100 issues of “Roots”
The Shavei Israel “Roots” newsletter celebrates its hundredth issue
Shavei Israel’s “Roots” newsletter has reached an important milestone – its hundredth publication since we started sending them to you more than three years ago. We hope that you have enjoyed the many articles, profiles, pictures and videos we’ve shared – never fear: we have no intention of stopping! But milestones are always a good opportunity to reflect. So we’ve put together a list of what you’ve told us (through your feedback on Facebook and via email) were the most significant or meaningful stories we’ve published. We’ve divided them by the main communities we serve.
Bnei Anousim
The story that generated the most response by far was our coverage of the posthumous pardon by the Portuguese government of Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto who was drummed out of the military seven decades ago for the “crime” of proudly proclaiming his Jewish heritage. The decision to reinstate Captain Basto was made in July 2012 after nearly ten years of lobbying by Shavei Israel and the captain’s granddaughter. In addition, Shavei Israel launched a widely publicized online petition, which garnered 1,300 signatures. The result paid off and a stain has been removed from a noble man’s name – in no small part thanks to your support!
More recently, the story of Dr. Marvin and Danby Meital who, with Shavei Israel’s help, organized the first public Passover Seder on the island of Madeira, Portugal, in 500 years, was picked up across the Jewish press and led to an increase in participation at the Seder of some 50 percent. We are proud to have brought it to you here first!
Bnei Menashe
The biggest story in the last three years for the Bnei Menashe was clearly the resumption of their aliyah from India at the end of 2012. This too was the result of Shavei Israel’s sustained lobbying of the Israeli government. Beginning in December of last year, 274 Bnei Menashe immigrated to Israel and are now all living in their own apartments in the cities of Migdal HaEmek and Acre. There have even been 3 new Sabras born since the aliyah took place.
Along the way, we ran a series of profiles of Bnei Menashe families and individuals who were coming – some as interviews, some in their own words, and even some videos. For some representative examples, revisit our profiles of David Gangte, Reuven Zou and Mordechai Baite.
You also told us that you enjoyed reading about Yonatan Haokip – he actually came to Israel several years ago, but joined the rest of the community making aliyah at the Givat Haviva absorption center. He is working on a project to translate all of the Psalms into the Bnei Menashe languages of Kuki and Mizo.
Closer to home, we were all filled with tremendous pride when our own Tzvi Khaute, Shavei Israel’s Coordinator for the Bnei Menashe, saw the results of years of labor with the publication of the first ever siddur for the Bnei Menashe.
Hidden Jews of Poland
It’s been an exciting period for the Hidden Jews of Poland. We now have two emissaries working in Poland – Rabbis Boaz Pash and Yehoshua Ellis – both of who have supplied us with hundreds of photos from events, from Krakow to Katowice. Our most viewed content from Poland, accordingly, was photos. Two galleries in particular stand out – both from Shavei Israel seminars, one on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day that took place in Oscwiecim (Auschwitz) and the second from our Shabbaton in Lodz.
We also brought to you several moving profiles, including Daniela Malec and Krzysztof Sadowski, and we produced a video of two of the participants talking about their experiences from our summer seminar in Israel last year.
Kaifeng Jews
We were very fortunate that in the last year we had several students and Shavei Israel representatives visit the Jewish community in Kaifeng. This provided us with a unique, first hand look into Chinese Jewish life, which we reported on in several stories, such as this one about Eran Barzilay, who will be working with the Kaifeng Jews on Shavei Israel’s behalf, and another story filed by Hebrew University student Shulamit Gershovich, who lived in Kaifeng as well, teaching Hebrew and Judaism classes and leading activities for the community.
In Israel, we followed the journeys of the 7 Chinese men whose aliyah and return to Judaism were facilitated by Shavei Israel – from their initial arrival at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in 2009 to their final plunge in the mikve (ritual bath) earlier this year.
We also shared with you both a written and video profile of Yecholia (Jin Jin), an eloquent young Chinese Jewish woman now living in Israel and working as a tour guide.
Subbotnik Jews
In 2010, Shavei Israel appointed Rabbi Zelig Avrasin to be the emissary to the Subbotnik Jews of southern Russia. Since then, Rabbi Avrasin has had plenty to report through the “Roots” newsletter. Two of the more noteworthy stories we brought to you: the annual clean up of Vysoky’s Jewish cemetery and the wedding of Fania and Shmuel Bograshov, at which Rabbi Avrasin presided.
If you have ideas for stories you’d like to see in an upcoming issue of “Roots,” we would love to hear from you. Drop us a line by visiting our Contact page on the Shavei Israel website or send an email by clicking here.