Category: NEWS

On New Year's Eve 1941, members of the Jewish ‘Dror’ underground in Vilna gathered in Anton Schmid’s apartment. What is so noteworthy about this particular meeting? Schmid was a German Army Corporal who was risking his life to help save Jews in the ghetto. To express their gratitude to Schmid, these Jewish young people told him that after the war they would invite him to the Land of Israel and give him a golden Star of David. "I will wear it with pride," Schmid replied. Unfortunately, none of those present at the meeting lived to see that day. Soon after, Anton Schmid was caught and executed; most, if not all of the Jews present at the meeting were killed in the Holocaust. The promise made to Anton Schmid, however, was not forgotten. It was described in a report by Lonka Koziebrodzka, a courier of the Zionist underground, who wrote a detailed account about the brave soldier and his rescue efforts. The report was added to...

This Remarkable Woman Made the First Israeli Flag in Jerusalem By Frieda R. F. Horwitz 28.12.2021 “I have waited my entire lifetime to see the rebirth of a Jewish state. I do not intend to miss it." Photo from the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at the National Library of Israel     Passionate, adventurous, attractive, well-educated, a cosmopolitan world traveller and a gifted organizer, Rebecca Affachiner led an unusual life in the early 20th century, as a single religiously observant Jewish woman who held many professional firsts, as a woman without children who was deeply involved in the life of children of all ages, and as a woman who travelled globally without a chaperone or companion. Rebecca was born in Nesvizh (in present-day Belarus) in 1884 to the Sephardic Affachiner family who had lived there since the early 19th century. Children stand outside the Great Synagogue in Nesvizh, early 20th century. From the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, part...

  Simon Wiesenthal, born December 31, 1908. - Rabbi Marvin Hier reflecting on Simon Wiesenthal’s birthday. “One day Simon called and said that he would like to celebrate his 90th birthday with a few friends in Vienna. I asked him where he would like to celebrate. He said, ‘I have one unfulfilled wish, to have a party at the Imperial Hotel.’ He told me that it was Hitler’s favourite hotel and that both Hitler and Himmler had permanent suites there. They built enormous bunkers beneath the hotel, which still exist today, because Hitler thought that this would serve as an ideal headquarters from where he could conduct the Second World War. During the Third Reich, it would have been unthinkable, Simon said, for a Jew to be seen at the Imperial Hotel. ‘And I want to make sure,’ he said, ‘that all the taboos of the Third Reich are broken and that the record of this hotel would affirm that Simon Wiesenthal celebrated his 90th...

Staff Problems? By Peter Beyfus I am sure there are few people who have not seen, at least once, Cecil B DeMille’s 1956 epic The Ten Commandments; and that film, perhaps more than any other pictorial influence from the Renaissance to the present day, has left in the viewer’s mind an indelible image of Moses, staff in hand, leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. It is the role of Moses’ staff in the Exodus that I wish to explore in this article, and which features among the so-called wonders in this week’s  parasha Vaera, meaning I appeared; and the G-d who speaks to Moses cites His earlier manifestations to the Patriarchs, thus continuing the unbroken history of divine revelation to the Jewish people. When Moses first encountered G-d on Mount Sinai he was told that he was to return to Egypt. Moses, the fugitive, was understandably bewildered that the voice emanating from the “Burning Bush” should ask him to go back...

The Inspiring Story Of Corrie Ten Boom, The Dutch Watchmaker Who Saved 800 Jews From The Holocaust By Kaleena Fraga | Checked By Jaclyn Anglis December 7, 2021 From 1940 to 1944, Corrie ten Boom and her family used their home in the Netherlands as a hiding place for Jews who were fleeing the Nazis. The watchmakers had a secret. In their home above the family shop on Barteljorisstraat in the Dutch city of Haarlem, they had built a safe room. There, Corrie ten Boom, her sister, and their father would save the lives of some 800 Jews fleeing the Nazis. The ten Boom family joined the Dutch resistance after Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Guided by their religious beliefs, they quietly funnelled desperate Jewish refugees to safety. But in 1944, an informer would send the Nazis straight to their door. Corrie ten Boom Huis/FacebookCorrie ten Boom, standing, and her family. Corrie ten Boom survived her time in concentration camps — barely — after her father and sister died. Once...

In the year 2021, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in France , and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans." He gave Noah the plans, saying, "You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights." Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah sweeping in his yard - but no Ark. "Noah!" He roared , "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark ?" "Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system in the ark. My neighbours claim that I've violated the neighbourhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had...

Laughter is the best medicine Peter Beyfus The BBC today reported Maureen Lipman’s astute comment regarding the impact of ‘Cancel Culture’ on our liberal democracy, highlighting the danger of the drip drip erosion of personal freedom that we have witnessed since the rise of wokism and Critical Race Theory. She is rightly concerned that comedy will no longer be a foil for showing up the ridiculous antics of humanity, and that comedians/ comediennes, must not forget gender equality, will be intimidated to tone down their material for fear of offending one or other minority group. Dave Chappelle has also been criticised for daring to poke fun at trans-gender issues, and Terry Gilliam has had his show at the Old Vic cancelled for supporting Chappelle: joking about woke will not do!   No one would advocate using offensive language to raise a laugh, but our society has seemingly become over-sensitive on a whole range of issues. Some entertainers are frightened that a joke may upset...

The Midrash recounts that Adam, experiencing mankind’s first winter, was struck with fear that the ever-decreasing number of hours of daylight he was experiencing represented God’s utter disappointment with his sin in the Garden of Eden. He feared that the world was slowly and inexorably reverting to its state of primeval, pre-creation "tohu vavohu" – chaos and void. Adam, it is said, prayed for forgiveness and daylight lengthened once again. Since time immemorial, humankind has marked this moment of switch – the winter solstice that falls today in the Northern Hemisphere, Tuesday December 21st. It is close to this time of year that Jews celebrate Chanukah [unusually early this year], lighting candles for eight days. We don’t wind down from eight to one as one Rabbinical opinion held – to represent the smaller and smaller amounts of oil left in that single, undefiled cruse found by the Hasmoneans in the Temple. On the contrary, we light one more candle each day in an...

Gustav and Alma: For the Love of Music By Peter Beyfus Mahler, like all people of genius, was a complex being, often embattled with his personal demons and those of an increasingly antisemitic Viennese society. In the latter part of the nineteenth century it was difficult for Jews to be accepted into professions, not least into the well-established music fraternity. Mahler,  as with many other able Jews,  took the decision to covert to Christianity to overcome exclusion from artistic life. However, even though conversion appeared to remove a religious barrier to societal acceptance, underlying prejudice still existed; and this was something that Herzl, a contemporary of Mahler, realised was endemic in Austrian society and could not be easily eradicated. This essay will focus on the composer’s troubled relationship with Alma, a marriage that highlights the personality differences in the two characters.   Gustav Mahler composed his Fifth Symphony during the summers of 1901 and 1902. One is struck by the haunting, penetrating bars of...

Dear Friend, We are arranging the distribution of The Really Jewish Food Guide 2022.  We are offering you the opportunity to be a distributor yourself or to purchase guides for your organisation. If you would like to order any copies, at a discounted shul/community rate of £7.95 (P&P not included) please let us know. (RRP £9.95) We are also offering communities the A4 and A3 Bug Checking Guide Charts at RRP £2.95. Bug list Our distributor in the North, including Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Gateshead, is Judaica World, Tel: 0161 773 4956.   Many thanks,   Best regards,   Dalia Bloch Food Technology Researcher Kashrut Division London Beth Din Tel: 0208 343 6332...