![Eli Abt](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/version/c:N2JjYTE1ZTItOWYzYS00:NjliNDBmMmMtZmZiZC00/image.webp?w=140&q=0.5&f=3:2)
Eli Abt
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/17n809t9xtof506y3ix/0/hanukkah-menorah.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The man who made the menorah
As we light the first candles for Chanukah, Eli Abt profiles the artist Benno Elkan who created potent symbols of the Jewish nation
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1727cwuceypl2cnw8vj/0/luzzatto-mahzor-credit-sothebys-8.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The art of Abraham: the medieval Jewish artist who created a masterpiece machzor
Eli Abt analyses a gloriously illustrated festival prayerbook
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/17273494gqi72u4o5hy/0/warsaw-ghetto-boy-gettyimages-2696371.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The true meaning of freedom
The Warsaw ghetto uprising took place on erev Pesach 80 years ago. What did we learn?
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/17278cxeapu1vj4zv9s/0/tc5te1-low-res.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The sorrow of Jeremiah
Chagall’s masterpiece is especially resonant when we mourn on Tishah b’Av, says Eli Abt
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1727fq4dqm3dikkcusx/0/canton-synagogue-bimah.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Can we save these Venetian treasures?
Donations are needed to renovate the shuls of the ghetto reports Eli Abt
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1727g9tao8zv9qeow1p/0/haggadah.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Illuminating a Spanish Seder
Eli Abt unravels the mysteries of a glorious 14th-century Haggadah from Barcelona
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/17271apnvu17om5orwj/0/purim.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The Purim story in full colour - preserved by the desert sands
The ancient synagogue ruins had glorious hidden murals
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726y0tar5df8arsbm7/0/william-shatner-space-twitter.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The Jews who mapped the stars
As William Shatner reaches for the stars, Eli Abt looks back at the sages who studied them
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726x580yz9er3hvql2/0/bp27g7.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Precious symbols of our nation’s past
Succot’s arba minim are among Jewish images adorning a fourth century mosaic which, says Eli Abt, once fell victim to a shameful attack
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726wmw4i0eci1u8yxr/0/beit_alpha-wiki.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
As the year turns, a look at the stars
For Rosh Hashanah Eli Abt analyses a zodiac mosaic, the work of the first recorded Jewish artists discovered at a kibbutz
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726vob65kobr1mclji/0/idx-16_marble-bust-of-nero-italy-around-ad-55-photo-by-francesco-piras-mibact-museo-archeologico-nazionale-di-cagliari-jpg.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The Roman road to Judea’s destruction
Eli Abt visits the British Museum's Nero exhibition to shed light on the background to Tisha b'Av
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726u42ybqe5eoool3t/0/rembrandt_harmensz-_van_rijn_079-jpg.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Rembrandt’s gift
At Shavuot we celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments. But why do some shuls display tablets which seem to have 11?
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726svr89sw27xom15m/0/barcelona-haggadah.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Let the music play for Seder night
A page from a medieval haggadah tells us a lot about the world of the man who commissioned it, says Eli Abt
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/1726ry237nqttqm4zlz/0/1486_1431.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
The defiant humour of Purim
Purim is the Jewish festival which takes on hate - and uses humour as a weapon to fight it, says Eli Abt
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/173l4hzhsjcl40bi8vz/0/x10473-a5.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
Judith the Chanukah heroine
Visit the National Gallery for the Artemisia Gentileschi.exhibition and you'll see several paintings of Judith, the biblical figure long associated with the festival of Chanukah
![authorimage](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/173l5u5uhn37k3xsl6n/0/viewing-the-manuscripts-at-the-british-library.webp?w=330&h=200&q=0.5&f=16:9)
A world of wondrous books
Eli Abt reviews the British Library's exhibition of Hebrew manuscripts
©2024 The Jewish Chronicle