by Deborah Strobin and Ilie Wacs [Deborah Strobin and Ilie Wacs are siblings eight years apart. This essay is based on their memoir about growing up together in Nazi Austria and the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto before escaping to America. Each writer takes turns sharing memories.] Deborah We heard the planes before we saw them, and I could tell they were American planes. American planes were like a bullet, buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, while the Japanese planes were squeaky and clumsy sounding. Mutti (our mother) yelled at both of us, "Get downstairs!" but Ilie would not budge, he wasn't finished with his drawing. We could see the planes. They were only a few blocks away. Mutti yelled at him again, "Ilie! Now!" but he kept sitting by the window, drawing in his usual sport. He was trying to capture the moment in … Continue Reading
Jewish Peoplehood from Abstract to Action: We Did It
by Smadar Bar-Akiva It is not an easy task to translate the abstract notion of Jewish Peoplehood into action. And even more so, to develop a positive sense of belonging that is not anchored in sorrow and grief; a connection that celebrates cross cultural differences while striving to find common ground. At the World Confederation of JCCs we have just deciphered this secret. How? Several months ago, together with our trusting partners (see below) we launched the Global Jewish Connections Fellows program. We recruited 13 lay leaders ages 25-45 from 11 JCCs in 7 countries - Argentina, Bulgaria, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and USA - in order to train them as global Jewish leaders and social entrepreneurs. These incredibly talented fellows are as diverse as can be. What do they have in common? … Continue Reading
A Trip to India Touches A Jewish Soul
by Daniella Alhadeff Local legend says that when the first Jews of India arrived by ship on the Konkan coast of India, they were accompanied by Prophet Elijah. Escaping persecution in the Galilee, it is believed to be thanks to Elijah that the Jewish families survived a shipwreck and subsequently settled in the region. 2,100 years later, locals watch curiously as a group of nineteen Australians disembark from a large white bus and enter the nondescript gates of the oldest synagogue in the remote Panvel village in Southern India. A young man pours chai into a large silver vat by the dusty narrow street, tuk-tuk drivers wait for custom in their parked vehicles and goats wander languidly through the village. "Jews in India? Really?" This was the common response from our social circles in … Continue Reading
After Russian Exodus, Jews Rebuild Communities
by Alina Dain Sharon JointMedia News Service While Saddam Hussein’s forces shelled Israel during the Gulf War, 12-year-old Alex Kalmikov arrived at Ben Gurion Airport from Soviet Georgia. “Three days later we had our first gas mask alarm,” he recalled. In what is considered by many to be the second major Jewish exodus (following the story of Passover), about 2 million Jews left the Soviet Union just before and after its collapse, settling primarily in the United States, Germany and Israel. Moving earlier was Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet prisoner and refusenik who made aliyah in 1986 and is now chairman of the executive at the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Sharansky said in an interview with JointMedia News Service that for emigrants, leaving the Soviet Union was about the … Continue Reading
Connecting to Ashkenazi Heritage, in Ashkenaz Itself
Though today it is most commonly associated with gefilte fish, herring and potato kugel, Ashkenazi Judaism encompasses a rich tapestry of philosophy, arts, language, halachic discourse, and history. Born in the Middle Ages in Germany, it spread across Eastern Europe and into the lands now known as the Former Soviet Union. So many Russian Speaking Jews (RSJs) have recently emigrated from the FSU to Germany that they "now form the overwhelming majority of Germany's Jewry," reported Eliezer Ben Rafael, a researcher at Tel Aviv University. The majority of them, he said, have Ashkenazi roots. As a means of strengthening the sense of Jewish identity and belonging of young, Russian-speaking Jews in Germany and promoting their connection to the wider European and global Jewish communities, the Jewish … Continue Reading
A Very Hong Kong Chanukah
by Erica Lyons To explain to my children what Chanukah was like for me as a young girl, I find I am just as inclined to recount what it wasn’t as I am to describe what it was. Growing up in northern New Jersey in the Cohen household, driving through the wealthier neighborhoods (those which my parents reminded me still blocked the sale of homes to Jews through the 1960s) to see the elaborate Christmas displays through our car windows was always part of the winter season. My brothers and I watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. In school we had “holiday” parties where we ate gingerbread cookies off of red and green plates, sucked on candy canes and sang Jingle Bells. My family set aside a day to go into New York City to line up with the crowds to see the … Continue Reading
Spotlight: Do Jews from the FSU in Germany Volunteer?
by Julia Itin The whole concept of volunteer work among the numerous Jews from FSU living in Germany today seems to be a nonexistent. But only at first glance. During Limmud Day Berlin, we interviewed participants only to discover that volunteerism does exist as part of the post-Soviet Jewish experience in Germany - but it faces many challenges. Stand up, all Victims of Oppression! Involvement in politically motivated groups such as subbotniks, mandatory days of volunteer work, unions, as well as the Komsomol, the Communist Union of Youth carried with it a strong social component. Under communism, people volunteered not necessarily because they felt they were "building the country’s future," but because these committments gave them "social capital," a feeling of being responsible for … Continue Reading
Light One Candle
With all the Chanukah videos floating around the web, we think this is a good time to bring an old favorite back. Written by Peter Yarrow, “Light One Candle” was first presented as part of the 1982 Peter, Paul and Mary Hanukkah / Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall with the N.Y. Choral Society. Later, performances throughout the U.S., Europe and particularly Israel, brought a new and universal meaning to the song. “Light One Candle” was written, and is sung, for Jews and non-Jews alike. The flame is an historical reminder of an ethical imperative. It burns as a burden, demanding sacrifice and struggle. But it also lights the possibility, the privilege and promise of a better world. We must not let the light go out. This recording from a 1988 concert was released in … Continue Reading
Jewish Jamaica, Then and Now
by Paul Foer JointMedia News Service The many Cohens and Levys in the Jamaican phone books may not be practicing Jews, though they most likely recognize that they may be descendants of Sephardic Jews who settled there after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The story begins in 1502 with the fourth and final voyage of Christopher Columbus, likely the son of Converso Jews, who shipwrecked on what came to be known as the Jewel of the Caribbean. (Columbus first visited Jamaica on his second voyage, in 1494.). Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand granted the island to Columbus and his descendants, and there were many Conversos in Jamaica during Spanish rule, living relatively free of the clutches of the Inquisition. The British occupied Jamaica in 1655, and more Jews arrived and settled in … Continue Reading
One Thousand Jewish Students and Young Professionals Partied Like a Jew in Brussels
At last week’s International football game hosted in Wembley Stadium, England, in a surprise twist, beat Spain - a feat that has not occurred for the last fifteen years. Rarely does the underdog defeat the standing champion, but when that happens, there is a moment of magic felt by all those in attendance. Alex, an avid England fan, tried to explain how momentous the feeling was and was only able to compare it to the event that he attended over the weekend in Brussels. As a Jew living in a small town in Ukraine he is often asked why support England? “To me it is an obvious choice”, he says. “Growing up in Ukraine I have always felt a strong Jewish pride, despite the difficulties that we face with the rise of assimilation and anti-Semitism that have been plaguing Europe. England in this … Continue Reading
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