(JTA) — Eleven memorial candles stood on a table at the start of the public memorial service for the attack one year ago on the Tree of Life synagogue building.
Family members of the 11 people killed in the attack walked around the table holding hands as a string ensemble played in the background. They then lit the candles, wiping their eyes and hugging each other.
The Jewish community was joined at Sunday’s ceremony by members of the Christian and Muslim faith communities, as well as city and state officials. The ceremony was held under the banner of “Remember. Repair. Together.”
Concern about resurgent antisemitism has been at fever-pitch among Diaspora Jews for years.
In Britain, the veteran Jewish Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman resigned this week from the party to which she has belonged for more than half a century.
A leaked Labour headquarters report on her Liverpool Riverside constituency party showed that in 2017, there was a “worrying amount of antisemitism” and a “toxic atmosphere” with members fearing for their physical safety.
By: BIN Staff – Breaking Israel News; breakingisraelnews.com
Proclaiming Justice to The Nations (PJTN) has recently been placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups, which is ironic since PJTN exists to fight the world’s oldest hatred – antisemitism. PJTN has gained wide international media acclaim as it encourages state legislators to act against antisemitism and BDS. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) seems to believe that being pro-Israel and against antisemitism is now a hate crime.
By: Michael Gryboski – The Christian Post; christianpost.com
The People’s Republic of China destroyed a church that reportedly could seat 3,000 people and detained its pastors, according to a human rights organization.
China Aid, an international nonprofit Christian human rights group based in Texas, reported the incident in a statement released Saturday. According to the group, Chinese authorities provided no legal papers to justify the demolition.
The church was located in Funan, Anhui province. Its pastors, Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao, were detained under suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”
By: Nadine Wojakovski – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com
Released October 18, ‘TechTalk’ gives inside look at over 50 startups across the Jewish state, and is hosted by Anglo-Israelis Jonny Caplan and Jessy Katz of Israel’s ‘The Voice’
Over 50 cutting-edge Israeli tech companies are featured in the first season of a new series released on Amazon Prime Video on October 18 called “TechTalk.” Season two features startups in New York, and season three hits Los Angeles.
The show’s creator is co-founder of Tech Talk Media, Jonny Caplan. He’s a British-born entrepreneur who moved from England to Israel in 2013 to explore the Startup Nation’s “multipotential” tech scene.
“The whole world is learning that the gentiles can come celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the people of Israel,” said spokesman David Parsons of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.
This year, more than 5,000 Christians from all parts of the world gathered on Thursday for the city’s annual Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) festive march around Israel’s capital, which saw 10,000 participants in total.
The Jerusalem municipality organized and funded the march and entertainment events, with participants coming to Israel from 100 nations. The arrival of the Christian pilgrims, who come annually to Israel for Sukkot, was facilitated in part by ICEJ (International Christian Embassy Jerusalem), which connects Christians around the world to Israel based on the biblical significance of Jerusalem and in support of its connection to the Jewish people.
As the man dubbed “the sultan of 21st century Turkey,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been given more power than any other democratically elected leader in modern Turkey.
Many believe Erdogan would like to revive the old Ottoman empire, and his erratic behavior has many allies and trading partners asking if he is a friend or foe.
Turkey was once in line to join the European Union, but Erdogan all but destroyed his chances this week when he threatened to flood the EU with millions of Syrian refugees if any EU nation dares call his invasion of Syria “an invasion.”
JERUSALEM, Israel – Gal Gadot is hitting the big screen again but this time she is playing a different kind of Wonder Woman – a Polish activist who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis.
Gadot announced on Friday that she and her husband have formed a new production company called Pilot Wave, and she will star in its first production as Righteous Gentile Irena Sendler, who smuggled thousands of Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto to safety.
By: Ethel G. Hofman – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org
During the eight-day holiday of Sukkot (seven days in Israel), also called the Festival of Booths, family and friends are invited to eat outdoors in the sukkah, a temporary structure that reminds Jews of their wandering past.
Sukkot is akin to a Jewish Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving in America, no matter religion or background, families and friends come together to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., and to feast on a late harvest of autumn fruits and vegetables. It takes place indoors with family gathered round a table groaning with dozens of traditional heavy and belly-filling dishes.
By: Jeannie Law – The Christian Post; christianpost.com
Pop superstar Demi Lovato, who has been on a hiatus from music since she nearly died from an overdose in July 2018, was recently baptized in the Jordan River.
Lovato took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of her baptism during a recent tour of the Holy Land.
“I am an American singer. I was raised Christian and have Jewish ancestors. When I was offered an amazing opportunity to visit the places I’d read about in the Bible growing up, I said yes,” the multi-platinum singer wrote in the caption.