Now, more than 3 months since the start of the ethnic violence that has devastated the Bnei Menashe community in Manipur in northeast India, thousands remain homeless and with no end in sight. There are about 500 refugees in Churachandpur who fled their homes and are...
Bnei Menashe girls from Nof Hagalil learn the traditional bamboo dance of Mizoram in advance of Aliyah Day. Their teacher, Dena Relte, made aliyah herself from Mizoram in 2014. In fact, it would probably hard to find a qualified teacher of this complex dance who didn't...
It's been almost 13 years since Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis was appointed to serve as the emissary for Shavei Israel in Katowice, Poland, and he, and his wife, Raissa, made the move there from Jerusalem. After 5 years in Katowice and 8 in Warsaw, working side...
Author Ronit Treatman, a good friend of Shavei Israel, grew up in Venezuela, only to discover, decades later, that many of the Catholic families she grew up with are actually descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities forced to convert during the Inquisition. Ronit, who lives...
It is now closing in on six weeks of ethnic violence that has devastated the Bnei Menashe community in Manipur in northeast India, with no end in sight. A total of 292 Bnei Menashe families (numbering 1,190 men, women and children) have been forced to flee...
The Bnei Sefarad community in Cuba is an emerging Jewish community that consists of descendants of Sephardic and Portuguese 'Anousim' (those who were forcibly converted in the time of the Inquisition) and have gone through a deep process of reconnecting with the Jewish roots of...
The Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem is a poignant and emotional place that serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. Recently, a group of individuals who are in the process of converting to Judaism through Shavei Israel's Machon Milton...
A beautiful wedding was held recently at the Yeshivat Bnei Akiva, Ner Tamid school in Hashmonaim. When we say it was 'held there', it's not because the space was rented. Rather, it was the students in the yeshiva itself who hosted the wedding, organizing everything. The...
This year, as always, we were inundated with photos and videos of light and celebration from our communities around the world as they celebrated the holiday of Chanukah. Some highlights from this year are the many photos we received from emerging communities in Latin America, and...
At the start of Chanukah, Shavei Israel had a guest of honor who gave us a wonderful talk about her personal life and her connection to Judaism. This unique and beautiful person is the famous Spanish-speaking actress Sara Mintz, former student of the Machon Miriam...
