The Jewish Agency for Israel’s annual world Jewish population figures have been released, and they reveal that Jews continue to be spread throughout the world, although mostly concentrated in major countries. According to research by Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Sergio Della Pergola, the global Jewish population in 2019 is 14.6 million. There are 175…
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Israel has become Brazil’s closest ally in battling fires currently raging in the Amazon rainforest. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday to offer assistance in extinguishing the blazes. Israel will send a firefighting aircraft and flame-retardant materials, reported O Globo newspaper. “Many thanks to dozens…
(JTA) — Portugal has approved about a third of approximately 33,000 applications for citizenship under its 2015 law for descendants of Sephardic Jews, according to official data. Applications based on the 2015 law, primarily from Israel, Turkey, Brazil and Venezuela, are behind a 10-percent increase in applications in 2018, which saw 41,324 such requests in…
Israel’s ambassador to Brazil found himself in hot water earlier this week, not long after his lunch had found itself in a bit of hot water, too. On Sunday, Yossi Shelley posted a picture of himself having lunch with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist. But the source the lunch’s infamy wasn’t Bolsonaro’s policies,…
The Jewish population in Brazil is growing, as descendants of forcibly converted Jews are discovering their roots with the help of new genealogy tools and a charismatic rabbi, Religion News Service reported. The ancestors of Bnei Anusim, or the “children of the coerced,” were forced to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition, the 15th…
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro said “there is no doubt” that Nazism was a leftist movement, just after visiting Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum. Bolsonaro’s remarks directly contradicted information on the museum’s website saying Germany’s Nazi movement rose out of right-wing radical groups responding to the rise of communism. In…
(JTA) — At the world’s only summer camp for descendants of forcibly converted Jews, young Brazilians had numerous first-time experiences, including seemingly mundane activities like studying the Bible in a group or singing at synagogue. But they were among the most memorable moments from Yeshiva Camp. There are multiple layers to the mission of bnei…
RECIFE, Brazil (JTA) — Preparing to leave this city’s main Jewish community center, Sabrina Scherb peeks beyond its blast-proof gate into a quiet street strewn with branches and shredded mango fruits. The debris, left over from an overnight tropical storm, is not what’s worrying Scherb, a 22-year-old university student and volunteer dance instructor. “I’m looking…
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