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Yiddish World My father, the shoemaker
Read this article in Yiddish My father, Ben Perkal (Berche, in Yiddish) was a kind person and a devoted family man, but he may have been the worst shoemaker in Poland. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration. But he was surely the worst shoemaker in Ostralenka, the shtetl in northeastern Poland that he grew…
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Yiddish World Why the exhibit on the Warsaw Jewish quarter, Muranow, is so good
When I first heard that Warsaw’s Polin Museum had an exhibit about Muranow, the former Jewish quarter of the Polish capital, my first instinct was to buy a ticket to Warsaw – until I remembered that we’re in the midst of an epidemic. Although I live in Israel, Muranow has become very familiar to me…
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Fast Forward Dozens of Jewish headstones found under Polish town’s square
(JTA) — Dozens of Jewish headstones were discovered under the asphalt of a local market in Poland. The headstones had been placed in the heart of Leżajsk, a town located about 120 miles south of Warsaw, at least 80 years ago, according to a report Friday in the Gazeta Wyborca daily. The headstones, which were…
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Fast Forward Jewish cemetery in Poland vandalized with spray-paint
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — A wall of the Jewish cemetery in Tarnow, a city in southern Poland, was spray-painted with the letters “AJ,” likely meaning “Anti-Jude,” or anti-Jewish. The wall’s Star of David was painted over as well. Police are investigating; there are no suspects. According to the cemetery keeper, Adam Bartosz, because the wall…
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Fast Forward Poland’s oldest rescuer of Jews reveals an epic WWII story
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — At 100 years old, Jozef Walaszczyk is Poland’s oldest living rescuer of Jews. He was fortunate enough just to survive World War II. As a partisan fighter who specialized in smuggling arms in Nazi-occupied Poland, Walaszczyk assumed that the Gestapo would catch up with him at some point. He just expected it…
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Life I went to Poland to research my family’s history. I found a new generation to tell it to.
The house at No. 3 ul Azsa in the Polish city of Siedlce is mustard-and-peach stucco with a flower-lined balcony and the date 1811 marked under the roof. A nail salon fills the first floor; when my cousins lived there, before the Nazis occupied this city about a two-hour drive from Warsaw, it was their…
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Fast Forward Former Polish Priest Indicted For Hate Speech And Holocaust Denial
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — A former priest involved in Poland’s nationalist movement has been indicted on hate speech and Holocaust denial charges. The District Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Wrocław, in western Poland, brought three indictments against Jacek Miedlar. Another claims that he insulted the late prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Miedlar, who pleaded not…
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Fast Forward Pelosi-led Congressional delegation visits Krakow Jewish Center
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Jewish community center in Krakow along with a congressional delegation and received honorary membership. The bipartisan delegation led by Pelosi visited JCC Krakow on Tuesday after visiting the site of the former Auschwitz Nazi camp and touring the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum in advance of…
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
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Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish World A German museum aimed to honor Jewish wit. The result is downright demeaning.
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Opinion The three profound Jewish lessons of Mamdani’s astonishing victory
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News Mamdani’s victory divides Jewish leaders one more way: Whether to say congratulations
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Fast Forward In a first, a ballot initiative to divest from Israel has won at the ballot box in Boston suburb
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