Bar-Ilan University

This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and creative personality through the lens of epigenetic modifications within Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis genes. By analyzing DNA methylation patterns in key HPA axis genes-including corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), its receptor (CRHR1), CRH binding protein (CRHBP), melanocortin 2 receptor (MC2R), steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (STAR), FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5), and the glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1), we examined how methylation variation was associated with the depressive symptoms-creativity link in 371 participants (190 women, 181 men). Our findings revealed that among individuals with methylation patterns putatively associated with reduced HPA axis activity, higher depressive symptoms were positively associated with creative personality, suggesting that in this biological context, introspective aspects of depressive symptoms may coincide with creative propensities. Conversely, among individuals with methylation patterns putatively associated with heightened HPA axis activity, higher depressive symptoms were negatively associated with creative personality. These results suggest that the association between depressive symptoms and creativity is not uniform but differs based on methylation variation in genes involved in stress response regulation. The findings highlight the potential role of HPA axis-related biological factors in understanding individual differences in the depression-creativity relationship, though the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference.

Although territorial conflict is often cited as an inhibitor of renewable energy adoption, solar technologies have become an integral part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This study examines how Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas have used solar energy as a tool to advance their respective security priorities in nationally contested territories, often at the expense of other economic or environmental considerations. Within the context of the ongoing conflict, solar energy projects serve to advance three main goals: (1) decentralizing electricity generation to prevent grid disruptions caused by aerial bombing campaigns in Gaza or by rocket attacks against Israel, (2) using off-grid rooftop PV panels in settlements or in divided urban environments such as East Jerusalem to prevent political misuse of a shared electricity grid, and (3) strategically positioning solar fields to ensure continuity and block rival expansion in contested territories such as Area B and C in the West Bank. Given these priorities, this study examines the factors that make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more receptive to using solar panels as tools of national security compared to other territorial conflicts, and points to how these factors shape the type, location, financing and scale of the solar projects that each side of the conflict promotes.

Overweight and obesity among physicians are increasingly recognized as relevant to workforce health, quality of care, and the credibility of lifestyle counseling delivered to patients. Physicians may face constraints that affect dietary patterns, physical activity, and daily routine, behaviors directly related to BMI. However, data linking specific lifestyle behaviors to BMI in this population remain limited. To examine associations between self-reported health behaviors and BMI among physicians and outline implications for workplace wellness. Cross-sectional online survey of physicians using the 26-item Healthy Lifestyle and Personal Control Questionnaire (HLPCQ). Participants were categorized into normal weight (BMI < 25) and overweight or obesity (BMI ≥ 25) groups based on their BMI. Group differences and multivariable logistic regression were applied. Of 200 respondents, 144 complete cases were analyzed; 54.2% had a BMI < 25. Higher BMI was associated with lower adherence to health-promoting behaviors, notably Dietary Harm Avoidance (p<0.01), Daily Routine (p=0.05), and Organized Physical Exercise (p=0.03). Regression analysis identified Dietary Harm Avoidance and Organized Physical Exercise as protective factors against overweight and obesity (p<0.01). Physicians in surgical specialties reported lower health behavior scores than non-surgical peers, particularly in Daily Routine (p<0.01) and in total lifestyle scores (p=0.01). Specific lifestyle behaviors, particularly dietary harm avoidance and organized physical activity, were associated with BMI among physicians. These associations may help inform future research on modifiable behavioral factors related to overweight and obesity among physicians.

We construct a uniformly discrete sequence { λ 1 < λ 2 < ⋯ } ⊂ R and functions g and { g n ⁎ } in L 2 ( R ) , such that every f ∈ L 2 ( R ) admits a series expansion f ( x ) = ∑ n = 1 ∞ 〈 f , g n ⁎ 〉 g ( x − λ n ) convergent in the L 2 ( R ) norm.

ABSTRACT Early Islamic sources present contradictory opinions regarding a prohibition on Jewish residence in Jerusalem after the Muslim conquest. Some sources report such a prohibition, while others do not. Modern scholars have taken varying stances on this issue. In the scholarly debate, a Cairo Geniza fragment, describing Jews escorting the Caliph ʿUmar and helping to identify the rock where the Dome of the Rock was built, has been presented as confirmation of a Jewish presence in early Islamic Jerusalem. In the present article, I clarify that this fragment is better understood in the context of the tenth or eleventh century, rather than the seventh. I present the evidence for a fierce Muslim-Christian-Jewish debate over a Jewish presence in Islamic Jerusalem, and its theological implications. This debate reached its peak around the tenth century, from which time most of the sources originate. This coincides with documented Jewish activity in the city.

Abstract This article analyzes the influence of phenomenological schools of thought on the Jewish philosophy of Abraham Joshua Heschel, focusing on the twentieth-century phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and its manifestations in Heschel’s writings on the idea of time. Discussions of phenomenological influences upon Heschel have tended to focus on the idea of “religious experience” in his writings on prophecy. This study probes the idea of time in Heschel’s philosophy and its relation to three main Husserlian ideas: the transcendental Ego, time-consciousness, and intentionality. The implications of this study for a consideration of the concept of revelation are discussed.