Source: Syracuse.com, 5-13-13
Shavuot, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jews, starts on Tuesday evening and ends on Thursday evening….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 13, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/jbuzz-news-may-13-2013-shavuot-jewish-holiday-celebrating-the-torah-starts-on-tuesday-evening/
Source: Arutz Sheva, 5-13-13
“First fruits” had to be one of the seven species that the Bible lists as Israel’s best crops – wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates and each year’s “first fruits” would be brought to the Temple from the holiday of Shavuot….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 12, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/jbuzz-news-may-13-2013-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-receives-first-fruits-for-shavuot-holiday/
Source: Chicago Tribune, 5-6-13
A suspected Auschwitz concentration camp guard and former Chicago resident was arrested Monday in Germany, according to a Nazi-hunting group….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 6, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/jbuzz-news-may-6-2013-suspected-auschwitz-death-camp-guard-arrested-in-germany/
Source: New York Times, Reuters, 5-5-13
Leaders of a far-right Hungarian political party accused Israelis of plotting to buy up large parts of Hungary as several hundred nationalists protested on Saturday before a meeting of the World Jewish Congress in Budapest….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 5, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/jbuzz-news-may-5-2013-nationalists-protest-world-jewish-congress-in-hungary/
Source: JTA, 5-5-13
The World Jewish Congress welcomed comments by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban condemning anti-Semitism but said he did not go far enough….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 5, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/jbuzz-news-may-5-2013-hungarys-pm-viktor-orban-comes-up-short-in-anti-semitism-message-world-jewish-congress-says/
Source: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (blog), 5-1-13
May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a commemoration first recognized by President George W. Bush in 2006. Since then, hundreds of programs have taken place nationwide annually to honor the rich contributions of Jews to American culture and society….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on May 1, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/jbuzz-news-may-1-2013-no-white-house-party-whats-a-jew-to-do-during-jewish-american-heritage-month/
Source: Indiana University, 4-30-13
Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel has presented the Provost’s Medal to Alvin Rosenfeld, a distinguished scholar of literature and Holocaust studies who established the university’s Jewish Studies program and led it for decades.
Robel presented the medal at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at IU Bloomington. Rosenfeld is the Irving M. Glazer Chair of Jewish Studies and a professor of English and Jewish studies in the College of Arts and Sciences….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 30, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/jbuzz-news-april-30-2013-alvin-rosenfeld-jewish-studies-program-founder-awarded-indiana-university-bloomington-provosts-medal/
Source: Vatican Radio, 4-30-13
Pope Francis on Tuesday received in audience at the Vatican the Israeli President Shimon Peres and held talks on a variety of issues concerning the Middle East. President Peres also met the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertoni and Archbishop Dominque Mamberti, Secretary of Relations with States.
Please find below an English translation of the official communique on the talks released afterwards by the Holy See’s Press Office:
“During the cordial talks, the political and social situation in the Middle East—where more than a few conflicts persist—was addressed. A speedy resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians is hoped for, so that, with the courageous decisions and availability of both sides as well as support from the international community, an agreement may be reached that respects the legitimate aspirations of the two Peoples, thus decisively contributing to the peace and stability of the region. Reference to the important issue of the City of Jerusalem was not overlooked. Particular worry for the conflict that plagues Syria was expressed, for which a political solution is hoped for that privileges the logic of reconciliation and dialogue.
A number of issues concerning relations between the State of Israel and the Holy See and between state authorities and the local Catholic communities were also addressed. In conclusion, the significant progress made by the Bilateral Working Commission, which is preparing an agreement regarding issues of common interest, was appreciated and its rapid conclusion is foreseen.”
Following Tuesday’s meeting between Pope Francis and President Peres, Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Zion Evrony spoke to Vatican Radio’s Susy Hodges about their talks and in particular about the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Syrian conflict and the long-standing bilateral talks between Israel and the Holy See on tax and economic issues.
Listen to the extended interview with Ambassador Evrony by Susy Hodges: 
Ambassador Evrony says Israel “really hopes” for an early resumption of the stalled peace process between the Jewish state and the Palestinians. “There’s nothing that that the people of Israel want more than peace … peace with our Palestinian neighbours is one of our main goals,” he says.
Ambassador Evrony also talks about Israel’s concerns over the Syrian conflict, saying the crisis there “is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis.” “It is tragic,” he continues, “to see the bloodshed and human suffering and see a brutal dictator massacre his own people.” The Israeli Ambassador also spoke of his country’s concern about the issue of chemical weapons in Syria and said he is worried that “these chemical weapons could end up in the wrong hands.”
Turning to the question of the bilateral discussions between Israel and the Holy See over various economic and tax issues, Ambassador Evrony said “there was reason to be optimistic” concerning these long-standing issues although he added “there is still some work to be done” before a final conclusion can be reached.
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 30, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/jbuzz-news-april-30-2013-pope-francis-and-israeli-president-shimon-peres-hopes-for-resumption-of-peace-talks/
Source: JTA, 4-29-13
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York jointly bought a medieval religious text by Rabbi Moshe Maimonides….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 29, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/jbuzz-news-april-29-2013-israel-museum-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-buy-maimonides-medieval-jewish-manuscript/
Source: Jweekly.com, 4-25-13
“This was a world in color,” said Jewish studies professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, speaking of the 1,000-year Jewish presence in Poland, “and not the black and white we know from photographs.” She made her point last week in Warsaw….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 25, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/jbuzz-news-april-25-2013-first-look-inside-luminous-museum-of-the-history-of-polish-jews/
Source: Indiana University, 4-15-13
A special concert featuring world-renowned pianist Menahem Pressler and Friends will highlight the 40th anniversary celebration of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University Bloomington….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 15, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/jbuzz-news-april-15-2013-borns-jewish-studies-program-at-indiana-university-marks-40th-anniversary/
Source: JWeekly, 4-11-13
U.C. Berkeley has a large Jewish student body, and no lack of Jewish faculty members. But the university offers no undergraduate major in Jewish studies, an indication of the limited opportunities for advanced study and research in the field. While other high-level ethnic studies programs have flourished at the school — students can major in Asian American studies, Native American studies or Chicano/Latino studies, for example — the field of Jewish studies has lagged behind.
That changed two years ago with the founding of the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israeli Law, Economy and Society — an interdisciplinary institute created to expand offerings and elevate the level of Jewish and Israeli studies on campus….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 11, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/jbuzz-news-april-11-2013-university-of-california-berkeley-filling-an-appetite-for-jewish-learning/
Source: News@Northeastern, 4-9-13
At the Northeastern Holocaust Commemoration, Bernard A. Stotsky Professor Laurel Leff (right) explained that American universities had one of the few lifelines to extend to refugees fleeing Europe to escape Nazi persecutions, but they didn’t do enough. Photos by Brooks Canaday.
During the 1930s and early 1940s, faculty positions offered by American universities served as one of the few lifelines for hundreds of thousands of scholars trying to flee war-torn Europe to escape persecution. Yet far too often, the universities didn’t do enough to save these refugees and even offered chillingly dismissive reasons for not doing so, according to Laurel Leff, associate professor in the School of Journalism and the Bernard A. Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 9, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/jbuzz-news-april-9-2013-laurel-leff-how-and-why-some-jewish-scholars-were-left-behind/
Source: Jerusalem Post, 4-8-13
“They (Jews persecuted in the Holocaust) live within us, we live with what happened to them,” he continued. Moving on to what Peres described as the “peak” he said, “In a short time, in three years the greatest miracle occurred….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 8, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/jbuzz-news-april-8-2013-holocaust-marked-at-auschwitz-march-of-living/
Source: Ynetnews, 4-5-13
Entitled “uprising and rebellion in the Holocaust” and on the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Sunday evening will open Holocaust Remembrance Day activities and the main ceremony at the Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad VaShem….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 5, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/jbuzz-news-april-5-2013-6-survivors-to-represent-6-million-at-yad-vashem-holocaust-rememberance-day-yom-hashoah-ceremony/
Source: JPost, 4-2-13
March of the Living in Polish cemetery Photo: Yossi Zeilger
Eleven thousand young people will take part in this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day activities at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland under the auspices of the March of the Living program.
The participants, who are mostly Jewish, hail from over 50 countries, including Morocco, Turkey, France, the United States and Canada, said march spokesman Yoram Dori.
Among those participating in this year’s remembrances at the death camp will be IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, former chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder and Zvi Ravner, Israel’s Ambassador to Poland….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 2, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/jbuzz-news-april-2-2013-11000-youths-to-attend-march-of-the-living-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/
Source: JTA, 4-2-13
The government of Belarus said it will renovate one of the country’s oldest synagogues and turn it into a Jewish museum….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on April 2, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/jbuzz-news-april-2-2013-belarus-to-build-jewish-museum-inside-old-synagogue/
Source: JTA, 3-31-13
The 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in the Syrian capital of Damascus was looted and burned to the ground. ….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 31, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/jbuzz-news-march-31-2013-historic-jobar-synagogue-in-damascus-was-looted-and-burned/
Source: International Business Times, 3-28-13
However, a leading expert on demography warns that overall the world’s Jewish population is declining. “In the world today there are 13,800,000 Jews,” Professor Sergio Della Pergola of Hebrew University in Jerusalem told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 28, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jbuzz-news-march-28-2013-israel-supplants-us-as-worlds-largest-jewish-population-center-passing-symbolic-6-million-figure/
In one week, Riccardo Di Segni prepares for Passover and a new pope.
On the week before Passover, Rabbi Di Segni was busier than ever. A new pope had been elected and members of the news media flocked to the historic Great Synagogue to interview the 63-year-old religious leader.
With the clock ticking on the arrival of Passover, the rabbi attended the installation and shared some words with the new pope. “I blessed him for success and told him that we are interested to meet, the Jewish community and him, in a way that would be useful.”…READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 28, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jbuzz-news-march-28-2013-romes-chief-rabbi-riccardo-di-segni-in-the-spotlight-over-relations-with-new-pope-francis/
Israel becomes world’s largest Jewish center, with six million Jews; United States in second place, France third. ‘World’s Jews on decline,’ expert says
Source: Ynetnews, 3-28-13
Israel’s population has crossed the eight million threshold over Passover, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday. With six million Jews, Israel has become the world’s largest Jewish center.
The remainder of the population is comprised of 1.6 million Arabs, 350,000 non-Arab Christians and others, mostly olim or relatives of olim from the former USSR, whose religion is not listed in the Interior Ministry‘s census.
At the start of 2012, Israel was home to 7.836 million people, after a growth of 1.8% from 2011….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 28, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jbuzz-news-march-28-2013-israels-jewish-population-passes-6-million-mark/
Filmed by Akiva Novik
The traditional Birkat Kohanim mass priestly blessing took place Thursday morning at the Kotel. The event beganwith the shachrit morning service at 8:15 AM, with the first blessing taking place at approximately 9:00, and the second one, for the musaf service, at approximately 10:00….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 28, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jbuzz-news-march-28-2013-huge-crowds-at-birkat-kohanim-at-the-kotel/
Source: NYT, 3-26-13
via Yad Vashem
Rabbi Herschel Schacter leading the Shavuot prayer service for survivors in the Buchenwald camp in Germany in 1945.More Photos »
The smoke was still rising as Rabbi Herschel Schacter rode through the gates of Buchenwald.
Rabbi Herschel Schacter in 1999.
It was April 11, 1945, and Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army had liberated the concentration camp scarcely an hour before. Rabbi Schacter, who was attached to the Third Army’s VIII Corps, was the first Jewish chaplain to enter in its wake.
That morning, after learning that Patton’s forward tanks had arrived at the camp, Rabbi Schacter, who died in the Riverdale section of the Bronx on Thursday at 95 after a career as one of the most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States, commandeered a jeep and driver. He left headquarters and sped toward Buchenwald….READ MORE
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 27, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/jbuzz-news-march-27-2013-rabbi-herschel-schacter-dead-at-95-cried-to-the-jews-of-buchenwald-you-are-free/
Source: AP, 3-26-13
President Barack Obama marked Monday night’s start of Passover with a private Seder at the White House.
Obama started the tradition as a presidential candidate in 2008 when he joined Jewish staffers celebrating on the campaign trail. He’s continued it every year since with a small group of aides and friends. He told Israelis during a visit last week he wanted the tradition at the White House so his daughters could experience it.
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 27, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/jbuzz-news-march-26-2013-president-barack-obama-hosts-white-house-seder-dinner-on-first-night-of-passover/
Source: WH, 3-25-13
As we prepare for our fifth Seder in the White House, Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Passover here in America, in the State of Israel, and around the world.
Tonight, Jewish families will gather with family and friends to celebrate with songs, wine, and food. They will read from the Haggadah, and retell the story that makes this holiday so powerful.
Last week, I visited the state of Israel for the third time, my first as President. I reaffirmed our countries’ unbreakable bonds with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres. I had the chance to speak directly with young Israelis about the future they wanted for their country, their region, and the world. And I saw once again how the dream of true freedom found its full expression in those words of hope from Hatikvah, lihyot ‘am chofshi be’artzeinu, “To be a free people in our land.”
Passover is a celebration of the freedom our ancestors dreamed of, fought for, and ultimately won. But even as we give thanks, we are called to look to the future. We are reminded that responsibility does not end when we reach the promised land, it only begins. As my family and I prepare to once again take part in this ancient and powerful tradition, I am hopeful that we can draw upon the best in ourselves to find the promise in the days that lie ahead, meet the challenges that will come, and continuing the hard work of repairing the world. Chag sameach.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a Passover Seder Dinner for family, staff and friends, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, March 25, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Posted by bonniekgoodman on March 25, 2013
http://jbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/full-text-jbuzz-news-march-25-2013-us-president-barack-obamas-passover-message/
Photographs
