7th Darkeinu Olympics Off to a Great Start
Over 2,000 Jewish school and kindergarten students from 8 countries competed in the first round of FSU’s Darkeinu’s Olympics contest that finished yesterday. Those who pass the round will proceed onward – two other rounds of the competition take place throughout the year and finish with a grand finale in Jerusalem for the older students. […]
EnerJew Takes Part in Global Shabbat Project
Thousands of EnerJew teenage members in the FSU will participate in a global initiative this weekend that will connect them to Jewish communities worldwide. The Shabbat Project is a grassroots movement that unites Jews internationally for an annual authentic Shabbat experience, and this year EnerJew is joining in with unique events, local atmosphere and genuine […]
Russia: New downloadable tourist guide to Jewish Kaliningrad
By: Jewish Heritage Europe If you get to Kaliningrad, Russia — formerly Königsberg, East Prussia — you can now follow a Jewish heritage itinerary in the city. Just a year ago, exactly 80 years after the grandiose New Synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht, a newly constructed near replica of the great domed building was dedicated […]
Mariupol Opens New Educational Center
A new educational center was opened this year by the Jewish community of Mariupol, East Ukraine to serve the needs of the city’s Jewish children. In recent years, Mariupol has absorbed hundreds of East Ukraine Jewish refugees and therefore providing modern educational facilities is especially important to the community. The new center is a spacious […]
A Path Out of Poverty and Into Jewish Service
Jewish Odessa making a difference with orphans that will last a lifetime. Fifty students from Odessa and abroad currently attend Chabad’s Jewish University in Odessa. The Jewish University is the only institution of higher learning in the region where students can earn accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, law, and humanities while also engaging […]
Across the FSU: Fall Holidays Draw in Thousands
The fall Jewish holidays that drew to a close recently, brought thousands of FSU Jews together for proud celebrations across the FJC communities. Countless activities for people of all ages in different formats and locations that took place left no one behind. “Never before have we had so many people who wanted to be involved […]
‘Historical Justice’ Restored in Irkutsk
FJC’s Jewish community of Irkutsk, Russia came together for a moment of “historical justice” as the locals called it, at the opening of a monument on the Jewish part of a destroyed city cemetery last week. The monument is an exact replica of the one that was erected at the cemetery in1898 and later destroyed, […]
Odessa’s Orphans – LIKE MY OWN CHILDREN
The Ukrainian port city of Odessa has seen a Jewish Renaissance in recent decades. Its now robust infrastructure of Jewish schools and community centers, packed synagogues and kosher restaurants, is matched by a booming Israeli tourist industry. But the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 devastated local businesses and dried up most of the Jewish community’s […]
GRAPEVINE: REVIVAL IN RUSSIA
BY GREER FAY CASHMAN | The Jerusalem Post | Photo: VIKTOR VEKSELBERG (left) alongside Anton Vaino, chief of staff of the presidential executive office of Russia. Who could have imagined 40 years ago that there would be a Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow? For those who may be unaware, the museum, which opened in 2012, […]
CELEBRATING THE HIGH HOLIDAYS WITH THE JEWS OF SIBERIA
Despite living in one of the farthest corners of the world, the People of the Book in Siberia are flourishing. BY ANNIKA HERNROTH-ROTHSTEIN | The Jerusalem Post | RABBI AHARON WAGNER reverently wraps the synagogue’s Torah. . (photo credit: ANNIKA HERNROTH-ROTHSTEIN) It makes sense that in the regional dialect of Ostyak, Siberia translates to “the end.” This […]