Category World

Waves of Jews to East Asia

photo - Shanghai's famous Bund district, where most of the buildings were built and owned by wealthy Sephardi Jewish families

Shanghai’s famous Bund district, where most of the buildings were built and owned by wealthy Sephardi Jewish families. (photo by Anthony Hartman via Wikimedia Commons) It was a long trek: 6,000 miles by boat from central Europe to East Asia.…

UNESCO finally runs “Holy Land” exhibit

Canadian participants in a meeting earlier this month with French President François Hollande came away impressed with the French leader’s sincerity and determination to address the terrorism and antisemitism that has France’s Jews on edge. Avi Benlolo, president and chief…

Palestinian prof. resigns after Auschwitz trip

The Palestinian professor who touched off a maelstrom of controversy by taking a group of students to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps in Poland is now at odds with his former employer after the school accepted his resignation. Dr. Mohammed…

Israel-EU agreement opens sky

photo - A Lufthansa Airbus A320 takes off at Berlin Tegel Airport. From legacy carriers such as Lufthansa to low-cost carriers such as Great Britain’s easyJet, new flights to and from Israel are popping up all over the grid following the EU-Israel Open Skies agreement

A Lufthansa Airbus A320 takes off at Berlin Tegel Airport. From legacy carriers such as Lufthansa to low-cost carriers such as Great Britain’s easyJet, new flights to and from Israel are popping up all over the grid following the EU-Israel…

David Katz creates plastic currency

If there’s one act of tikkun olam to which David Katz is dedicated, it’s an effort to clean up the oceans and waterways of the world by recycling and reprocessing plastic waste. The 45-year-old Port Moody, B.C.-based founder of the…

Kosher certification changes

In his book Kosher: Private Regulation in the Age of Industrial Food, American author Timothy Lytton recounts an old rabbinic joke featuring two mythical creatures created by God at the dawn of time: the Behemoth, a giant ox, and the…

PJ Library launches Lantern Library for Arab Israeli kids

photo - Children in Baka al-Gharbiyah enjoying Maktabat al-Fanoos books and working with their teacher on their storytelling skills

Children in Baka al-Gharbiyah enjoying Maktabat al-Fanoos books and working with their teacher on their storytelling skills. (photo by Akmal  Nagnagy) PJ (aka “pajama”) Library is taking the PJ concept to Israel’s Arab population, with the creation of the Lantern Library…

Critics peek under the Conference umbrella

photo - President Barack Obama meets with leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in the state dining room at the White House on March 1, 2011

President Barack Obama meets with leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in the state dining room at the White House on  March 1, 2011. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza) Since the Conference of…

Hold a newborn like a kangaroo

image - baby feet

Premature babies experience long-term benefits from skin-to-skin contact with their mothers for a short time every day. (photo from israel21c.org) A new Israeli study reveals that “kangaroo care” for premature babies has life-long effects on neurological and psychological development. Conducted…