To mark World Emoji Day, which is celebrated annually on July 17, Prof. Chaim Noy of the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University takes a closer look at the most popular icons of modern times.  

If you have never heard of Hitler’s Haggadah, you could never have guessed where it was written or what it contained. Without the proper cultural context, one might even find the title to be somewhat offensive. Rest assured, Hitler didn’t own a Haggadah and even if he did, a book hasn’t been written about it.

International Mine Awareness Day, observed on April 4, highlights the efforts of international organizations to raise this explosive issue which affects many countries around the globe, including Israel. In third-world countries – Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia and others – millions of landmines are buried under villages and cities, endangering the lives of local residents. For the late Princess Diana this was her life's work.

On Chanukah 1939 my father, Chaskel Tydor, was incarcerated in Buchenwald, having been arrested by the Gestapo at the war's outbreak. As the holiday approached, a number of Jewish prisoners spoke to him, hoping to arrange a clandestine candle lighting. My father turned to the blockeltester, a communist-Jewish prisoner named Erich Eisler, for assistance. He initially refused but my father appealed to his communist spirit, stating that by not doing so he was collaborating with the Nazis.

The prevalence and strength of symbols depend on the extent to which groups of people recognize, understand and identify with them; national symbols and sport, military and other emblems have great power, which serve to define collective identities and a sense of belonging. On the one hand, symbols of the nation-state – and above all the flag – have deep, powerful and emotional meaning for large swaths of the population.

The parents of teenagers in immigrant families involved in criminal activities play an important part in rehabilitating their children, but very little research examines the point of view of these parents. Research that views the parents as subjects and deals with the question of how a parent of adolescents involved in crime intersects with the status of immigrant parents might shed light on the matter. The research of Prof. Sophie Walsh of the Bar-Ilan University Department of Criminology and Dr.