A small town in Poland is building a wooden synagogue — more than 70 years after the Nazis burned all the country’s wooden Jewish temples to the ground. Thing is, there aren’t any Jews left in the town of Bilgoraj. Even the retired businessman who came up with the idea, 62-year-old Tadeusz Kuźmiński, isn’t Jewish. […]
A synagogue is born in a little Polish town, but no Jews are left Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryAs Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni celebrated yet another election success in late February—he has been in power for 30 years—Rabbi Gershom Sizomu and his followers in the remote eastern village of Nabugoye were celebrating their own electoral victory. The head of a tiny rural community of Ugandan Jews, known as the Abayudaya, Sizomu had made
Why Uganda Elected a Rabbi to Its Parliament Read More »
International, Jewish History
Johann Trollmann and Romani Resistance to the Nazis by Jud Nirenberg; KO Publications; (c) 2016; ISBN 978-0-9903703-76; 220 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Despite some problems in its organization, this is an important book for the Jewish community to ponder. Utilizing the story of Johann Trollman– a Sinto boxer who in 1933
Recognition sought for Gypsies as Holocaust victims Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish HistoryTel Aviv (dpa) – Almost five decades after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel is set to begin clearing mines at one of the holiest sites in Christianity. The clearing project at the site New Testament baptism site on the shore of the Jordan River is scheduled to begin toward the end of 2016, the Israeli
Israel begins clearing mines from Christian holy site Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastNEW YORK — Inside the Second Avenue Deli the scent of cured meats with notes of spicy golden mustard and sour pickles wafts through the air. As one of the few bona fide Jewish delicatessens left in New York City, the eatery is more than a piece of living culinary history. It offers a glimpse
Delis: ‘Secular versions of the synagogue’ Read More »
Jewish History, USAUNESCO, the UN”s cultural body, on Sunday strongly condemned the “Second International Holocaust Cartoon Contest”, which opened in Tehran over the weekend. The contest features, among others, entries deriding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government’s Middle East policies. But the organizers of the exhibition have denied that it is meant to deny the Holocaust,
UNESCO condemns Iran’s Holocaust cartoon contest Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East
By Joe Spier CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — It was early December 1939, just before Chanukah, in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Nazis had yet to occupy the City. Eleven-year old Zalke Genkind wanted to go to the movies, a Laurel and Hardy slapstick comedy, one of his favorites. His parents had refused to give him the money
Chiune Sugihara rescued Jews at cost of his own career Read More »
International, Jewish History
BERLIN (WJC) –Germany’s Foreign Office and the Centrum Judaicum Berlin held an event in the German capital in honor of José Arturo Castellanos Contreras, El Salvador’s consul-general in Geneva who during World War II helped to save tens of thousands of Jews from Central Europe from Nazi persecution. Felix Klein, special representative of the Foreign
El Salvador’s Castellanos honored by Germany Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East
By Toby Klein Greenwald EFRAT, Israel — My in-laws got married in a forest in Slovakia during the Holocaust in 1942. They gave birth to a little boy, and about six months before the war was over, went into hiding in a storeroom beneath the home of a non-Jewish woman in a nearby village. Since
Closing circles in the forest Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, Toby Klein Greenwald
Over 20 feet wide, the mural hanging from the ceiling of Burlington, Vermont’s Ohavi Zedek Synagogue is a survivor in multiple senses. Painted by a Lithuanian immigrant in 1910, it is a rare example of the wall paintings that once adorned the wooden synagogues of Eastern Europe that were destroyed in the Holocaust. “There is
Vermont Jews rescue ‘Lost Shul Mural’ Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, USA
A Scottish man was arrested after a video of him teaching his dog to make a Nazi salute and respond to the phrase “gas the Jews” sparked outrage among Jewish groups. Markus Meechan, 28, was detained on suspicion of committing a hate crime and spent a night in jail, the Daily Mail said Monday. The
Scottish man arrested for teaching dog a Nazi salute Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryThe decision by London new Muslim Mayor Sadiq Khan, to attend a Holocaust commemoration event as his first public engagement was met with anger by some Twitter users, who responded with virulently anti-Israel comments and even Holocaust denial, Haaretz reported Monday. After the event, Khan tweeted, “So important to reflect, remember and educate about the
London Mayor targeted by anti-Semitism Read More »
International, Jewish History
Looking to distinguish itself from the rest of Iraq and deepen ties with the Kurdish diaspora, the autonomous region of Kurdistan is courting religious minorities, including Jews. Some 300,000 Jews are descended from refugees who fled the region after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Today, most of them live in Israel, though a small
Kurds urge Jews to return to Iraq Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastA copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales once owned by Anne and Margot Frank, their names inscribed atop the title page, sold at auction Thursday for $62,500 (including the buyer’s premium). The New York City–based Swann Auction Galleries said that “the sale represents the first major offering of Anne Frank material at auction in over two
Where Anne Frank’s ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ Will Go Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History