[The fall meeting of the Board of Governors of The Jewish Agency for Israel opens today in Buenos Aires. In addition to on-the-ground coverage, eJewish Philanthropy, through a series of posts, will be taking a look at not only Jewish life in Argentina, but through-out Latin America. To begin, here's some background.] History of the Jews of Argentina The history of the Jews of Argentina goes back to the days of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, when Jews fleeing persecution settled in what is now Argentina. Many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata were Jewish, but an organized Jewish community developed only after Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1810. At that time, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe began to settle in … Continue Reading
An Interview with a Key Limmud Activist
In a series of interviews with Limmud activists around the world, here we celebrate a key activist involved in prioritising the grassroots volunteerism of Limmud Netherlands. Meet Emma Sevitt, President, Limmud Netherlands: What did you want to achieve when you started Limmud Netherlands? I didn't start Limmud Netherlands, or Limmoed as we call it over here. The concept had been brought to the Netherlands years before we began it as a volunteer organization, run through a long standing Jewish organization. What we did was transform it into a volunteer based event. However, when the small group of us "started" Limmud, our goal was to create an event that was attractive to all types of Jewish communities in Holland. The community has a history of being very disparate, and our hope was that … Continue Reading
Jewish Services Expand in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Karen Schwartz In 1991, Rabbi Shlomo and Miriam Bentolila arrived in the former Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of the Congo - to direct what is today Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa. Headquarters for Jewish communities ranging from 100 to 1,000 strong across a wide swath of the continent, the operation now serves approximately 12 African countries, and over the past 20 years, its footprint and role in the region has grown to better serve the individual needs of Israeli expatriates, European businessmen and women, American travellers, and locally-born Jews. “What we’ve become today, after years of work, is a Jewish address for Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. The High Holidays, which began with the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah, has been no exception. Groups of … Continue Reading
Bnei Menashe of Northeast India Celebrate Rosh Hashana
Children from the Bnei Menashe community prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashana in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. The Bnei Menashe are descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who were exiled by the Assyrian empire more than 27 centuries ago. Several months ago, an Israeli government committee approved in principle a request made by the Shavei Israel organization to bring on aliyah the 7,200 Bnei Menashe still in India. photo courtesy Yochanan Phaltual … Continue Reading
New Reports Highlight Renewal of Jewish Life in Hungary, Poland
The renewal of Jewish life in Hungary and Poland comes under scrutiny in two reports published by the U.K. based Institute for Jewish Policy Research. The research, conducted by local experts on behalf of JPR and funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, was designed to assess the development of Jewish communities in East-Central Europe since the collapse of communism, as well as the challenges they face going forward. Research in Hungary reveals a community re-invigorated over the last 20 years, but nevertheless facing the challenge of low engagement in communal life: only 10 per cent of the Jewish population is affiliated to any Jewish organization. The report calls for: the restructuring of the Hungarian Jewish communal infrastructure to ensure that decisions on issues … Continue Reading
Remembering Those Who Lost Their Lives 10 Years Ago
by Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein The prophet Jeremiah witnessed Jerusalem set ablaze and the Holy Temple obliterated by marauding Babylonian troops. Despite observing these traumatic events as well as the forcible exile of Israelites to Babylonia, Jeremiah impeccably believed that out of that calamity would arise another formation of the people of the Torah. In his metaphor we could be “like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream” thereby sprouting life anew. (Jer. 17:8) In fact Jeremiah was right. The destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE, the fall of Jerusalem, the exile to Babylon was not our people’s demise. Rather it emerged as a catalyst for the origin of Jewish life as we know and live it today. Our history incorporates destruction and rebirth. When the Holy … Continue Reading
Russian-Jewish Canadian Camp Program is a Success
Ninety teenagers from Russian-speaking Jewish families in the Toronto area spent last week at Camp Gesher, located on Skootamata Lake, Ontario, attending J.Academy Camp. Operating for the second summer, J. Academy is the only sleepover camp program in Canada that is specifically geared to teens from Russian-speaking background families. Through a variety of informal educational and recreational experiences, the program encourages participants to explore their roots and to discover their place in Jewish civilization through the artistic prism. J. Academy offers its participants five areas of specialization: theater, dance, journalism, design and marketing. For the majority of the participants, J. Academy is their first experience with the culture of North American Jewish camps and with Jewish … Continue Reading
Creativity and Cultural Arts in Today’s Jewish Europe
by Smadar Bar-Akiva Who are the target audiences of Jewish artists in Europe? What values are they looking to express and transmit? What is their relationship with the organized Jewish community? Are there boundaries to their creativity? Do the above questions even matter? These are some of the issues that were debated last week at the first ever European Seminar on Innovation and Creativity in Jewish Culture. Taking place at the backdrop of the largest theater festival in Europe, at the medieval city of Avignon, France, the European Association of Jewish Community Centers (EAJCC), the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Federation of France (FSJU) convened a talented group of some forty cultural arts organizers and artists from across Europe to discuss the … Continue Reading
The Secrets of Jewish Lisbon
by Smadar Bar-Akiva The loads of tourists roaming through the sunny streets of Lisbon hardly know that the quaint neighborhoods of Alfama, Chiado and Baxia were once home to approximately 200,000 Jews, 25% of Lisbon’s citizens. The time was the 15th Century when Jews enjoyed a Golden Age of success and integration, taking part in Portugal’s era of world discoveries and expansions. That renaissance was brutally quenched by the Portuguese Inquisition, following the Spanish one and known to be even more brutal. Then, if you stop for a cup of coffee at the busy Chiado pedestrian mall you may not know that one of the coffee shops was once a meeting point for Jews fleeing Europe at the time of World War II. Ten thousand of them were saved thanks to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who was a Protugese … Continue Reading
Fresh Eyes On Hungarian Jewish Life
by Zev Nagel Although I am originally from Los Angeles, I’ve spent the past ten years bouncing between Israel, New York, and Boston, so there is no one single place I call home. Before now, I had worked in advocacy and political communications, and was earning my master's degree in international business and conflict resolution. All this time, I knew I wanted to live and work in a foreign country. But I realized that the ideal job would have to combine my interest in international affairs and my passion for Jewish life. I had little real sense of what it means to “be Jewish” outside the United States and Israel. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) offered that perfect combination. My work in Budapest can be best characterized as community development ... working … Continue Reading
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