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The question of induction has kept scientists busy since the dawn of science. If you see a white swan, and then another white swan, does this mean all swans are white? How can one establish a scientific claim basing on even a large number of observations? What if the millionth observation will result in a different outcome? The black swan, discovered in Australia in the 17th century and announced the national bird in 1973, is a common metaphor in science, pointing at the weakness of the induction question. Many scientists tried to solve the black swan issue. One of them[…]

Though Gnosticism was introduced in the Mediterranean basin 2000 years ago, splitting the world into the kingdom of good and the kingdom of evil, one 20th century man, a one-time Jewish genius personified this dualism in the most extreme, almost incomprehensible manner. On the one hand, there was Dr. Fritz, laureate of the Nobel prize in chemistry, the scientist who picked “Bread from the Air” after discovering how to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen, thus saving the world from famine. Then on the other hand there was Mr. Haber, the scientist whose name is directly associated with the first use of[…]

Some stories are so remarkably fantastic, that all you wish is to find out whether they are real or fake. So when I interviewed Judit Polgár in a Café in Budapest a few years back, I had to ask her, was it true that she never attended school? Indeed, she confirmed that she, like her two elder sisters before her, attended school for less than one week a year, only so that they could take the exams. She did go to kindergarten – but only for a slightly longer period. The story of Polgár and her sisters has captured the[…]

It was a cold winter day in January 1880. Escorted, as always, by his dogs Bummer and Lazarus, Joshua Norton was having his daily walk in the streets of San Francisco, wearing his military suite decorated with medals, a large sword on his belt, and a peacock feathers hat on his head. Upon reaching the corner of Dupont and California, after saluting back a few fans who greeted him – he dropped dead right there on the sidewalk. California, the golden state, was grief stricken. “The king is dead!” the headline of the San Francisco Chronicle declared, while the competing[…]

Admired by Frank Sinatra, adored by Judy Garland, and defined by Bing Crosby as his spiritual father, we can safely state that much like Russian literature came to the world from the creases of Gogol’s “The Overcoat”, as Dostoevsky said, the American entertainment tradition came out of the mythological black suite of Al Jolson, who died this week 70 years ago. Bob Dylan, even though born half a century after “Jolie”, said Jolson was “somebody whose life I can feel”. Did Dylan feel this way because both of them were artists, sons of immigrants, who, while eagerly trying to spot[…]

After a choppy and bizarre season, as the whole sports was hit by the pandemic, then a well-organized bubble in Orlando, the NBA has reached its annual pinnacle. And at a time of year when players are usually preparing for the new season, the finals series has begun featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. Typically to our era the Jewish involvement in the finals is at the higher ranks.  Like the owner of the heat Micky Arison and league commissioner Adam Silver, who will award the trophy to the winning team. The last time a Jewish player featured[…]

On Yom Kippur Minha’s Haftarah, in the synagogue (this year also in yards and balconies all over) it is customary to read a short, somewhat odd story, only 48 verses long, of which the protagonist is one prophet called Jonah. In the beginning of Jonah’s story, he is ordered by God to speak to the residents of the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh, and warn them to correct their evil ways, that included everyday corruption, theft, social splits and moral decay. Jonah ignores the divine command. As far as he cares, the Nineveh people can go on making each other[…]

If there was a Jewish years hit parade, 1948 would have undoubtedly made it to the top. 2000 years of yearning and hopes, poems and prayers, persecutions, golden ages, then the horrifying epilogue of the holocaust have passed – then on one crucial moment on 5 Iyyar 1948, one short great man got on a small podium in Tel Aviv Rothschild street and declared the foundation of the state of Israel. By the time of the first Rosh Hashana, October 3rd 1948, the new state was just a baby – four and a half months old. Whereas other infants do[…]

Jewish-Polish history definitely had its tragic moment – but over centuries of strange co-existence there were moments of optimism too. Included stories of the Jews who were “Rulers of Poland”. Prominent historian Konstanty Gebert explores a collection of historical facts and myths. Abraham Prochownik After the gory but just death of Prince Popiel (9th century CE), eaten alive by mice after having poisoned his alleged rivals, Polish nobles assembled in Kruszwica to elect his successor. Unable to agree, they decided that whoever will be the first to cross the city gates next morning will be their ruler – and the[…]

“Though Rembrandt was not Jewish, we must consider him as “a Jew of honor”, for his love and empathy towards the Jews”, the national poet Bialik wrote in 1932, in a preface he contributed to the Jewish painter Leonid Pasternak’s book on the art of Rembrandt. Bialik also noted that “this gifted genius has miraculously grasped and seized the core of the Hebrew soul, like no other gentile painter has ever succeeded to do.” Bialik was not the only admirer of the outstanding Dutch painter. He is the most mentioned artist in Hebrew literature, referred to in stories by Agnon;[…]