For our final visit to the magical world of Hanukah, Shavei Israel visits two communities that began in Eastern Europe: the "Hidden Jews" of Poland and the Subbotnik Jews of Russia and Ukraine (and more recently Beit Shemesh). Have you lit your Hanukah candles yet?...
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund was interviewed on Israel's IBA News in English following his historic meeting last month with Pope Francis in Poland. You can listen to the audio here. [audio mp3="https://www.shavei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Interview-with-IBA-English-News-meeting-with-Pope.mp3"][/audio] And read Michael's account of his meeting with the pope from The Jerusalem Post...
[caption id="attachment_32927" align="alignleft" width="300"] Olga (left) studying with R. Baumol (center) in Krakow[/caption] Olga grew up in Poland as a Christian Pole with no connection to Judaism until she discovered her Jewish roots at 12 years old. From that point Olga went on a journey towards...
In 1945, when the Nazis were defeated and World War II came to a tragic close, Marcel Zielinski set out on foot from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and walked back to his hometown of Krakow. [caption id="attachment_32655" align="alignleft" width="300"] Marcel Zielinski at Auschwitz[/caption] Seventy-one years later, Zielinski...
The faces of 15 Jewish students from the Polish town of Lodz will be featured in a stunning new calendar to be released this fall. The calendar is being sponsored by Shavei Israel and the Emuna Foundation, which began working in Poland in 2016 to...
Bonfires, a visiting chief rabbi and a movie being made by Steven Spielberg’s sister: these are some of the activities that have been keeping the Jewish community of Lodz, Poland, busy in the last month. Shavei Israel’s emissaries to Lodz, Poland, Miriam and Rabbi Dawid...
On a recent whirlwind speaking tour in the U.S., every minute was accounted for and every action carefully planned out. So when I was approached, after a particular speech I gave in Southfield, Michigan, by a woman who wanted to know if I could speak...
In a small Polish town of just 11,000 people with not a single Jew, a state-of-the-art Jewish museum has been built. Millions of dollars have been invested in restoring the town’s breathtaking synagogue. And now, a 150-year-old mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) that time had nearly...
[caption id="attachment_29388" align="alignleft" width="169"] Eliza with friends in Krakow[/caption] Ever since I was a child I knew I was Jewish; I also knew I could never reveal my Jewish identity. It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century a Jew still has to hide their Jewishness,...
Shavei Israel’s first ever Purim seminar for young Jews from Poland has now wrapped up. The 14 participants had a delightful ten days in Israel…and we have the pictures to prove it. Shavei Israel’s director of marketing and new media Laura Ben David joined the group...
