Category: World News

Teachers at Chabad’s Jewish kindergarten in Odessa, Ukraine, were shocked one morning recently to discover that a classroom window had been blown out by an explosion overnight. “It was fortuitous that there were no children in the building at the time,” one teacher said. “We benefited from a miracle here.” The magnitude of the miracle […]

(JR) — Uruguay’s president has withdrawn a proposal to transform a swastika-emblazoned 800-pound bronze eagle from a sunken Nazi ship into an artistic display of peace, following criticism that the plan devalued history. The question of what to do with the eagle, which sits in a naval warehouse, has vexed Uruguay since private explorers recovered […]

(JR) — Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that other Jews think Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not Jewish, despite his having “Jewish blood.” “I have a lot of Jewish friends,” Putin said on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “They say that Zelensky is not Jewish, that he is a disgrace to the […]

(JR) — South Africa’s president has taken heat for not cutting off ties with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine — but his country’s chief rabbi sees an opportunity in the relationship to lobby for an imprisoned Jew. South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein wants his country’s president to advocate for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall […]

(JR) — For the past several years, life was good for Lalam Hangshing as president of the Bnei Menashe Council, the governing body for Jewish communities in the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram.  While living at his parents’ house, he and his wife enjoyed the clean air and beautiful scenery of Manipur, a state […]

(JR) — Ben Helfgott, one of two known Holocaust survivors to go on to compete in the Olympics, died Friday at 93. Helfgott survived the Holocaust as a teenager, and he went on to become a champion weightlifter and a champion of Holocaust education. He was knighted in 2018. “Sir Ben Helfgott was one of […]

BERLIN (JR) — As a teenager in Berlin, Adelle was honored when a rabbi began showing interest in her spiritual development. Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov’s offer of personal instruction was an appealing prospect to the Russian-speaking immigrant with no documentation of her Jewish heritage. Over time, Yaacobov’s private lessons escalated to phone calls and text messages and, […]

(JR) – Conditions didn’t seem favorable in early May as Stuart Eizenstat entered annual negotiations with the German government over reparations for the estimated 240,000 remaining Holocaust survivors around the world. Eizenstat had served as the special negotiator for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany since 2009, and had analyzed the country’s economic and […]

(JR) — The United States House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve a resolution demanding that Russia release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The congressional resolution, which does not have the binding force of law, calls for Gershkovich to be released from prison immediately, and also demands that he be given full access to […]

(JR) — In the wake of a series of neo-Nazi incidents, Australia’s government is moving toward passing legislation to ban the use of Nazi symbols on clothing, flags and websites and in other domains. Trading in Nazi memorabilia will also be banned, but religious, academic and other exemptions will be allowed. Before the Third Reich, […]