Israel Defense Forces soldiers visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, as part of their training. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP) Sheila Wilensky was in Israel recently with the American Jewish Press Association. The new Yad Vashem museum, run by The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, was packed when I visited on Jan. 14. I had toured the museum, which was established in 1953, with my daughter 20 years… Read more »
President Obama addressing the biennial conference of the Union for Reform Judaism, Dec. 16, 2011. (URJ) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The moment in the final presidential debate when President Obama described his visit to Israel’s national Holocaust museum and to the rocket-battered town of Sderot seemed to be aimed right for the kishkes. The “kishkes question” — the persistent query about how Obama really feels about… Read more »
Mitt Romney, left, and President Obama, shown onscreen during their debate on Oct. 22, 2012, were generally in agreement on the Middle East at the Florida one-on-one on foreign policy. (Rosa Trieu/Neon Tommy via Creative Commons) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel, a heated issue throughout the campaign, finally took center stage at the final presidential debate. It was mentioned a total of 31 times by President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney at Monday night’s foreign policy debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Actual… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Swedish rescuer Raoul Wallenberg was born 100 years ago this summer, and his centennial is being commemorated with events in many cities across Europe and North America. On July 26, a symposium in his memory will be held at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust… Read more »
Eva Vavrecka contemplating the horrific living conditions that her mother and grandparents endured in the forest to survive World War II. (Bruce Konviser) TRSICE, Czech Republic (JTA) — Nearly 70 years after a Czech Jewish family sought refuge from the Nazis by retreating into a nearby forest and relying on non-Jewish locals for help, an American high school teacher has helped erect a permanent monument to their memory. Last week, several dozen… Read more »
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. KIBBUTZ YAD MORDECHAI, Israel (JTA) — In a far-off corner of this quiet farm a handful of miles from the Gaza Strip as the rocket flies, down a dirt road that peels off from an old Arab… Read more »
JTA’s new “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. BALTIMORE (JTA) — Even after seven decades, Peter Nurnberger’s most basic biographical facts remain elusive. The Slovakian doesn’t know his birth date, his natural parents’ fate or whether they had any other children. Peter’s adoptive parents… Read more »
ROME (JTA) — Auschwitz, the most notorious camp in the Nazi killing machine, may soon claim success in its campaign to preserve the legacy of the Holocaust. The foundation supporting the site in southern Poland has attracted tens of millions of dollars from donor countries, and the camp’s barracks… Read more »
