, Author at Shavei Israel
Brian Blum
One nation, many faces. We help them all return.
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Shavei Israel
Michael Freund wins “Aliyah Award”

Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund has won the second annual "Aliyah Award" in recognition of the thousands of Jews that Shavei Israel has brought to Israel from India, China, Iberia, South America, Poland and more. The ceremony last week at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel in Jerusalem was attended...

Shufersol and Shavei Israel help immigrants welcome the New Year

Recent immigrants to Israel from the Bnei Menashe, Bnei Anousim and Subbotnik Jewish communities have another reason to celebrate this New Year: the Shufersol chain of Israeli supermarkets has donated NIS 50,000 ($13,000) of coupons to the new olim to ease their holiday purchases. This is...

Rosh Hashanah “Seder” booklet produced for Bnei Menashe

[caption id="attachment_33449" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ceremony in Upper Nazareth[/caption] The Bnei Menashe received a double portion of sweet tidings in preparation for Rosh Hashanah – in addition to their Shufersol coupons (see our article here), baskets of goodies were given out at ceremonies in all eight of...

Michael Freund interviewed on “Nothing Left” radio program

Shavei Israel Chairman was interviewed on Australia's "Nothing Left" radio program. Nothing Left addresses issues of Israel advocacy and other topics of interest to the Jewish community. Previous guests have including David Hazony, Isi Liebler, Jonathan Tobin and David Bedein. On this episode, Michael Freund discusses Shavei Israel's history...

Happy birthday: Mendel turns 90!

Mendel Kingbol just celebrated his 90th birthday, making him one of the oldest Bnei Menashe to make aliyah from India. But even more impressive: of Mendel’s 58 grandchildren (yes, you read that right), 43 of them live in Israel. The remaining 15 are still in the...

Bnei Menashe wedding: Leah and Yediel

What’s more festive than a Jewish wedding? When the couple are both members of the Bnei Menashe community and came all the way from India to Israel to meet their beshert (their intended one). The bride Leah, 24, made aliyah with Shavei Israel’s help in 2007...

Belmonte prepares for Shabbat

The Jewish community of Belmonte, Portugal, knows how to celebrate Shabbat with gusto. Here are a few photos from a recent Friday before sundown with Shavei Israel's emissary to the community, Rabbi Elisha Salas, who gives some of the men an impromptu lesson in tying the knots on...

Michael Freund on meeting the Pope

Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund was interviewed on Israel's IBA News in English following his historic meeting last month with Pope Francis in Poland. You can listen to the audio here. [audio mp3="https://www.shavei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Interview-with-IBA-English-News-meeting-with-Pope.mp3"][/audio] And read Michael's account of his meeting with the pope from The Jerusalem Post...

Stop the crackdown on China’s Jews

Over the past two years, a series of disturbing developments has taken place in Kaifeng, China, one that threatens the future of the city's tiny Chinese Jewish community. Inexplicably, certain local authorities have launched what can only be described as a crackdown on any expression...