Italian President Giorgio Napolitano participated in ceremonies in Naples launching Italian observances of the annual European Day of Jewish Culture.
The pan-Europe event, now in its 14th year, took place Sunday in two dozen countries around Europe. The European Day of Jewish Culture, or EDJC, is loosely coordinated by the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage, a body formed by B’nai B’rith Europe, the Red de Juderias de Espana-Caminos de Sefarad, and the European Council of Jewish Communities. Each year a common theme links EDJC activities, which include concerts, lectures, performances, food-tastings, visits to Jewish heritage sites, and book fairs. This year’s theme was “Jewish Heritage and Nature.” Events were staged in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom...more. B’NAI B’rith International’s executive vice-president Daniel Mariaschin will be visiting Sydney and Melbourne next month to celebrate the organisation’s 170th birthday.
Mariaschin, who is coming to Australia for the first time, said that all around the world B’nai B’rith is helping the elderly, fighting for humanitarian causes and advocating for Israel. “This is an organisation that has been serving the Jewish people for 170 years,” Mariaschin said. “We are a volunteer organisation, a member organisation, and our success comes back to our grassroots character.” In 1843, 12 German-Jewish immigrants gathered in a cafe in New York to discuss the conditions for Jews in America...more. by Nick Giannandrea
Pete Mehas' impact on the Fresno-area sports scene extended well after his playing days, above-and-beyond his time as a high school coach and was felt much deeper than the influence he had as an administrator in the Clovis Unified School District. So say teammates, coaches and colleagues whom Dr. Mehas touched during a six-decade career as a civic and educational leader. An athlete at Fresno High, Fresno City College and Fresno State, a coach at Roosevelt and Edison, and an administrator in Clovis before becoming a four-term Fresno County schools superintendent, Dr. Mehas died at Saint Agnes Medical Center early Saturday. He suffered a ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm, family friend Mike Woods confirmed. Even after Dr. Mehas left Clovis Unified, he remained invested in athletics in his work with the B'nai B'rith Student-Athlete Award scholarship and two decades of service to the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame...more. by Ruth Ellen Gruber
If you're in Europe today -- Sept. 29 -- chances are that there are Jewish cultural events going on for you to visit. Today marks the annual European Day of Jewish Culture, a pan-Europe festival that this year, with hundreds of events taking place in two dozen countries. The Day usually takes place the first Sunday of September, but was move to the end of the month because of the timing of this year's High Holidays. Many synagogues, Jewish cemteries and other Jewish heritage sites are open, and there are concerts, exhibits, lectures, food and wine tastings, guided tours, and more...more. En el marco de la actual Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, la Bnai Brith y otras organizaciones judías mantuvieron reuniones con importantes figuras de la política internacional. En diálogo con la Agencia Judía de Noticias (AJN), Eduardo Kohn, director para América Latina de Bnai Brith, contó sobre las reuniones y temáticas tratadas en las mesas de trabajo.
Kohn contó que la “Bnai Brith y otras organizaciones judías” mantuvieron un encuentro en el marco de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas. “Tuvimos reuniones con ministros, presidentes, primeros ministros, cancilleres de distintos países, tanto de América Latina, Europa y Asia. Yo participé en algunas como parte de la delegación de la Bnai Brith”, indicó. “Mantuvimos un encuentro con el presidente de Paraguay, Horacio Cartez, con quien se trataron los temas del futuro del MERCOSUR”, indicó el dirigente. Asimismo resaltó que “también se habló del tema de Irán, que Paraguay posee una posición parecida a la de Colombia, Chile y Estados Unidos, con quienes también hablamos, en el sentido en el que la presencia de Irán en América Latina debe ser vigilada. Además tenemos el antecedente del atentado a la Embajada de Israel y la AMIA, y, para peor, la firma del tratado entre Argentina e Irán, que evidentemente ha abierto una brecha”...more. Judaism is full of evidences about the Jews’ relation to nature, especially with the land, in particular the land in Israel. In Judaism, nature is a manifestation of the rule of God. The theme of nature as a manifestation of the divine greatness is a recurrent one in religious literature.
Animals are also a result of the blessing of God. Judaism teaches us that one must enjoy the beauty of nature and express that joy through prayer. God must be praised for the fragrant flowers, the trees, the grass, fruit, and animals. When seeing the miracles of nature, such as a lightning, the sunrise, falling stars, thunders, rainbows, the mesmerizing effect of flower blossoms, one should say a blessing. Nature, whether it be trees, fruit and vegetables, animal products, during the change of seasons and the transition from one agricultural cycle to another, is a recurrent element, like traditions and rituals, for the celebration of Jewish feasts (Hagim). This blending between nature and traditional rites, typical for Jewish religious and secular feasts, is yet evidence that in Judaism nature, as God’s creation, has a place in the lives of Jews. Launched in 1996 in the Bas-Rhin, in the French Alsace, the Jewish association B'nai B'rith, the day was progressively extended and became the European Day of Jewish Culture in 1999. From 2000 to 2003, this event was co-organised on the European level by four structures: the Agence de Développement Touristique du Bas-Rhin, B'nai B'rith Europe, the European Council of Jewish Communities and Red de Juderías de España (Spanish Jewish Network). Today, the event is organized by the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ)...more. Ted Cruz's speech voicing his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare was "technically not a filibuster" according to CSPAN since he was not delaying action on a bill, but it was still a long speech. Perhaps too long. When you starting comparing your opponent to Nazi appeasers, you probably have run out of intelligent things to say.
B'nai B'rith International has issued the following statement on the subject: Nazi comparisons are never acceptable. No matter how one feels about this issue, or any issue, invoking Nazi imagery trivializes and undermines the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi machine. Nazi references and comparisons dilute the horror of the mass genocide that was the Holocaust. To compare a U.S. law to anything out of Nazi Germany is unacceptable. We call on Cruz to apologize...more. En el auditorio de la AMIA, B’nai B’rith Argentina festejó el 170º aniversario de la fundación de la institución a nivel mundial y el 50º de la Filial Unión de Buenos Aires, actualmente la más antigua activa en la República Argentina.
El acto, al igual que todas las actividades de la B’nai B’rith, se inició con el encendido del candelabro de siete velas, emblema internacional de la institución, por parte de ex presidentes de la institución y sus filiales; de los presidentes de la Filial Unión y de B’nai B’rith Argentina, Eva Strauss y Mario Wilheim respectivamente, acompañados por invitados especiales, entre los que se contaban los presidentes de la AMIA, Leonardo Jmelnitzky, y la DAIA, Julio Schlosser. Al dirigirse a los asistentes, que colmaron el auditorio, Wilheim agradeció a las autoridades el haberle cedido el lugar para efectuar la celebración y a todos las instituciones y amigos que se hicieron presentes, para luego afirmar, entre otros conceptos: “En esta noche de múltiples aniversarios celebramos la vida de nuestra organización que desde 1843 ha hecho posible, con su trabajo y acción solidaria, hacer que este mundo sea más humano y habitable. En todo lugar donde transcurre nuestra acción, hermanas y hermanos de B’nai B’rith, que es el modo cómo nos reconocemos, decimos presentes y estamos dispues a actual en defensa de la dignidad del género humano”...more. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák on Monday in New York, met with representatives of two key Jewish organizations operating in both the United States and around the world - the American Jewish Committee and B'nai B'rith.
During the meeting, Minister Lajčák confirmed zero tolerance Slovak Republic to manifestations of anti-Semitism and active government support to fight them, as evidenced by the fact that the Slovak Republic is among the countries in the region with the lowest level of anti-Semitic incidents. "The Slovak Republic will continue the successful dialogue with the Jewish community and promoting its cultural activities, as well as the promotion of lasting remembrance of the tragedy of the Holocaust," said Minister M. Lajčák...more. |
In the NewsB'nai B'rith International is the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Archives
January 2021
All rights reserved. Stories are attributed to the original copyright holders.
Categories
All
|