Tag: Jewish Heritage

PM Netanyahu invited members of UNESCO to take a trip to the Arch of Titus to view the treasures of the Holy Temple and refresh their historic memories.

Sing HaTikvah, eat kosher food, watch the basketball game and feel like a real Jew.

There are Muslims who don’t see Jews as pigs and Israel as a cancer. In this case, they are non-Arabs living in Canada. One speaker at an event honoring Jews said the PA issue was instigated by communists.

But what does it mean to be proud of your heritage? Is that ethnocentric? Even supremacist?

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared May “Jewish American Heritage Month”. In a ceremony kicking off the month, the president praised Jewish Americans for bearing “hardship and hostility” with the “deep conviction that a better future was within their reach”.

The Flea Theater will present a reading of "The Vandal" by Hamish Linklate (best known as Matthew in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures...

Dynow         Cleaning works are underway on the grounds of the Jewish cemetery in Dynow. The works are being carried out by the members of...

As I have reported many times over the past 12 years that I have been writing this column, one of the major problems in Poland today, even greater then anti-Semitism, is the poor condition of Jewish historical sites. Many of the cemeteries are overgrown and synagogue buildings are in disrepair.

Przemysl               On June 22, 2009 a tablet commemorating the former Scheinbach Synagogue building (today the town library) will be unveiled in Przemysl. The ceremony...

Purim in Tarnow        On March 9, 2009, the first Purim celebrations in many years took place in Tarnow. The program included the reading of...

In recent years The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland has been active in preservation work throughout Poland. They work with local and international groups, as well as individuals, in reclaiming and maintaining Jewish communal property in places where there is no Jewish community. Their website, http://fodz.pl/?d=1&l=en is full of useful information as well as links to other important sites.

Polish writer Henryk Halkowski, z"l, one of Poland's most notable contemporary Jewish personalities, died suddenly on January 1, just days after celebrating his 57th birthday.

Recently I wrote about the partial desecration of the cemetery in Bilgoraj, by a construction company, despite the promises of local officials that no defilement would take place.

Recently I wrote about the partial desecration of the cemetery in Bilgoraj, by a construction company, despite the promises of local officials that no defilement would take place.

Last week I wrote about the Bilgoraj group that traveled to Poland last year and had a somewhat good experience.

During the construction work carried out in the city of Radom workers found a number of richly polychromatic (multi-colored) matzevot (tombstones) beneath the ground.

Every spring and summer, there is renewed activity throughout Poland regarding the preservation of Jewish cemeteries.

People are on edge when it comes to the topic of anti-Semitic occurrences in Poland.

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., in conjunction with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of NY and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, recently convened his annual celebration of Jewish Heritage at New York's City Hall.

Every year more and more Jewish tourists go to Poland to visit the historic sites of pre-Shoah Jewish heritage.

Half of the 20 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery of Swidin were broken March 1, according to Albert Stankowski of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Warsaw. "This was done during the same time as the Claims Conference was visiting in Poland, and I have no doubt that the act against the cemetery was related," he said. Stankowksi was referring to a Claims Conference meeting last week with the government about compensation for Jewish property stolen by the Nazis and Communists.

As of December 4, 2006, an exhibition recapitulating the international project, "Do Not be Afraid to Know Me" is being presented in the Opole town hall.

For the last two weeks I have written about cemetery restoration in Poland. This week I present a report from the Foundation for the Preservation of the Jewish Heritage in Poland, which has done tremendous work in the field. The first half of 2006 has been a busy time for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Jewish Heritage in Poland. The Foundation has cleared up ten Jewish cemeteries and fenced four of them, erected monuments or memorial plaques commemorating pre-war Jewish communities in five towns and is currently restoring four synagogues.

After I wrote about the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland last week, many people asked me to report more on this group and the important work they are doing.

The wide variety of bric-a-brac that fills a soldier's pockets, backpack and other gear becomes the medium of exploration in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," his examination of Vietnam era soldiers.