Category World

Women’s leadership summit

photo - BC emissaries joined the Kinus Hashluchos in February

BC emissaries joined the Kinus Hashluchos in February. (photo from chabad.org) Some 4,000 Chabad-Lubavitch women emissaries and lay leaders from around the globe gathered in February in New York for the 35th annual International Conference of Chabad Women Emissaries, the…

Unique Cochin rituals

photo - Cochin Jews at the 450th year celebration of the Paradesi synagogue, December 2017

Cochin Jews at the 450th year celebration of the Paradesi synagogue, December 2017. (photo by Shalva Weil) A study on the Purim traditions of the Cochin Jewish community by Prof. Shalva Weil of Hebrew University was published in the Journal of Modern…

Unity in tough times

photo - Thousands of rabbis pose for a group photo in front of Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, on Dec. 1

Thousands of rabbis pose for a group photo in front of Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, on Dec. 1. (photo by Shmulie Grossbaum) Some 6,500 Chabad rabbis and Jewish leaders from around the globe gathered Nov. 27-Dec. 1 in Brooklyn,…

Resilience of Portugal’s Jews

King Manuel I of Portugal (1495-1521) had a problem. To marry Princess Isabella of Spain, he consented to the request of her parents – Ferdinand and Isabella – to rid Portugal of its Jews. But Manuel wanted to keep the…

Mobilizing against Jew-hatred

photo - Ysabella Hazan said phrases such as “the West is next” imply “exactly what the enemies of Israel accuse us of – being a Western outpost in the Middle East, a settled body, which is not true”

Ysabella Hazan said phrases such as “the West is next” imply “exactly what the enemies of Israel accuse us of – being a Western outpost in the Middle East, a settled body, which is not true.” (photo by Dave Gordon)…

Argentina, 30 years later

photo - Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver executive director Ezra Shanken, left, and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Pacific region vice-president Nico Slobinsky were in Buenos Aires last month

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver executive director Ezra Shanken, left, and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Pacific region vice-president Nico Slobinsky were in Buenos Aires last month. (photo from Jewish Federation) Nico Slobinsky was a 15-year-old high school student…

A picture is worth a thousand words

In the first few years of 1900, my paternal grandparents – who had been married since 1886 – came to a decision. Economic life in Pinsk was too challenging and a drastic lifestyle change was required. So, in 1905, my…

Oct. 7 heroes support Team Israel-Premier Tech

photo - Oct. 7 survivors Sharon Shabo, left, and Avida Bachar lead Team Israel-Premier Tech riders in the team’s final training session before the Tour de France started on June 29 in Florence, Italy

Oct. 7 survivors Sharon Shabo, left, and Avida Bachar lead Team Israel-Premier Tech riders in the team’s final training session before the Tour de France started on June 29 in Florence, Italy. (photo by Noa Arnon) Three injured heroes from…

Keeping Jewish history alive

photo - Janice Masur and her daughter, Liora Freedman, on March 3, after unveiling the memorial plaque in Nagoya village near Mbale, Uganda

Janice Masur and her daughter, Liora Freedman, on March 3, after unveiling the memorial plaque in Nagoya village near Mbale, Uganda. (photo from Janice Masur) I have just come back from Uganda, where my family used to live, in the…

Egypt faces many struggles

photo - Twenty years in the making, Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum is in a soft-opening period, with a section of the 81,000-square-metre site open for limited guided tours

Twenty years in the making, Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum is in a soft-opening period, with a section of the 81,000-square-metre site open for limited guided tours. (photo from Grand Egyptian Museum) In biblical times, the Patriarch Jacob led his family…