Rabbi Eldad Villegas grew up in the city of Bello, Colombia believing he was Christian. By 19 years of age, he was the pastor of a church with 3,000 members. But something didn’t feel right. Were there Jewish roots in his past? After a trip...
Yishai Tzur is Shavei Israel's new emissary to the Zion Torah Center, a community of 1,500 Torah-observant Christians in Erode, India. Nearly the entire Tzur clan (7 in all) is now in India - including Yishai's wife Tamar, an Israeli gynecologist who will be learning...
Shavei Israel’s director of marketing Laura Ben-David has been on the road for the last two weeks, talking up Shavei Israel’s activities to Jewish communities across the United States. Her speaking engagements took her from New Jersey and Philadelphia to Los Angeles and San Diego,...
In 2009, Shavei Israel received permission to bring seven young Jewish men from Kaifeng, China, to Israel. We are excited to announce today that five more Chinese Jews will soon be on their way to Israel. This time, the opportunity has been reserved for five...
The Jewish community of the Polish city of Lodz received its first new Torah scroll since World War II, its rabbi said. The scroll, donated to the community by British Jewish philanthropists was introduced during a special ceremony in the city’s synagogue, the rabbi of...
The remarkable tale of India's Zion Torah Center, a formerly Christian community of 1,500 in the city of Erode who today practice a form of Orthodox Judaism, complete with a synagogue, Torah scroll, Shabbat, kashrut, brit milah and a pastor turned rabbi. This story appeared...
It’s not every day that Shavei Israel hires a rocket scientist. But our newest emissary, Rabbi Avraham Israel Latapiat, has a resume that could take him to the moon. For now, though, he will be serving a more terrestrial community: the Bnei Anousim of Santiago,...
Tuvia Gering had never been to China. Growing up, he never met anyone from China. He wasn’t even a particular fan of Chinese food. But beginning in his last year of high school, Gering became fascinated with the Chinese language. Using just video lessons he...
The last group of Bnei Menashe to make aliyah left the Kfar Hasidim absorption center just before the Jewish holidays and, with Shavei Israel's assistance, moved into their new homes in Kiryat Shemona in the northern Galilee. Israel's Channel 1 news sent correspondent Ruby Hammerschlag...
It has been nearly two years since Batya Wieczorek made aliyah, but regardless of whom she meets, her interlocutor’s initial reaction upon learning that she is from Poland inevitably follows a similar pattern. It starts off with a healthy dose of surprise, peppered by disbelief,...
