Author:

New phenomenon sweeps Portugal: Descendants of Marranos rediscover their Jewish roots and the Jewish faith. One Porto community undergoes mass conversion Yosef Pero Philip is professor psychiatry at the University of Porto. Arieh Ben Avraham is a renowned film director. Yosef Eduardo Albas is a soccer player in Portugal’s Second Division. All three men have recently converted to Judaism, observe the mitzvoth, and are distinctly proud of their Jewish heritage.   

Slowly but energetically, the circle of worshipers made its way around the interior of Krakow's Kupa synagogue, their voices rising ever more forcefully in song and prayer. ...

Well, we can all rest easy now. Sure, Iran is still threatening to incinerate the Jewish state, Syria is actively trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and Palestinian terrorists continue to fire rockets into southern Israel on a near-daily basis. But have no fear! The Israeli government, at its weekly cabinet session on October 14, decided to devote precious time and energy to protecting us all from a far graver threat to the future of Israel: increased aliya from abroad. That's right. You read that correctly.
For the past five years, Jin Wen-Jing and her parents, Jin Guang Yuan and Zhang Jin Ling - "Shlomo" and "Dina," as they are called in Hebrew - have lived in Jerusalem. The daughter, whose name means "tranquillity" in Chinese, and is known by that name ("Shalva") at the boarding school in the north that she attended after arriving in Israel, is the prism through which the parents see the country. She is their interpreter and spokesperson, and she guides them through the subtleties of Israeli culture and the labyrinths of the civil bureaucracy and the rabbinical establishment. She is 21, tall and thin, perhaps contrary to the stereotype of the Chinese as being short of stature. "My grandfather always wanted to come here, to Israel," she says, "and we also always wanted to live among Jews. We were not afraid that we would have a hard time."
Descendents of Polish Jews are returning and adopting their faith. The Jewish spark returns and rekindles itself precisely in the land that is often considered to be the most cursed of all.   The Jewish community in Wroclaw is one of the oldest Jewish communities in Poland and Germany. Its history begins in the 13th century. Indeed, a tombstone from 1205 was found in the Jewish cemetery.
A peasant from a village in southern Italy had a revelation, which led to the conversion of a band of his followers and their making Aliya to Israel. The women, who did not convert, keep the tradition for over five generations. San Nicandro, Italy Southern Italy is a beautiful region. Beautiful landscapes, simple agriculture and kindly villagers all create a pleasant and pastoral atmosphere for any guest coming for a stay. This week, I wish to describe the more interesting and powerful experiences I had during my travels among the far-flung Jewish communities around the world. This description is about what happened around the town of San Nicandro, which today has some 15 thousand inhabitants. It is located on the spur of Italy’s famous “boot,” not far from the city of Fuja. The story of the San Nicandro converts is a unique one. It constitutes a symbol and example of not only observing Judaism but also mainly its transmission from one generation to the next under uncertain conditions and even in “mixed” families.
EN ROUTE TO ISRAEL: For Arbi Khiangte, Monday evening's regularly scheduled El Al flight out of Bombay was far more than just an eight-hour long trek across the ocean. Born and raised in the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, which straddles Burma and Bangladesh, the striking 21-year-old is a member of the Bnei Menashe, a group that traces its ancestry back to a lost tribe of Israel.
Group in India believes it´s descended from patriarch Joseph    WorldNetDaily JERUSALEM – Hundreds of Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel has been granted permission to immigrate here next month, fulfilling for many of them a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency TEL AVIV, Sept. 26 (JTA) — A group of 218 people from a remote mountainous corner of northeastern India who claim descent from one of the lost biblical tribes will be immigrating to Israel as recognized Jews for the first time. The aliyah of members from the Bnei Menashe community to Israel is a turning point, said Michael Freund, founder of Shavei Israel which assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.
Show more
Loading...