In 2012, the Spanish government approved a draft bill offering citizenship to the descendants of Sephardi Jews who were exiled or compelled to embrace Catholicism as Anousim (or Marranos) during the terrible years of the Inquisition over 500 years ago. Last week, Portugal followed suit....
Who are the Subbotnik Jews? A new video produced by Shavei Israel describes the fascinating history of this special Jewish community that lives primarily in southern Russia and Siberia, along with a smaller group who have made aliyah to Israel and reside in the town...
For 8 days concluding last week, Shavei Israel communities celebrated Hanukah around the Jewish world by kindling the hanukkia together; frying (and then eating) some simply scrumptious sufganiyot and latkes; sitting together to study Hanukah-related Jewish sources with Shavei Israel’s eminent emissaries; and even competing...
Shavei Israel appeared on the new Internet radio station "Voice of Israel" twice in the last week. First, Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund gave an interview on the morning news program. Then Shavei Israel's director of marketing Laura Ben-David sat down for 20 minutes with...
Shavei Israel’s activities in Poland have been mentioned several times in the news in the past few weeks. The Times of Israel has an article about how young Polish Jews are embracing their “hip” Jewish ancestry. The Polish television station ITV has a report...
Shavei Israel has just released two new publications for the Subbotnik Jewish communities in Russia and Israel: a new Jewish calendar in Russian and a booklet about the High Holy Days, covering Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, also in Russian. The publications were put...
Dipping an apple in a bowl of honey and blowing the shofar are two of the most iconic images of the Jewish New Year. But those customs are nothing short of miraculous when they take place so far from Israel or other large Diaspora Jewish...
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund was a guest on the Yishai Fleisher radio show on September 22, 2014. Michael spoke about the activities of Shavei Israel. You can listen to the interview here:...
A dramatic new study concludes that all Ashkenazi Jews can trace their ancestry to a “bottleneck” of just 350 individuals, dating back to between 600 and 800 years ago. The study, which was conducted by several Israeli researchers, puts to rest a long standing debate...
