By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –During the Holocaust years, Purim celebrations were forbidden to the Jews. Christians and Jews could not even own the book of Esther. Such decrees did not stop the Nazis from poking fun at the Jews on this Jewish holiday. With diabolical glee, the Nazis frequently orchestrated special […]
Purim and the Nazi Julius Streicher Read More »
Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiA LOOK BACK OVER MY SHOULDER (Second Edition March 2014) Editor’s Note: In 1936 Garry Fabian’s family fled Germany to Czechoslovakia, hoping to escape Nazi persecution, but in vain. By 1942 Garry, aged eight, was interned in Theresienstadt. He was to spend till May 1945 in that ‘model’ concentration camp and was one of
Memoir of a survivor of the Terezin ghetto Read More »
International, Jewish History
By Binyamin Kagedan/JNS.org The names of religious holidays are usually fairly straightforward, pointing us to the central symbol or theme of the festival. Pesach refers to the ancient lamb offering, the korban pesach; Shavuot, meaning “weeks,” points to the careful counting of seven weeks that precede it; Sukkot are the booths that Jews inhabit
What is the name ‘Purim’ all about? Read More »
Jewish HistoryBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel –What’s significant about October, 1943? During that month the Danes carried out an unprecedented rescue of Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps. Werner Bachmann recently told a rapt audience at a recent Forgotten People Fund luncheon in Netanya, “I was meant to be one of those murdered by
Denmark’s once-proud history recalled Read More »
International, Jewish History, Steve KramerEAST LANSING, Michigan (Press Release)–Rabbi Ben Kamin’s new book Dangerous Friendship: Stanley Levison, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Kennedy Brothers will be available from Michigan State University Press this April and is available for sale through its website www.msupress.msu.edu and at fine bookstores. The product of long-concealed FBI surveillance documents, Dangerous Friendship chronicles a
Kamin’s book on King, Levison and Kennedys debuts Read More »
Jewish History, USA
NEW YORK (Press Release)– World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced on Thursday, Feb. 27, the receipt of an award of $220,000 from the David Berg Foundation of New York for five projects at Jewish heritage sites in Europe and Africa: the Schola Canton in Venice, Italy; the Great Synagogue of Iasi, Romania; Split Synagogue in Croatia;
Funds donated to conserve 5 Jewish sites Read More »
International, Jewish History
NEW YORK (Press Release)–John Henry Weidner, a Dutch hero who helped save more than 1,000 individuals, including approximately 800 Jews, from the Holocaust, has been posthumously honored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with the ADL Jan Karski Courage to Care Award. Established in 1987 to honor rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust era, the
John Henry Weidner posthumous ADL awardee Read More »
Jewish History
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — I remember reporting in a Jewish travelogue in 1991 about Victoria, British Columbia, that Selim Franklin was elected in 1860 to the second Legislative Assembly on Vancouver Island, and that in 1866 his brother, Lumley Franklin, was elected as Victoria’s second mayor, the first Jew to hold the
Quarterly tells of pioneer Jews of Victoria, B.C. Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
Editor’s Note: Holocaust Survivor Garry Fabian, on the invitation of several German Foundations, recently returned to his native Stuttgart and other German cities from Australia, where he took refuge after liberation from Theresienstadt. Fabian kept a journal on the trip, excerpts from which we reprint here. By Garry Fabian 21-22 January Departed Melbourne at 10.30pm
Holocaust Survivor Fabian is feted by Germans Read More »
International, Jewish HistoryBook: Sasha and Emma: The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, by Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich. Harvard University Press, 490 pages, 2012. By David Strom CHULA VISTA, California — What is an anarchist? As we know, there are so many different types of Jews that it is safe to conclude that there
Book Review: ‘Sasha and Emma’ Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion
By Yifa Segal BRUSSELS – Three quarters of a century have passed, and very few Holocaust survivors are still with us, but the memory of the worst genocide in European history still lives on. “We have seen the danger in spreading false propaganda” said Martin Shultz, President of the European Parliament, “Even today we hear of
European Parliament commemorates Holocaust Read More »
Jewish HistoryMK Uri Ariel recites the kaddish at Auschwitz (video via Knesset spokesperson) By Aryeh Savir JERUSALEM –Before MK Uri Ariel, Minister of Construction and Housing, embarked on his trip to Poland together with some 60 Members of Knesset he received a special request – he was provided with a Tallit belonging to Shlomo Yom
MK dons a special tallit at Auschwitz Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish ReligionROME (Press Release)—AJC (American Jewish Committee) has called for increased vigilance following grotesque manifestations of anti-Semitism in Rome during the Jewish Sabbath on January 25. A box with a pig’s head was delivered to Rome’s Grand Synagogue on Friday and similar packages were delivered on Saturday to the Israeli Embassy and to the Museum of
AJC Denounces new outrages, remembers old ones Read More »
Jewish History, Videos
WASHINGTON, D.C (Press Release) — The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will open a new exhibition, “Camilla’s Purse,” Jan. 24 in the Albert Small Documents Gallery. The exhibition examines the life of Holocaust survivor, Camilla Gottlieb, through a display of letters, official documents and personal possessions. The records, collected and secured by Gottlieb in a
‘Camilla’s Purse’ new Shoah exhibit at Smithsonian Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion