The Jewish Guide to the Internet

From the Jerusalem Post and the Genesis Philanthropy Group comes this website providing basic biographical information about 70 Russian speaking Jews who helped shape Israel in the areas of Government, Defense and Security, Zionism, Science and Research, Business and Industry, Arts and Culture, Medicine, Technology,and Sports.

Created by Yossi Zur, father of Assaf who was killed in a terrorist bombing of a bus in Haifa, this searchable site in English and Hebrew documents the locations of sites dedicated to remembering the victims of terror attacks in Israel.

“This Virtual Museum relates the history and most of the names of the approximately 1,500 American and Canadian men and women, including Jews and Christians, who risked their lives in the service of the Jewish people from 1946 to 1949. The museum is sponsored by American Veterans of Israel, the organization of Aliyah Bet and Machal veterans in the United States and Canada. It draws upon the Aliyah Bet and Machal Archives in the University of Florida Libraries, and also upon the Museum of American and Canadian Volunteers in Israel’s War of Independence located in the University of Florida Hillel, Gainesville, Florida.”

From the Archives Network Israel website comes this searchable collection of material about the history of the State of Israel from more than 27 archives. You can limit the search by time period. Many of the documents are digitized.

David Harris was a well-known Israeli photographer who photographed many sites in Israel and recorded many famous events in Israeli history. His website provides examples of some of these pictures arranged in browsable topics.

Hebrew language searchable database of photos of disappearing buildings and landscapes in Israel.

From Stanford University comes this digitized collection of materials about the history of the first Hebrew city, Tel Aviv, compiled by Eliasaf Robinson, a well known antiquarian bookseller. The site provides access to the catalog for the materials and an exhibit of many of the items.

‘The monumental 19 volume encyclopedia was compiled and published by David Tidhar (1897-1970) over the 23 years from 1947 until his death. It is a Whos Who of the Jewish community of the Land of Israel (Erets-Yisrael in Hebrew). In addition to original articles about political activists and other of his contemporaries, the first several volumes also contain material about 19th century settlers culled from local histories published in the preceding two decades. In each volume, Tidhar requested submission of biographical information and photographs from relatives of early settlers, which he used to compile some 6,000 biographies. His work represents the only biographical source for many of those included. Though Tidhar is famously scant in providing sources, his Encyclopedia is itself widely cited, having become the preeminent source in this area. With the dissemination of this online version, Touro College in conjunction with the Tidhar family is proud to make this classic reference work freely available to the public.”

This Hebrew and English site provides information about the individuals and operations associated with this resistance movement that operated in Mandate Palestine. The entire site is searchable, and there is a hypertext index available.

A series of full text articles about the history of the Jews in the Land of Israel written by Samuel Katz, a former member of the Irgun and a member of the Knesset under Menachem Begin.

This Hebrew language site provides information for young people about the leading figures in Zionist history from 1840 to 1948.

A series of full text articles about the Arab Israeli conflict written by Joan Peters.

"Giving a Face to the Fallen" is a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to memorialize those who have fallen in various military operations in the course of the establishment of the State Israel and during the Israeli War of Independence of 1948. Its database fills in the information about these heroes.

Created by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, this dictionary offers short entries for a wide variety of topics in Israeli political life and includes related references.

This site provides a browsable database of the people and places associated with the Second Aliyah.

This Hebrew language site provides personal stories for young people about Jews worldwide who made aliyah.

This collection of aerial photographs taken since 1913 by various military air forces can be searched by keyword and subject.

Created by a group of British individuals, this site provides a comprehensive history of the Six Day War, including a timeline, recollections, movie clips, Arab cartoons, maps, news articles, historical documents, legal analyses and biographies.

This website is devoted to the history and memorabilia of Israeli airlines, with particular emphasis on EL AL Israel Airlines.

This site in English and Hebrew consists of personal photos that evoke the history and development of the State of Israel. The database is searchable and browsable by location.

This searchable database of photographs from the Israeli Government Press Office traces the history of the Israel. In addition, there are special sections devoted to its prime ministers, presidents and nature.

This site is devoted to the role of Israel in the First World War.

This site provides a picture a day of photographs of Israel, many of them more than 100 years old, taken from the digitized collection of the Library of Congress.

“The website contain full text free books and movies mostly in the Hebrew language. Among the publications are – research and studies, memoirs, biography and old IAF journals from 1948 till 1998.”

This searchable Hebrew site features a huge collection of material about everyday life in Israel from 1950 to 1980. Every aspect of daily life is covered. Of particular note are the timelines that feature month by month accounts of major events in the history of Israel during this time period.

Israeli memorabilia classified by categories

Hebrew-language database of photographs from Keren Kayemet covering its work and key episodes in the history of Jewish settlement and life in the land of Israel.

“A new archive made public and searchable online by the Israeli State Archives and MyHeritage.com brings to light the names of over 206,000 Jews who lived in the country before the founding of the State of Israel. The archive spans 10 years, from 1937 to 1947, and is made up of about 67,000 requests for citizenship in British Mandatory Palestine.”

This Hebrew site describes the work of the commission and provides a searchable database by geographic region detailing the buildings that have been granted landmark status.

This Hebrew language site from the Israeli government provides information about national heritage sites throughout the country. You can browse by geographic area and time period.

This site in English and Hebrew describes the legacy of Avraham Stern and the Lehi group.

Created by the Israeli Ministry of Education and Avi Chai, this Hebrew language site provides short entries about a wide variety of topics in Jewish and Israeli history. The site is searchable and browsable by topic.

This Hebrew language site is devoted to the history of the maabarot, the transit camps, that were established in Israel in the 1950s to absorb the waves of immigrants that came after the establishment of the state. Of particular interest is the browsable list of maabarot and accompanying information about them.

This searchable site provides information about foreigners who volunteered in the War of Independence in Israel.

Maintained by Dr. Jason Fenton, this site describes the activities of foreign volunteers who came to help in the Israel War of Independence.

The G. Eric and Edith Matson Negatives are a rich source of historical images of the Middle East—notably Palestine, present day Israel, and the West Bank—from 1898 to1946. The collection contains 20,000 glass and film photographic negatives, created by the American Colony Photo Department and its successor firm, the Matson Photo Service.

“The photograph collection includes more than 150,000 negatives photographed in the Land of Israel prior to and after the establishment of the State, by photographers working in Israel, among them Boris Carmi, Beno Rothenberg, and Moshe Levine.” About a tenth of the collection has been digitized and can be searched by keyword or browsed by date, photographer, people and sites.

“The Axelrod Newsreel Collection is a unique collection of newsreels filmed by pioneer of Israeli film Nathan Axelrod between the years 1927 and 1958. Axelrod enthusiastically documented, in approximately 450 newsreels, with an average length of 10 minutes per newsreel, the establishment and development of Jewish settlements throughout Eretz Israel, the British mandatory presence in Palestine, famous figures from politics, culture and arts, holidays and leisure events, as well as countless and priceless scenes from everyday life.“ Many of these newsreels are now available on YouTube.

A virtual museum, bibliography and links providing information about Machal, the foreign volunteers who served in Israel's War of Independence.

Full text of the Hebrew language book by Ofer Regev on historical sites in Israel.

Based in the UK, The Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) was founded in 1865 to promote research into the archaeology of the region called Palestine. Its website describes the current research, lectures, events, past projects, and famous people associated with the organization. Of particular note is the table of contents for the Palestine Exploration Quarterly for the past 10 years.

Part of the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel, this is a searchable database of the English language newspaper of pre-state Israel, The Palestine Post, the predecessor of the current Jerusalem Post. You can search by date, keyword, article, picture, or ad and see scanned images of the resulting pages.

Predecessor of the Israeli Navy, the Palyam helped Jews run the British blockade of Palestine. Its site, in English and Hebrew, provides primary source material and information about the Second Aliyah and the Palyam.

You can search the archives of the JNF-KKL for photographs using this Hebrew-language search engine.

This stock agency houses thousands of color images about the land of Israel.

A photographic tour of the Holy Land as it looked between 1831 and 1910.

This project is a joint venture of the Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL), the Israeli Wikimedia chapter and the Center for Educational Technology (CET). You can conduct a search for images from numerous Israeli based archives and libraries through just one search. The site is in Hebrew.

This Hebrew language site is devoted to the history of the State of Israel. It has numerous portals to collections that harken back to the early days of the country.

The Council identifies, restores, conserves and protects major heritage buildings and sites associated with the rebirth of Israel from the time of the first settlement outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem in 1860. Its Hebrew and English website provides details about the projects, publications, educational programs, and trips sponsored by the group. Of particular note is the database of restored buildings.

This Hebrew language site is devoted to stories from and about those involved in the October 7, 2023 war. You can search the site by location on a map of Israel.

This site describes in English the establishment of the Hagana, the ancestor of the current Israel Defense Forces, and the role it played in the establishment of the State. Other pages in Hebrew provide biographies of individuals who figured prominently in the Haganas history, a list of programs and activities sponsored by organizations associated with the Hagana, and an annotated bibliography.

Created by the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), this site provides up-to-date data on the Israel-Hamas war including the latest data on numbers of killed and wounded, basic facts about the war zone, stories, reports and analysis.

This searchable Hebrew language site has a catalog of the archives of Mapai and the Labor Party, along with a virtual museum with many digitized documents.

Housed at Tel Aviv University, this database provides access to trademarks registered by the British Government during its control of the region. You can search for specific trademarks (if you know their registration number) or search for the applicant’s name (“Shell”). You can also search more broadly by entering the applicant’s country (“Germany”), specific words used in the trademarks (“Oranges”), or the trademarks’ content (“Camel”).

Created by the Jewish Agency, this extensive site details the history of the Zionist movement through a timeline, biographies, maps, glossary, and lists of concepts and places associated with it. Activities for teachers are also provided. This is an outstanding starting point for studies about Zionism.

This Hebrew and English site contains lengthy oral histories of people involved in the establishment of the State of Israel.

Created by the Society for the Preservation of Israeli Heritage Sites, this site provides access to the full text of Hebrew books about Israeli history and sites of national importance.

From the Israeli Ministry of Defense comes this recently declassified collection of 20,000 items related to the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Hebrew language site contains 15,301 photographs, 6,085 documents, 215 videos, 40 audio recordings and 169 maps. You can browse by topic or search by keyword.

“Zionism 101 presents material in the framework of video courses. There are 20 in total. Each video course consists of short films. Films average 5 minutes in length. Films are built from authentic period footage and photographs, offering students a window into the past. All films are original to this site.“