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,...
What do the great synagogues of Jerusalem, Florence, Paris, Tbilisi, Prague, Moscow and Tel Aviv all have in common? They feature prominently in this year’s Shavei Israel calendar for the Subbotnik Jewish community. ...
What will the Jewish future look like in 50 years? Commentary Magazine asked 70 Jewish leaders to tackle this weighty subject. Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund was one of those writers. Freund’s piece appeared in the October 14, 2015 issue of Commentary. In it, he...
In 1827, Czar Nicholas I of Russia published a harsh “Recruitment Decree” which required the 25-year conscription of Jewish boys between the ages of 12 and 25. These children were taken away from their families and became known as cantonists, and for the next 29...
Gan Matanel is now open! The first Jewish school in the Polish city of Lodz since 1968 is up and running with eight happy pre-schoolers and kindergarteners attending each morning. The school is co-sponsored by Shavei Israel and run by our emissary Miriam Szychowski who...
This week marks the anniversary of the death of one of the greatest Jewish figures of the past five centuries, a man whose scholarship and public service were so breathtaking in scope that despite the passage of many generations, he continues to stand out in...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, during a session of Knesset on October 14, 2015. During his speech welcoming Mukherjee to Israel, Netanyahu’s emphasized the strong ties between the two countries by citing the Bnei Menashe immigrants who have moved from...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, during a session of Knesset on October 14, 2015. During his speech welcoming Mukherjee to Israel, Netanyahu's emphasized the strong ties between the two countries by citing the Bnei Menashe immigrants who have moved from...
Dr. Velvl Chernin, Shavei Israel’s coordinator for the Subbotnik Jewish community, visited Siberia this summer. In particular, the town of Zima, in southeastern Siberia in a region known as Irkutsk. Of Irkutsk’s 30,000 residents, it is believed that at least ten percent of them are...
Their numbers may be small, but their motivation is great. That was one of the conclusions from Shavei Israel’s most recent outreach mission to Ukraine to learn more about the Subbotnik Jewish community there. Eldad Fedorchuk traveled to the Ukrainian town of Krivoy Rog, in...
