Section: Jewish Telegraphic Agency (USA)
The AT&T Girl’s surprising call to action
Actress Milana Vayntrub, the “AT&T Girl,” volunteering with Syrian refugees in Lesbos, Greece. (Courtesy of Vayntrub/Can’t Do Nothing) (JTA) — You know Lily. You do. She’s that chipper, slyly witty girl who works at the AT&T store — not a real one, but the one you see in those ubiquitous TV ads. What you may not know is that...
Dutch chief rabbi defends Zionist Christians working in Ukraine
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Holland’s chief rabbi defended Dutch Christians Zionists against allegations that they were pressuring Ukrainian Jews into leaving for Israel. The claims against Christians for Israel, a Netherlands-based international group that recently opened an office in Ukraine, came from Rabbi Ya’akov Dov Bleich, a chief rabbi...
Ukraine to allocate $1 million for Babi Yar memorial
(JTA) — The Ukrainian government pledged to allocate approximately $1 million toward the construction of a Holocaust memorial monument at Babi Yar in Kiev. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced the allocation of funds Wednesday, the news site 112.ua reported. The funds would pay for the construction of two memorial paths — one for...
‘Kill the Jews’ painted on Ukrainian synagogue
(JTA) — Vandals wrote “kill the Jews” on a synagogue in the central Ukrainian city of Cherkasy. In a separate incident, unidentified persons torched a wreath that an Israeli cabinet minister had placed for Holocaust victims in Kiev. The incident involving a synagogue was discovered on Wednesday in Cherkasy , Eduard Dolinsky, the director of the...
At Babi Yar, locals revive plans to memorialize Jewish victims
Stray dogs roaming the Babi Yar monument in Kiev, March 14, 2016. Nazis and local collaborators murdered 30,000 Jews at the site in 1941. (Cnaan Liphshiz) KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) – On a muddy path in Babi Yar Park, Vladimir Proch negotiates deep puddles as he shadows two rabbis and a group of Ukrainian officials. An 87-year-old Holocaust survivor,...
In real-life Anatevka, Ukraine’s Jewish refugees build a community
Rabbi Moshe Azman, founder of the Anatevka community near Kiev, Feb. 29, 2016. (R. Litevsky/Courtesy of the Office of Rabbi Moshe Azman) ANATEVKA, Ukraine (JTA) — At the age of 53, Sergey and Elena Yarelchenko fled their native city of Lugansk with three suitcases and moved into a wooden room in a muddy refugee camp outside Kiev. Like hundreds of...
Jewish Canadians demand 92-year-old Ukrainian Nazi’s deportation
TORONTO (JTA) — Jewish groups are calling on Canada to strip Canadian citizenship from a 92-year-old man who was once a member of a Nazi death squad. In a letter to Citizenship Minister John McCallum, the groups say it’s time to conclude to what has been a 20-year battle to deport Helmut Oberlander. “As has been clearly established, Mr....
Ukrainian Jewish leaders appeal to Netherlands voters to approve EU trade pact
AMSTERDAM (JTA) – Ukrainian Jews appealed to the population of the Netherlands to vote in favor of a referendum over a trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The appeal by 19 leaders of Ukraine’s Jewish population was published last week on the website of Vaad, a large organization representing Ukrainian Jews. In the...
In Europe, a summer camp creates the next generation of Jewish leaders — and babies
Participants in activities at the Szarvas summer camp in Hungary, August 2014. (Courtesy of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) SZARVAS, Hungary (JTA) — Escaping a sudden downpour in the summer of 2012, Andras Paszternak and Barbi Szendy ran to find cover inside an empty cabin at their Jewish summer camp, Szarvas, 100 miles east of...
In face of labeling push, Dutch Christians hawking Israeli settlement goods
Pieter van Oordt, right, with his brother, Roger, at the Israel Products Center in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, Feb. 19, 2016. (Cnaan Liphshiz) NIJKERK, Netherlands (JTA) — As a boy, Pieter van Oordt would often accompany his father, Karel, on the elder van Oordt’s weekly shopping excursions specifically seeking out products made in Israel. A...
