This Shavuot, you can help three brave women rejoin the Jewish people

Gila Arditi's family always kept separate sets of dishes for dairy and meat, washed their hands before eating, and circumcised their infant boys back in Colombia. But Gila never realized she was Jewish until she was a young adult.  

Italian concert pianist Miriam Sangiorgio only learned of her Jewish roots in a dramatic revelation in her father's dying days. 
Miriam Pena of Peru dreamed of seeing the desert. But when she arrived in Israel, her heart told her she was part of the Jewish people.  What all three of these brave women have in common is that they are Bnei Anousim (people whose ancestors were compelled to convert to Catholicism more than five centuries ago at the time of the Spanish Inquisition) and that they are studying to re-engage the heritage they nearly lost at Shavei Israel's Spanish-language Machon Miriam Jewish Institute for Return and Conversion in Jerusalem. 

There are approximately 1,000 people with alleged Jewish roots in Timbuktu, Mali. They arrived in the 14th century fleeing persecution in Spain, and migrated south to the Timbuktu area, at that time part of the Songhai Empire. Among them was the Kehath (Ka'ti) family, descended...

As with immigrant communities everywhere, the 1,700 Bnei Menashe who have been privileged to make aliyah to Israel are invariably in need of social services. These include help with finding a job, choosing a school for their children, learning a new language, and navigating the unfamiliar Israeli bureaucracy. While there are Israeli social workers who work with the Bnei Menashe – Jews living in northeastern India who are descended from one of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel – none come from the community itself or speak its native languages of Mizo and Kuki. That’s where Itzkhak Colney comes in. Colney is currently training to become the first Bnei Menashe social worker, thanks to a scholarship from Shavei Israel. Together with his sister Esther and a third Bnei Menashe named Sonia Manlun, Colney is studying at the Safed Academic College in Israel’s northern Galilee.

It’s taken over 300 years but, for the first time in history, a Spanish regional government has condemned the atrocities perpetrated by the Inquisition against Bnei Anousim (Jews who were compelled to convert to Catholicism and whom historians refer to by the derogatory term Marranos). This unprecedented event, which took place in the Spanish city of Palma de Mallorca last month, came as the result of a meeting earlier this year between Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund and a top aide to Frances Antich Oliver, president of Spain’s Balearic Islands. At the meeting, which was also attended by Rabbi Yossi Wallis, head of the Arachim organization, Freund asked Oliver to hold a public ceremony and express regret for the dark chapters of the past; the president acceded to the request.

[caption id="attachment_6206" align="alignright" width="270" caption="The Yu Aw synagogue in Afghanistan's Herat quarter"][/caption] In addition to the historic Jewish roots of the Pathans (Pashtuns) described elsewhere on the Shavei Israel site, there is also speculation that the Afghan Royal Family has its roots in the tribe of...

Praga, República Checa Doble Cántico al Shabat Como hemos dicho, la leyenda más famosa del Beit Hakneset Altnoishul es la leyenda del golem de Praga. De acuerdo a la leyenda el Maharal creó al golem a la orilla del río Volta, una noche de primavera...

Et desposaré amb fidelitat

La corretja dels Tfil·lín

“Et desposaré per sempre, i et desposaré amb justícia i amb judici, amb bondat i misericòrdia. Et desposaré amb fidelitat i coneixeràs el Senyor”, diu el profeta Hoixea (2:21-22), parlant en nom del Creador i referint-se a la Seva relació amb el Poble d’Israel. I és costum jueu molt antic que, quan ens fermam la corretja dels tfil·lín (filactèries) del braç fins a donar-li tres voltes al dit mitjà de la mà esquerra, es recitin aquests dos versets. En aquest acte, reafirmam el nostre compromís amb el Creador i amb Sa Torà, un compromís que consideram semblant al d’un matrimoni.

Et desposaré amb fidelitat

La corretja dels Tfil·lín

“Et desposaré per sempre, i et desposaré amb justícia i amb judici, amb bondat i misericòrdia. Et desposaré amb fidelitat i coneixeràs el Senyor”, diu el profeta Hoixea (2:21-22), parlant en nom del Creador i referint-se a la Seva relació amb el Poble d’Israel. I és costum jueu molt antic que, quan ens fermam la corretja dels tfil·lín (filactèries) del braç fins a donar-li tres voltes al dit mitjà de la mà esquerra, es recitin aquests dos versets. En aquest acte, reafirmam el nostre compromís amb el Creador i amb Sa Torà, un compromís que consideram semblant al d’un matrimoni.

Et desposaré amb fidelitat

La corretja dels Tfil·lín

“Et desposaré per sempre, i et desposaré amb justícia i amb judici, amb bondat i misericòrdia. Et desposaré amb fidelitat i coneixeràs el Senyor”, diu el profeta Hoixea (2:21-22), parlant en nom del Creador i referint-se a la Seva relació amb el Poble d’Israel. I és costum jueu molt antic que, quan ens fermam la corretja dels tfil·lín (filactèries) del braç fins a donar-li tres voltes al dit mitjà de la mà esquerra, es recitin aquests dos versets. En aquest acte, reafirmam el nostre compromís amb el Creador i amb Sa Torà, un compromís que consideram semblant al d’un matrimoni.

There have been rumors for years that one of the 10 Lost Tribes migrated the land of the rising sun. While this claim is often dismissed as being fanciful, there are nevertheless a number of interesting articles worth reading....

Rabbi Shlomo Zelig wife Rebbetzin Avrasin, came to visit  the village of Visoky where the Subbotnik Jews live. While the Rebbetzin was there she taught Hebrew to Jewish children and adults. [nggallery id=68]La esposa del enviado de Shavei Israel para los Subotniks, el Rab Shlomo Zelig Avrasin, ha realizado una visita a la aldea de Visoky y ha aprovechado la...

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