Bible offers many instances of heroism. The most obvious ones are martial figures. Yet many also became heroes by peacefully holding on to their

Hebrew is the national language of the Jewish people. However, in the first century C.E, it largely fell out of everyday use. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda revived

David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel. He came to epitomise the Labour Zionist movement, and steered its ideological development. He set the

The story of Batsheva appears in the second Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. Her name is translated as meaning ‘Daughter of The Oath’.

The Baal Shem Tov is a towering figure in the history of Jewish spirituality. In founding and nurturing the Chassidic movement, he radically transformed Jewish

An extraordinary number of 20th century Jewish scientists were drawn into the field of nuclear research. As the Nazi dragnet tightened, dozens of them fled

Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag systematically reinterpreted the Kabbalah, completing the work begun by Rabbi Isaac Luria and his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. Today, Ashlag’s various followers