Colombian-born Rabbi Asher Abarbanel, our much-loved representative in Cali, Colombia, and his wife Margalit, had something special to celebrate with the community he serves: the brit milah of his first-born son. Rabbi Asher was thrilled to announce the good news, and the brit was celebrated...
Rav Shimon Yehoshua serves the Bnei Anousim (descendants of the forced Jewish converts of the Spanish Inquisition) communities and conversion candidates in Colombia. Rabbi Shimon was born in Argentina and received his rabbinic ordination in Jerusalem at the Beit Hamidrash Hasefaradí. He is a graduate...
The story of the Katz family characterizes the history of Vissoky Jews and the way in which their community was involved in the lives of the other neighboring Jews in the area. [caption id="attachment_171995" align="alignleft" width="285"] Yevgeny & Svetlana at a Voronezh synagogue [/caption] In the Great Synagogue...
The Bnei Sefarad community in Cuba is an emerging Jewish community that consists of descendants of Sephardic and Portuguese 'Anousim' (those who were forcibly converted in the time of the Inquisition) and have gone through a deep process of reconnecting with the Jewish roots of...
Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's national Independence Day commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. The day is marked by official and unofficial ceremonies and observances throughout Israel and the Jewish world. Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day is always...
Like in previous years, this Passover our communities all over the world enjoyed the holiday. Eating matza and other special foods, gathering for the seder, taking day trips and having family time. Now Pesach is over – the matzah is finished, the special Passover dishes put...
Samuel Devasahayam was the founder of the Zion Torah Center in Erode, India. He was a courageous, G-d-fearing man, who left a huge hole in a community when he tragically passed away in 2018. His family has continued with the legacy he left, on their...
It was a very special Chanukah in the emerging Jewish community of Shmaya v'Avtalyon in Armenia, El Salvador, a city not far from the capital, San Salvador. Beginning with the bar mitzvah of Ariel Guevara, on the first night of Chanukah, where literally lighting the Chanukah...
This year, as always, we were inundated with photos and videos of light and celebration from our communities around the world as they celebrated the holiday of Chanukah. Some highlights from this year are the many photos we received from emerging communities in Latin America, and...
Shavei Israel reaches out to Lost and Hidden Jews, and helps emerging Jewish communities around the world. One such emerging Jewish community is a very special community in Honduras known as Derech HaChaim (“Way of Life” in Hebrew). For the past five years, Shavei Israel has...
