Shmuel Rosneris an Israeli columnist, editor, and researcher. He is a contributing opinion writer for the International New York Times and is the political editor of the Jewish Journal.
David Helfand is a fourth year rabbinical student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies where he is also pursuing a masters degree in Jewish Education. David serves as the rabbinic intern at Shomrei Torah Synagogue in West Hills,CA. David has completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education as well as a summer as a spiritual counselor at a Jewish addiction and rehab center. David decided to pursue the rabbiniate because he couldn’t make it as a Jewish and observant sports broadcaster and because of his love for the Jewish people, the tradition and a good cholent on Shabbat afternoon.
(JTA) â This year we celebrated Passover early, on a Sunday a few days before St. Patrickâs Day. My adult children will disperse before the official holiday, but with the darkest days of the pandemic behind us, we have much to celebrate.
Jews from the Ugandan Abayudaya community participating in the Shabbat Project. (Courtesy)
Seven boys from the Abayudaya Jewish community celebrate their bar mitzvah, October 18, 2014. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
Abayudaya youth on an unprecedented Birthright trip to Israel head to the Western Wall on August 27, 2018 (Screenshot)
The Abayudaya community has grown from 300 in 1980 to over 2,000 today. Here, a group poses in front of a sukkah. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
JTA American Jews with ties to a small community of Jews in Uganda are condemning a decision by Israel’s Interior Ministry to reject the right of those Jews to immigrate to Israel.