Rio’s iconic Christ statue will be lit up on the eve of Sunday’s World Cup final in the colors of each of the finalists’ flags with Twitter users to determine which is displayed the longest. Starting on Wednesday, Twitter Inc users around the world can participate by tweeting the hashtag #ArmsWideOpen followed by the abbreviation…
A Brazilian man accused a teacher of forcing the man’s Jewish son to recite a Christian prayer at a public school. The incident is said to have happened last month at the Ciep Cecilio Barbosa da Paixao school in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, according to a report earlier this week by the…
Jose Pekerman chats with Colombia player as the team prepares to face Brazil in the World Cup. / Getty Images There’s a joke being told in the bars of Rio about how different national teams tried to curry support. Italy put out a press release that if they won they would give free pizza to…
Colombia’s Coach Jose Pekerman is among the Jewish participants in the World Cup/Getty Images (JTA) — Israel’s not in the World Cup, and none of the star players is Jewish. But never fear: We still managed to compile a list of six Jewish things about Brazil 2014. The coach: Jose Pekerman, the coach of Colombia’s…
Moise Y. Safra, a billionaire member of the Safra family of financiers, who for over half a century have catered to an affluent clientele spanning from São Paulo to New York and Monte Carlo, died on Sunday, two sources with knowledge of the situation said. He was 79. One of the sources said Moise, the…
The eyes of the world are focused on the soccer fields of Brazil, but a group of Argentinian Jews here has a slightly different focus. For them, the World Cup is an excuse to make a three-day, 1,700-mile pilgrimage to sites of both soccer and cultural significance. Mariano Schlez, Maxi Klein and Damian Beker decided…
The Jewish community of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil concluded the launch of its first eruv — an area where Orthodox Jews may carry items outside their homes on Shabbat. The new eruv of Copacabana and Ipanema — two southern neighborhoods that are famous for their beach scenes — was certified last week by Kolel…
The preservation of an historic synagogue in Sao Paolo, Brazil has received a major boost with about $422,000 in seed money from the German Foreign Ministry. The German Consul General in Sao Paulo signed an agreement earlier this month directing the funds to be used to begin the restoration and preservation of the Beth El…
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