SIGHET, Romania (Press Release) – A special event marking the opening of the first public Holocaust education center in Romania will take place Sunday, May 18 in the town of Sighet. The “Holocaust Cellar” will become a new feature of the Holocaust museum in the pre-war home of Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel, in the courtyard […]
Holocaust center planned at Wiesel’s boyhood home Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryBy Ronn Torossian NEW YORK–The new book by Hillel Halkin, Jabotinsky: A Life (Yale University Press) was unlike any other book I had ever consumed about a man I consider to be a personal hero, Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky helped shape my life, my Judaism – even though I was born 34 years after his death. Growing up
Many new facts in Halkin’s biography of Jabotinsky Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East
Photo and story by Debra Rubin/JNS.org NEW YORK — The Shabbat of Memorial Day weekend later this month will mark a first in American Jewish life: Three New York City congregations representing the three major U.S. Jewish movements will daven from the same prayer book. Produced by the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) Jewish Chaplains Council
Memorial Day muster in NYC for military siddur Read More »
Jewish Religion, USASAN DIEGO (Press Release)–The Jewish Federation of San Diego thanked and recognized State Senator Marty Block for “standing up for what’s right.” It noted that Block, a San Diego Democrat, had issued the following statement following disclosure that eighth students in the Rialto, California, school district had been asked to write an essay debating
Marty Block’s response to Rialto Holocaust essay praised Read More »
Jewish History
Editor’s Note: Lag B’Omer begins at sundown Saturday, May 17 and ends at sundown Sunday, May 18 By Deborah Fineblum/JNS.org One of Pnina Newirth’s earliest childhood memories is of a trip to Mount Meron, Israel, on Lag B’Omer. But this was no ordinary family vacation. “I was very small, yet I vividly recall the
Lag B’Omer crowds will head for Mt. Meron Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle East, Travel and Food
By Jason Stack/JNS.org Believe it or not, the recently canonized Pope John Paul II had a Jewish Cardinal as an occasional adviser in the 1980s. The French TV film The Jewish Cardinal, which has been receiving a limited release in the United States, follows the crucial years of the life of Cardinal Jean-Marie Aaron Lustiger
Television biography tells of ‘Jewish Cardinal’ Lustiger Read More »
International, Jewish Religion
By Maayan Jaffe/JNS.org SHANGHAI, China — It was a long trek: 6,000 miles by boat from Central Europe to the Far East. But the towns of East Asia opened their gates for the waves of Jewish emigrants who had to find shelter from the tragic problems they faced first in Russia, and later in Central
Jewish history: Shanghai refuge Read More »
International, Jewish History
By Robert Gluck/JNS.org Dr. Gary P. Zola sees an inextricable connection between American Jewish history, American history, and global Jewish history. “The study of the Jewish experience in the context of the American nation sheds light on the story of the nation itself,” Zola, executive director of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American
Jewish deeds helped fuel American history Read More »
Jewish History, USABy Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn PHILADELPHIA –To judge by the account in the Washington Post, the recent statement about the Holocaust by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas was a game-changing reversal of Abbas’s previous Holocaust-denial. In an “unusual step,” the Post asserted, Abbas released “a strongly-worded statement” in which he “denounced” the Holocaust as
Abbas’ ‘reversal’ on Holocaust really wasn’t Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East
NEW YORK (Press Release) – More than 100 prominent Orthodox rabbis, including the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, Ha Rav Dovid Lau, have signed a petition urging action against the ongoing Arab attacks on the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem. “The continuing Arab desecration of the Mount of Olives cemetery must no longer
VIENNA (WJC) — Sixty-nine years after the end of World War II, nearly a third of Austrians would like to have a “strong leader” (Führer) at the helm of their country “who doesn’t have to deal with elections and a parliament”, according to a new study published on Wednesday in Vienna. Asked about what
Poll: One-third of Austrians want a ‘fuhrer’ Read More »
International, Jewish History
RIALTO, California (WJC) — School district officials heresaid an assignment asking students to write an essay on whether they believe the Holocaust really happened was “horribly inappropriate”. The Rialto Unified School District made headlines when it gave eighth-graders the assignment to do some research and write an essay explaining whether they believed the Holocaust
Rialto Holocaust assignment ‘horribly inappropriate’ Read More »
Jewish Religion, Science, Medicine, & Education
By Anav Silverman JERUSALEM (TNA) – Hundreds of Jewish World War II veterans of the Allied armies, the majority from the Former Soviet Union, attended the official Yad Vashem ceremony Thursday, May 8, marking the 69th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. The ceremony took place at Yad Vashem’s Monument to the
World War II veterans honored at Yad Vashem Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastLOS ANGELES (Press Release)–Following is the text of the speech given by President Barack Obama on Wednesday evening, May 7, to a USC Shoah Foundation dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel: THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, please, everybody have a seat. Well, thank you, Steven {Spielberg}, for
Obama on the Shoah: Silence is evil’s co- conspirator Read More »
Jewish History, USA