As the banquet hall in San Salvador filled up, it was not clear who was more excited – the 250 Bnei Anousim who had come from all over El Salvador to celebrate Shabbat together, or their guest speakers for the weekend, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael...
Some 300 El Salvadorian descendants of Spanish conversos observe the laws of Judaism and dream of living in Israel. "I wanted to connect with the Creator and I found the Jewish commandments the best way to do that," says a community leader. The newspaper Israel...
"I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m Jewish. I need proof. I need your help. I’m begging you. Please point me in the right direction.” Genie Milgrom receives hundreds of emails like this one every year. Milgrom, president of the Society...
Two weeks ago, we shared with you a video of a group of American students on the Kivunim gap year program who visited the infamous Steri Palace in Palermo. Shavei Israel’s emissary Rabbi Pinhas Punturello made the visit happen and shot the video of the...
The New Jersey News reports on two couples who last year participated in a 15-day Jewish Heritage Tour of Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar. One of the participants presents her account of their introduction to the fascinating story of the Crypto Jews of Portugal. The group...
Kivunim is a gap year program that brings pre-college American Jews to Jewish communities around the world to learn about their roots. The latest Kivunim cohort found themselves recently in Palermo where they met with Shavei Israel’s emissary to the Bnei Anousim in Sicily and...
A “Seder Amenim” is an ancient tradition where Jewish women come together for a festive meal in order to recite in unison five “Amen’s” following the blessings for the five main food categories. Women from the Bnei Menashe community in India have been observing the...
The El Salvador Bnei Anousim community is holding a seminar this weekend. Filled with classes, prayer, singing and shared meals, the Shabbaton will feature as guest speakers Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund and Shavei’s Educational Director Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum. But perhaps the highlight of the...
JTA reports on the 2013 Portuguese law granting citizenship to the descendants of Sephardim, Jews who once lived in the Iberian Peninsula. The article profiles a woman who claims to be a descendent of Joseph Karo, the 16th century Spanish rabbi who authored one of...
The Bnei Anousim community in Belmonte, Portugal has a new Hebrew teacher. Penina Amid, who taught Hebrew in the Israeli school system for most of her career and is now retired, is volunteering her time in Belmonte during March as part of an annual project...
