● THE BETRAYERS By David Bezmozgis Little, Brown, 240 pages, $26 David Bezmozgis’s slim new novel, “The Betrayers,” seems at first deceptively simple, then, at second glance, deceptively complex. Set against a historical and political background that becomes too heavy a burden to bear on its slender scaffolding, it is the story of a noble…
(JTA) — On their 40th wedding anniversary, Avital and Natan Sharansky went sightseeing in the City of Lights. But the Sharanskys didn’t follow the trail of countless couples who come here to kiss at the Eiffel Tower or slip so-called love locks on bridges over the River Seine. Theirs was an itinerary that demonstrated a…
A night-time scene in the historic district of Córdoba, Spain. / Josh Nathan-Kazis It’s only been a week since Spain’s cabinet approved a law offering citizenship to Sephardic Jews, but Israelis are already tripping over each other in their race to apply. Between 700 and 800 have sent email inquiries to Maya Weiss-Tamir, an Israeli…
Natan Sharansky joined Forward opinion editor Gal Beckerman and the relatives of political prisoners in asking the U.S. Congress to speak of their loved ones during meetings with foreign officials. Sharansky, imprisoned by the Soviets for nine years because of his activism on behalf of Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate, recalled at a hearing…
Jerusalem is having an unusually mild fall. November began amid sunny skies, temperatures in the high 60s, light breezes and just the slightest hint of feathery drizzle to announce that after a bone-dry October, the rainy season was finally about to return. Diaspora Jews are returning too. No, not the waves of immigration that generations…
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky turned over the keys to the Jewish school of Gondar, Ethiopia, to the town’s mayor. Monday’s handover ceremony of the school, which was funded and maintained by the Jewish Agency, comes as the final flight of Ethiopian immigrants prepares to leave for Israel. Some 2,500 Ethiopian children awaiting their immigration…
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder called on the Claims Conference to be reviewed by outside agencies in an investigation following the disclosure of a $57 million fraud scheme. Sharansky and Lauder, according to the Jerusalem Post, released a joint statement on the first day of the Claims Conference…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to reassure Diaspora Jewish leaders that redesign plans remain on track for the Western Wall plaza that will allow greater scope there for non-Orthodox prayer services. In a June 27 meeting with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism and with Natan Sharansky, head of the…
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