Quoting B'nai B'rith International President Allan J. Jacobs and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin:

by Emily Wax

“I knew there were Indian Jews,” said Danny Ben-Moshe, “but I had no idea there were such prominent Jewish onscreeen stars. I started digging and each find was the tip of the iceberg.” On Wednesday night, the Embassy of India in Washington hosted an event celebrating Ben-Moshe and his new documentary about the largely forgotten stories of Indian Jews and their screen roles during the golden years of Indian cinema.

The evening, co-sponsored by B’nai B’rith, featured black-and-white clips from “Shalom Bollywood – The Untold Story of Jews and Bollywood,” which was pieced together with patience and passion over a six-year period by Ben-Moshe — a professor at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University in Australia — who spoke at the embassy event. While making the film, be traveled to India five times, interviewing dozens of people and looking for archives, “in museums, homes and markets.”  ...more.

Top Israeli biofuel researchers are in the United States for a weeklong dialogue with scientists and government officials.

The 15 scientists are winners of the U.S.-Israel Bio-Energy Challenge, sponsored by two non-profit groups, the Israel Energy Partnership and the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation. 

They started their visit with a briefing Wednesday at the White House, which will be followed by an event at B’nai B’rith International headquarters.

“Israel is a global leader in cutting-edge R&D in this area, so we hope the dialogue they begin with American experts during their trip here will help both countries advance their common goal of independence from traditional fossil fuels,” said Allan Jacobs, international president of B’nai B’rith International...more.

Today, B'nai B'rith International will host a welcome reception for 15 of Israel's top biofuel researchers as they kick off a week-long scientific dialogue in the United States. The visitors, winners of the U.S.-Israel Bio-Energy Challenge, will begin their program with a briefing at the White House, followed by the event at B'nai B'rith headquarters.

Sponsored and coordinated by two not-for-profit organizations, The Israel Energy Partnership (TIEP) and the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), the U.S-Israel Bio-Energy Challenge fosters a scientific exchange between Israeli experts and their counterparts in U.S. government agencies and private industry. The goals are to build bilateral energy cooperation between the two countries and to spur research and development on alternative fuels that can replace fuels derived from imported oil.

"We applaud the organizers of the Bio-Energy Challenge and we're excited to be hosting some of Israel's top minds in the field of biofuel research at our event," B'nai B'rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said...more.

by Holly Dutton

Developer Joe Moinian has championed Downtown as the next big neighborhood, recently telling guests at a B’nai B’rith luncheon that the area is the “Next new New York.”
 
So it comes as no surprise that Moinian’s W Hotel and Residences, located next door to the World Trade Center site, has been through a marketing overhaul to re-ignite sales and capitalize on the FiDi revival...more.

by Jennifer Lipman

Israel will be represented by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a prominent former Soviet dissident at Margaret Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday.

The Israeli leader will be joined by former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky, who is now the chairman of the Jewish Agency.

"She was a leading and reliable voice supporting free emigration for Soviet Jews," a spokesman for B'nai B'rith International said in a tribute message. "She spoke forcefully on behalf of Jews prevented from leaving the Soviet Union and demanded that restrictions be lifted." ...more.

by Jaweed Kaleem

In front of 3,300 mock grave markers representing Americans who have died from gun violence since the Newtown tragedy, the Rev. Matt Crebbin will stand on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Thursday to pray for expanded federal gun control legislation.

For 24 hours starting in the morning, dozens of clergy and people of faith will join him, making a religious case to restrict the flow of guns in the United States.

On Wednesday, a letter to Senate leaders signed by 23 Jewish organizations asked for increased gun control, including increased access to mental health services for would-be shooters. The groups included the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith International, Hadassah, Jewish War Veterans, National Council of Jewish Women, Orthodox Union and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism...more.

by Agnes Blum

False identity papers. A portrait of a family before it was deported to concentration camps. A passport issued by the Third Reich.

These were some of the artifacts that Holocaust survivors and their family members displayed Sunday at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac...more.

by Orlando Rodriguez

Downtown Manhattan is set to enjoy its moment in the spotlight, according to developer Joseph Moinian.

Hudson Yards developer Stephen Ross may have proclaimed the far West Side as the “new center of New York City” back in December, but for Moinian, Downtown will be the nexus of Big Apple action well before the West Side takes the title.

Moinian, making his remarks last week at the B’nai B’rith New York Real Estate Unit April luncheon at The Cornell Club in Midtown, said that absorption trends hit Manhattan neighborhoods in cycles and we are the midst of a Downtown wave...more.

by Lisa Khoury

Students and faculty stared at Brian Kupferberg and 30 of his Jewish fraternity brothers who walked around school in a single-file line in complete silence, dressed in all black, on Monday afternoon.

As they walked around a crowded North Campus, a student in Capen Cafe broke the silence as she exclaimed to her friend: “Oh, I think it’s for Holocaust Remembrance.”

The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, a few sisters from Phi Sigma Sigma sorority and campus Rabbi Avrohom Gurary embraced the uncomfortable stares and whispers as they thought of what their parents, grandparents and ancestors affected by the Holocaust went through. The group celebrated Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, by participating in the fraternity’s third-annual Holocaust Memorial Walk...more.