Rabbi Avi Baumol, Shvavei's emissary to Krakow, Poland, has had a busy few months. He visited Bulgaria for a conference of European rabbis and is training for a fundraising bike trip from the Auschwitz concentration camp to the Krakow JCC. Perhaps the most personal: a...
Three remarkable young Jewish women from Poland recently visited Israel on a trip sponsored by Shavei Israel. Kinga’s mother had the unusual custom of saying "Gut Shabbos" every Friday night, but she had no idea what the phrase meant. Olga didn't know she was Jewish...
How did the communities that Shavei Israel supports celebrate Passover this year? Last week, we told you about the historic, first-ever community Pesach Seder being held in Kaifeng, China. Here’s a look at what’s happening with our emissaries in Poland, and with the Bnei Anousim...
Shavei Israel has started offering Hebrew classes over the Internet for the “Hidden Jews” of Poland. The Hebrew classes, like our recently opened mini-yeshiva, are taught by Rabbi Yitzhak Rapoport, a former Shavei emissary to Poland who continues to work with the Polish Jewish community...
Every year, when Purim comes around, Shavei Israel communities around the world celebrate big time. The Megillah readings, outlandish costumes, extravagant parties, sumptuous kosher food, and far out festivities never cease to amaze us. And so, as we do every year, here’s a selection of...
Polish-speaking “Hidden Jews” have a new way of connecting to their heritage. Shavei Israel is launching a weekly “mini-yeshiva” to be taught entirely online by Rabbi Yitzhak Rapoport. The new online service is intended for Polish Jews not living near one of the main Shavei...
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It’s an increasingly common story among the Jews of Poland: a grandparent, lying on his or her deathbed, reveals to the grandchild a shocking secret – that the grandparent and, as a result, his or her family, is actually Jewish. The phenomenon has occurred so...
Shavei Israel's new emissary to Krakow, Rabbi Avi Baumol, has deep Polish roots. His great-grandfather, a scion of a rabbinic family which goes back tens of generations throughout Poland, was ordained with rabbinical semicha at the tender age of just 13. His grandfather received semicha...
The story of a remarkable meeting between the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Shavei Israel's emissary Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis to Poland in the old synagogue near the Auschwitz death camp where Rabbi Ellis read Torah for the world's top diplomat....
