From Tashkent to Israel and Back Again

by Abigail Pickus Growing up in Tashkent, Bella Lvovich would have never guessed that one day she would return to her childhood home – only this time as an Israeli emissary. But that’s exactly what happened. “I grew up here and now I’m back as an Israeli who teaches and works for the Jewish Agency. It’s like coming full circle. It’s very emotional,” said Lvovich. There are an estimated 20,000 Jews in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. While Lvovich grew up identified as a Jew, there were no other Jews in her neighborhood and Jewish life was difficult to find. At the age of 17 she participated in a Jewish Agency sponsored youth club in Tashkent, where she met her future husband, Yonatan. At 18 she left Tashkent for Israel on Na’aleh, a joint government-Jewish... Continue Reading

Pablo Laufer Up Close

Pablo Laufer is a judge who specializes in criminal cases in Buenos Aires. But his heart belongs to the Jewish people. As vice president of BAMA (Beit Hamechanech Hayehudi – Home to the Jewish Educator), a volunteer position he’s held since last February, Laufer recently spent a week in Israel as a guest of the Jewish Agency, discussing BAMA’s new vision as it looks to the future. “There are big changes ahead,” Laufer told the Jewish Agency. “BAMA arose out of the vacuum left by the local economic and educational crisis. And even though the Jewish Agency’s goal since its inception was for us to be locally supported and run, that hasn’t happened – until now.” Established by the Jewish Agency in 2003 in the aftermath of Argentina’s economic... Continue Reading

Paideia Launches 5th Project-Incubator

Twenty-seven innovators and social entrepreneurs from twelve European countries and Israel are being welcomed today by Paideia for its 5th annual Project-Incubator, a two-week intensive boot camp for projects dedicated to advancing European Jewish culture in action. Since 2006, the Project-Incubator has empowered and educated leaders of more than 80 projects in 26 European countries and Israel, from cultural centers to kindergartens, from theatrical productions to environmental campaigns. 2010 resident initiatives include “Traces of Messiah,” a traveling musical and dramatic production at Poland’s Midrash Theatre led by Agata Nowak and Rabbi Tanya Segal; Jeneration, which facilitates experimentation and personal growth for UK Jews in their 20s and 30s, led by Jude Williams; a Moderne Judishe Kochbuch... Continue Reading

Committed, Concerned and Conciliatory: The Attitudes of Jews in Britain Towards Israel

Jews in Britain strongly identify with and support Israel. They are ready to see Israel swap territory for peace and to talk with Hamas if it will advance the cause of peace. At the same time, they are concerned about Israel’s security, support the separation barrier/security fence and viewed the 2008/09 operation in Gaza as “a legitimate act of self-defence.” These are the central findings of the most definitive study ever conducted of the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel. The study is published today by the community’s leading research institute, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR). Based on over 4,000 individual responses, with fieldwork conducted by Ipsos MORI and with the support of several leading experts in Jewish demography and sociology, the findings show that: ... Continue Reading

A Jewish Agency for Today’s Jewish People

On Tuesday afternoon, eJewish Philanthropy‘s Dan Brown sat with Alan Hoffmann, Director-General and Dr. Misha Galperin, head of External Affairs, Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), to discuss the updated direction the organization is moving towards. Here’s our conversation: A Jewish Agency for Today’s Jewish People from eJewish Philanthropy on Vimeo. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Update: FBI Investigating Holocaust Claims Fraud

As an update to a story we posted on Tuesday, it appears the Pension fund for survivors has been bilked for more than $7 million. from The Jewish Week: FBI Expands Probe Of Fraud At Holocaust Claims Conference The thieves were good – very good. So good, in fact, that they were able to change crucial data on official documents for more than a decade without raising the attention of experts at the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and even the German government. … As a result, over the last decade they are suspected of stealing more than $7 million from the Article 2 Fund established in 1995 by the German government to provide quarterly pensions to eligible Holocaust survivors. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

The Many Faces of the ROI Community

Yesterday I had the chance to, once-again, sit with 120 hyped-up, caffinated, sleep-deprived young adult movers and shakers of our Jewish world at the 5th annual gathering of the ROI Global Summit. And while perhaps I spent a bit to much time catching up with friends from around the globe, it is clear that this group not only ‘gets it’ they are actually ‘doing something about it’. For not only are they creating cutting edge projects on multiple continents, they are trail-blazing a new level of collaboration among themselves and spurring a growing interchange of ideas between ventures such as JHub, Joshua Venture Group, Jumpstart, PresenTense and UpStart Bay Area. Here are just a few of the many faces of the global ROI Community: From Florianopolis, Brazil, meet community leader... Continue Reading

The Many Faces of ROI Community: Argentina, Israel, Belarus and Copenhagen

Israel, especially during the summer months, is a melting-pot of innovation. And one of the real pleasures of living here is having the opportunity to meet, and interact, with young adults from around the world who are involved in these new endeavors. As we have in previous summers, over the next month or so, we will bring you snapshots of just some of the many, people and projects, that are shaping our collective future. With the ROI Global Summit opening on Sunday, we introduce you today to four who are a part of this growing, vibrant and important community. Evelyn Goldfinger is Creator/Director of El Toratron Jewish Educational Theatre in Argentina, for which she received an ROI Community grant in May. She is an actress, playwright and director. Together with Hillel volunteers, she directs a theater... Continue Reading

The Meaning of Leadership: The Evolution of the Polish Jewish Community

I am on a flight from Warsaw to Israel. I have just participated in a very moving experience and I would like to share some reflections with you about the meaning of leadership in a very “young-old” community. Several months ago I received a request to participate in a seminar to strengthen and further develop the evolving paid and volunteer leadership in the Polish Jewish community. You might be asking yourself, “Are there Jews in Poland?” or “Are there Jewish communities in Poland?” or “What Jew would live in Poland today?” Well I have to tell you Jewish life not only exists in Poland but there are people committed to the furtherance and strengthening of the Jewish community. More than 15 people arrived from several communities throughout Poland, including Warsaw and Krakow, for... Continue Reading

Haredi Party Seeks to Remove Pluralism from Jewish World Agenda

The general feeling around Jerusalem’s Jewish organizational world is that the upcoming meeting of the World Zionist Congress will be either of two extremes – boring, or a bloodbath – and much relates around how Shas, a Sephardic Haredi political party, is received in the WZO. We’ve written before how the Diaspora member organizations of the WZO, especially the delegates from North America, truly do not understand the profound changes that may come about from the inclusion of a party with a stated goal to lessen the proportional representation in the organization of Diaspora Zionist movements and the various religious streams. This article by Haviv Rettig Gur, from today’s The Jerusalem Post, offers some insight: Consternation surrounds Shas joining Zionist group …... Continue Reading

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