More than fifty guests from across Italy descended on Palermo, the picturesque capital of the southern island of Sicily, this past weekend for a Shabbaton organized by Shavei Israel. “It was very emotional,” Rabbi Punturello recalls. “So many people shared that without Shavei Israel, the...
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund is not the only staff member to be traveling overseas to talk all things Shavei in December. While Michael is heading to the U.K. to speak at Limmud U.K., Shavei Israel’s director of marketing Laura Ben-David is heading even further west...
The timing wasn’t intentional but there is a certain prescience to the fact that on the very day of this week’s contentious U.S. elections, Israel celebrated its first ever “Aliyah Day,” emphasizing unity and a shared sense of purpose. The brand new holiday on the Israeli...
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund has been confirmed as a presenter at December’s Limmud conference, to take place in Birmingham in the United Kingdom. Now taking place in 40 communities worldwide, from Melbourne to Moscow, Limmud started in the U.K., which remains the largest of Limmud’s network...
How were your holidays? For the Bnei Anousim celebrating in Spain, Portugal and South America, the Jewish holidays were a time of reflection, inspiration, joy and rediscovery. The High Holy Day period is now over (and the rain we prayed for has already begun to fall here in...
Less than a month before Rachel Souza Lima was scheduled to arrive in Israel on the final leg of her years-long journey to Judaism, war broke out with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. She had never been to Israel before and she was worried for...
Over the summer, Shavei Israel launched a partnership with Josh Halickman, better known as “The Sports Rabbi” and the new head of Israel’s leading soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv’s charitable organization, to enable young Bnei Menashe immigrants to meet, greet and participate on the field with some...
It’s no secret the Bnei Menashe love soccer. It’s been a regular pastime for the community in India, and immigrants who have come to Israel have kept up the tradition, holding an annual soccer tournament every year during the intermediary days of Sukkot. Rabbi Gurion Sela,...
The tractate of Sukkot in the Mishna states that, “He who has not seen the rejoicing of at the place of the water drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life.” The Mishna is referring to the custom called Simchat Beit HaShoeva, when tens of thousand of...
The Bnei Menashe community of Upper Nazareth welcomed the New Year with a pre-Rosh Hashana party in the town's community center. Dozens of Bnei Menahse newcomers, together with members of the local Garin Torani which has been supporting the Bnei Menashe since their arrival, joined with Upper...
