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The Tikvah Forum for Families of Hostages held prayers at Rachel's Tomb just outside Bethlehem on Tuesday for the safe and speedy return of their children from the Gaza Strip. The Bnei Rachel Yeshiva hosted the event, which was attended by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Kalman Ber and Knesset member Yitzhak Wasserlauf of the Otzma Yehudit Party. Among the family members attending the event was Tzvika Mor, whose son Eitan, then aged 23, was kidnapped to Gaza while working as a guard at the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. Eitan saved hundreds of people from the festival before he was taken hostage. He has been held for more than 400 days. Mor told those gathered that God promised Rachel that her children will return to their borders. "There is no place more worthy to pray to God and ask him to return the hostages than at the place of her burial, and on the anniversary of her passing," he said. At a Knesset committee meeting on Tuesday, Mor said that a family which has a member kidnapped is "a wound that never heals." "It's all the time the worry. It's all the time the fear of that terrible knock on the door," he said. "The main question is why there is still no decision in Gaza, to bring the enemy to such a state that he realizes that he has no future," he said, expressing frustration that Israel still hasn't completely destroyed the enemy there. He said that pursuing a deal with Hamas for the release of the remaining hostages was a mistake. "When we pursue a deal, a deal flees from us," Mor said. Kobi Samerano, whose son Jonathan, 21, was kidnapped and murdered in Gaza, recited Kaddish, the mourners’ prayer. Samerano said it was his first visit to Rachel's Tomb. The names of the remaining hostages were read aloud. Organizing the event along with the Tikvah Forum were the Kissufim and Ayelet Hashachar groups.

Hostages’ families hold prayer at Rachel’s Tomb

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The Tikvah Forum for Families of Hostages held prayers at Rachel's Tomb just outside Bethlehem on Tuesday for the safe and speedy return of their children from the Gaza Strip. The Bnei Rachel Yeshiva hosted...

December 8 Set for Ben-Gurion Day in the USA Observances

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More than 120 organizational partners across the country will join Americans for Ben-Gurion University (A4BGU) for its third annual “Ben-Gurion Day in the USA” on December 8. This year’s event offers a special message...
Holocaust Museum Director Michael Rothwell and British Ambassador to Portugal Lisa Bandari speaking to schoolchildren at the Holocaust Museum of Porto, Nov. 7, 2024. Credit: Holocaust Museum of Porto.

Only Shoah museum in Iberia commemorates ‘Night of Broken Glass’

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The Oporto Jewish community in Portugal, one of the strongest in Europe, commemorated the anniversary of Kristallnacht at its Holocaust Museum on Nov. 7. Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, marks the night of...

Leonid Pasternak, Father of Boris, Wrestled with his Jewishness

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Leonid Pasternak, a painter and professor at the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, a master of portraiture and book illustrations, went down in history in the shadow of his son Boris, a...
Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus poses for a portrait in a Home Depot store October 15, 1998. Photo by Erik Lesser/Liaison via Getty Images.

Bernie Marcus, billionaire Home Depot founder and Jewish philanthropist, 95

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Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the Jewish billionaire founder of Home Depot who donated extensively to Jewish causes, died in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 95. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Marcus "a good friend...

Still learning of liberators, all these years later

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Like many children of survivors, Bernice Lerner has spent most of her life ruminating on the Holocaust and writing about big questions. How was the Holocaust allowed to occur? What is the connection between...
Baby and father. Credit: RitaE/Pixabay.

Some memories live forever …

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Doesn’t it seem like yesterday when your first child was born? To me, it does, and decades later, you recall the excitement—more appropriately called nervousness—that had been building as the “due date” approached. Lamaze birth classes are...
A Judaica store in Jerusalem's Old City, Dec. 24, 2016. Photo by Mendy Hechtman/Flash90.

Study: US Jews bought 134% more Israeli Judaica since Oct. 7

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American Jews have increased their purchases of Israeli-made Judaica by 134% since the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War, according to a study by Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) business management students. Led by...
“Articles of Faith” is a vital text for anyone interested in the complexities of Orthodox Judaism today as it faces a future full of change.

Traditional Jewish belief in the Internet era

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Rabbi Gil Student’s new book, Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era (Kodesh Press, 2024), is a thoughtful exploration of contemporary Orthodox Jewish belief in the face of modern challenges, including discussions about...

Choral Z Piekla Dna (Choral from the Depths of Hell)

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Choral Z Piekla Dna (Choral from the Depths of Hell) Aleksander Tytus Kulisiewicz Songs from the Depths of Hell ℗ 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1979 Folkways Records Released on: 1979-01-01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMnEBuPnnxk