Submitted Stories by Agnes Bohm RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Agnes Bohm
Iranian women are stars at Jewish gathering
BUDAPEST, June 11 (JTA) — Some 130 participants came from 20 countries to this year's European conference of the International Council of Jewish Women, but it was two women in particular — both from Tehran — who became the center of attention. The first Iranian women to receive official clearance to attend the conference, Marian Yashavali and Farah Davar Panah, told fellow delegates that they are able to live comfortably both as Jews and as women in Iran, albeit with some restrictions. Yashavali, a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Jewish Community, said that there has been "a lot of progress for women in general" since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. "They are encouraged to come out of their homes and take up administrative or business positions," she said. Yashavali, Panah and their families lead Jewish lives and keep kosher homes. In so-called Jewish salons, or clubs, Iranian Jews hold family celebrations and can dress and keep Jewish traditions as they wish. But, Yashavali said, "on the streets, we must dress in the traditional Muslim way, and in the universities our girls must dress in long black dresses." There are some 18,000 Jews in Tehran. There also are 20 synagogues, all of which are full during the Jewish holidays. Another 12,000 or so Jews live elsewhere in Iran, mainly in Isfahan and Shiraz. The biggest problem, Yashavali said, is that Jewish schools cannot be closed on the Sabbath, but must adhere to Muslim tradition and close on Friday. There are 10 Jewish schools in Tehran, but Yashavali said her two children attend non-Jewish schools because the schools are too far from her house. The husbands of both women work in private companies, as Jews often have problems getting jobs in state- owned businesses, they said. Another restriction is the ban on correspondence with relatives in Israel, though Jews can receive incoming phone calls from Israel. Asked if they feel hostility from Iranian neighbors when clashes are reported between Israelis and Palestinians, both women say they've experienced neither personal attacks nor backlashes against the Jewish community in general. Conference participants issued an official statement extending sympathy to families of the Israeli victims of recent Mideast violence, and reaffirming their solidarity with Israel. "We embrace them in our midst and reassure them that they are not alone," the statement said of the victims' families. "We also call for a renewed and sincere effort to end the conflict in the Middle East, thereby alleviating the suffering of all people in the area." Iris Ambor, of the Israeli Embassy in Budapest, said, "If we do care enough, we can all make a difference. In times like this, we need to overcome our daily arguments, our disagreements and be united for the well-being of our communities and our support for Israel." In addition to pledging their support for Israel, delegates discussed ways of bridging the gap between Orthodox and non-Orthodox women, and between Jewish and non-Jewish women. "Our differences are not a consequence of our religion, but are rather due to disagreement between genders," June Jacobs, president of the council, told JTA. Read more »
Budapest confronts matzah shortage
BUDAPEST, April 5 (JTA) — Members of the Jewish community here have been spending the days before Passover on long lines in an attempt to get small amounts of matzah. "It's unbelievable! This is the first time in my life that I cannot make matzah cake for my family, because I could not get enough matzah," said an elderly woman who was lined up this week in front of the Jewish community headquarters. "Even during the Communist regime, I always used to get as much as I wanted, and now I had to queue up for a half-day for only" two pounds of matzah. When the first shipment of the imported matzah arrived from Israel three weeks ago, there were no lines in front of the Jewish community headquarters — but that soon changed. The community, with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's Budapest office, had ordered some 22,000 pounds of matzah from Israel. It sold out within a few days when news spread that it was available. The crunch also affected local stores, which sold out their supplies of matzah the week before the start of Passover. Approximately 100,000 Jews live in Hungary — almost all of them in Budapest. Peter Tordai, president of the Budapest Jewish community, said the Jewish leadership thought it had ordered enough imported matzah based on the amount that had been produced last year by a local factory. "It was our mistake," said Tordai. "This will be a real matzah crisis." When making their calculations, he said, the leadership had failed to take into account that the local factory had closed recently. Explaining the closing, the owners said it was no longer profitable. But Laszlo Herczog, deputy leader of Hungary's Orthodox Jewish Community, told JTA he believed that the owners, who are not Jewish, decided to sell the factory because the land it was on was more valuable than the business itself. Compounding the problem, said another community leader, local hotels and restaurants bought large quantities of the imported matzah. Tordai, meanwhile, is thinking ahead to next year. The solution, he said, is that "we try to restart matzah production in Hungary." Read more »
Hungarian Jews want to make Holocaust denial illegal
BUDAPEST, May 9 (JTA) — Hungary's justice minister has rejected a request from the Jewish community for a law that would make Holocaust denial illegal. "Such a law would be unconstitutional" in Hungary, Ibolya David told a legislative committee last week. She said she based her decision on "numerous professional opinions," mainly from officials within the Justice Ministry. The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities submitted a request in November 1999 asking the government to begin drafting such a law. The request came after numerous books appeared dismissing the Holocaust as a Jewish fabrication. Jewish leaders say the number of stores selling anti-Semitic literature and videotapes has increased significantly since they first requested the law. They cite the example of Aron Monus, who is living in southern Hungary without ever facing questioning for his widely publicized book, "The World Jewish conspiracy." Peter Tordai, the president of the federation, told JTA that despite the justice minister's statement last week, the Jewish community still plans to press ahead with its request for a law similar to the ones already on the books in Germany, France and Austria. But Jewish leaders may seek a broader law that would also criminalize other forms of hate speech. The community plans to make its request before the Hungarian Parliament takes up amendments to the penal code in October. Read more »
Embassy in Budapest honors wartime heroine
BUDAPEST, April 19 (JTA) — Proud words and anguished tears marked a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony here this week for a wartime Jewish heroine. On Thursday, as events were held around the world to remember the Holocaust, guests gathered at the Israeli Embassy for the unveiling of a plaque honoring Hannah Senesh. Known better outside of Hungary than within, Senesh was a fighter with the Haganah, the leading Jewish fighting force before the creation of the Jewish state. She was tortured and killed by Hungarian fascists after parachuting into Nazi Europe in 1944. The few surviving members of Senesh's family were among those attending Thursday's ceremony at the embassy. Ivan Senesh, a 77-year-old cousin, said she had not died in vain. "Her death has a symbolic meaning, which gives strength at those times when evil again raises its head," he said. He later told JTA, "I hope that Hannah will be remembered in Hungary, because she sacrificed her life for Hungarians." In Israel, her name became a symbol of devotion and self-sacrifice. But to this day, Senesh is not mentioned in Hungarian history books, and she is virtually unknown among most Hungarians, including the country's Jews. In 1994, 50 years after her death, a square was named in Budapest in her honor. Her name was inscribed on a small stone in the square, without any mention of who she was or what she did. During the Communist regime, the only Jewish school in Budapest was named after another Jewish wartime heroine, Anne Frank. Like Anne, Senesh began writing a diary at the age of 13. She continued making entries until 1944. Reeling under the impact of the anti-Semitism that prevailed in Budapest before World War II, Senesh became an ardent Zionist. In September 1939, as the war began, she went to Palestine. At the end of 1942, deeply concerned with the fate of European Jewry and of her mother in Budapest, she joined a group of parachutists organized by the Haganah to rescue Allied prisoners of war and organize Jewish resistance. In March 1944, she parachuted into Yugoslavia. In June, when the Nazis were hastily deporting Hungarian Jews to death camps, she crossed into Hungary — and was soon arrested by Hungarian police. Though tortured, she did not reveal any information about the Haganah. She was executed by a firing squad in a Budapest military prison on Nov. 7, 1944, only a few weeks after the fascist Hungarian Arrow Cross Party took power in Hungary. Her remains were taken to Israel in 1950. Another speaker at Thursday's ceremony was 82-year-old Irene Sugar, who was Senesh's cellmate until the day a firing squad separated them. She spoke of her memories of Senesh — but stopped when tears forced her to break off her story. Israel's ambassador to Hungary, Judit Varnai Shorer, told the gathering that Senesh's memory would serve as a beacon for future generations. "The example of Hannah Senesh helps in the fight not to let the Holocaust happen again," she said. The black marble memorial tablet inaugurated Thursday in the embassy's central hall bears a simple inscription in Hebrew: "The Hall of Hannah Senesh, May Her Memory be Blessed." Next to the tablet was a photo of Senesh at the age of 18, when she was still a student at a Budapest high school. Read more »
Hungary holds Holocaust commemoration
BUDAPEST, April 17 (JTA) – For the first time in Hungary's history, the nation's Parliament has hosted a ceremony to commemorate Hungarian Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Soon after an international conference on the Holocaust was held in Stockholm last year, the Hungarian government declared April 16 as the nation's annual Holocaust Memorial Day. The commemoration marks the date in 1944 when the Nazis established the first Jewish ghetto in Hungary, in the northeastern town of Munkacs, which is now a part of Ukraine. Hungary had a prewar population of 800,000 Jews. About 600,000 died during the Holocaust. Today, the Hungarian Jewish community, the largest in Central Europe, numbers between 80,000 and 130,000. Among those attending Monday's ceremony in Parliament were members of the government, Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors. Among the diplomats in attendance was Israel's ambassador to Hungary, Judit Varnai Shorer. Those boycotting the session included Istvan Csurka, the leader of the far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party, which has 12 seats in the Parliament. In his speech, Chief Rabbi Jozsef Schweitzer called on the government to stand up against discrimination. Janos Ader, the Parliament speaker, stirred some controversy when he told the audience that the majority of Hungarians had not backed the Nazis. "This is not true, and should have been left out of the speaker's remarks," Matyas Eorsi, a liberal Jewish legislator, told JTA. The leadership of the nation's Jewish community used the commemoration to call on the nation "to make a clear distinction between the dark and light" portions of the country's history. Jewish leaders also called on the president of Hungary to avoid shaking the hands of legislators belonging to the Hungarian Justice and Life Party. "It is very important that the schools teach the Holocaust from now on, but we ask for more responsible political behavior as well," said Ferenc Olti, the deputy head of the Hungarian Jewish Community. This year marked the first time that Hungarian schools commemorated the Holocaust. "We recommended that teachers use this occasion to provide a better understanding of this tragic event," Zoltan Pokorni, the minister of education, told JTA. "The memory of the Holocaust does not belong only to the Jews, but to all of us. It is not only about the past, but also about the future." Read more »
Budapest confronts matzah shortage
BUDAPEST, April 5 (JTA) — Members of the Jewish community here have been spending the days before Passover on long lines in an attempt to get small amounts of matzah. "It's unbelievable! This is the first time in my life that I cannot make matzah cake for my family, because I could not get enough matzah," said an elderly woman who was lined up this week in front of the Jewish community headquarters. "Even during the Communist regime, I always used to get as much as I wanted, and now I had to queue up for a half-day for only" two pounds of matzah. When the first shipment of the imported matzah arrived from Israel three weeks ago, there were no lines in front of the Jewish community headquarters — but that soon changed. The community, with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's Budapest office, had ordered some 22,000 pounds of matzah from Israel. It sold out within a few days when news spread that it was available. The crunch also affected local stores, which sold out their supplies of matzah the week before the start of Passover. Approximately 100,000 Jews live in Hungary — almost all of them in Budapest. Peter Tordai, president of the Budapest Jewish community, said the Jewish leadership thought it had ordered enough imported matzah based on the amount that had been produced last year by a local factory. "It was our mistake," said Tordai. "This will be a real matzah crisis." When making their calculations, he said, the leadership had failed to take into account that the local factory had closed recently. Explaining the closing, the owners said it was no longer profitable. But Laszlo Herczog, deputy leader of Hungary's Orthodox Jewish Community, told JTA he believed that the owners, who are not Jewish, decided to sell the factory because the land it was on was more valuable than the business itself. Compounding the problem, said another community leader, local hotels and restaurants bought large quantities of the imported matzah. Tordai, meanwhile, is thinking ahead to next year. The solution, he said, is that "we try to restart matzah production in Hungary." Read more »
Jewish singles converge on Budapest
BUDAPEST, March 26 (JTA) – They came, they checked each other out, they partied. That was the agenda for some 500 Jewish singles from around the world who came to Budapest earlier this month to search for love – or just have fun for a weekend. Some – like Gabor K. from Munich and a blond woman from New York who would not give her name – said they found love at first sight. Others came to the March 16-18 "Jewish European Ball" and – well, didn't find that special someone. The weekend, which included a traditional Friday night dinner and a walking tour of Jewish Budapest, was the brainchild of two Austrians, Dana Teichner and Ariela Gluck. Two years ago, they organized a similar gathering in Vienna, and last year in Marbella, on Spain's Costa del Sol. The next event also will be held in Marbella on July 8-15. "We both come from the relatively small Jewish community of Vienna, and our idea was to bring young people together for a special weekend each year in a Jewish atmosphere," Teichner told JTA. Both religious and secular Jews may attend, she said. Organizers maintain a strict age limit of between 20 and 40. "Someone over 40 wouldn't fit in with the group," Teichner said. Most of the guests were singles, but Teichner preferred not to call it a singles event, saying some participants came to "develop relationships for business purposes." The highlight of the weekend, the Saturday night ball, was held in Budapest's historic Museum of Fine Arts. The formal event was held amid sculptures by Rodin and paintings by the likes of Delacroix and Goya. The band was imported from France. Most of the kosher food came from Vienna, but Budapest's famed Gundel Restaurant provided chicken paprikash. Israel's ambassador to Hungary, Judit Varnai Shorer, endorsed the idea of bringing young Jews together, telling ball participants that the event "demonstrates the awakening of Judaism and Zionism in Europe." The cost for the weekend was $433 plus airfare, Teichner said. That was too much for some local Hungarian Jews, however, who could not afford to attend. "This event is too expensive to us," said one young man in his 20s. Teichner said most attendees came from England, Germany, the United States and Canada, adding that some came from as far away as South Africa and Australia. "For those who could not afford it, we tried to find sponsors," she added. One attendee called the weekend a "great way to have fun – especially for those who find a match." Read more »
Jewish leader gets Hungarian medal
BUDAPEST, Feb. 20 (JTA) — For some Jewish leaders, the battle for restitution continues no matter what the occasion. On Tuesday, Hungarian President Ferenc Madl presented a medal to the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, Israel Singer, for his efforts on behalf of Jews around the world. "We highly appreciate your efforts in seeking appropriate compensation for the Hungarian Jews, once a major Jewish community in Europe," said Madl, who during a ceremony in Parliament presented Singer with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. During his speech, Singer — who has represented the interests of Holocaust survivors in negotiations with several European governments — said that the honor was not for him, but for the Jewish people as a whole. "One day, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Gypsies are going to be equal," Singer said. "The struggle has not been concluded yet," he added. In an indication of his readiness to continue the struggle, Singer spoke with Madl after the ceremony about an issue that has stirred passions among Hungary's Jews. The Hungarian Parliament is offering to make a one-time payment to relatives of Jewish Holocaust victims that would amount to about $140 — a pitiful sum in the eyes of the local community. Singer made it clear during his conversation with Madl that he shared this view. In an interview with JTA after the ceremony, Singer said, "One should remember what an insult it is to tell Jews that their relatives are worth so little." Singer also said during the interview that compensation efforts on behalf of Holocaust survivors in Eastern and Central Europe were "too little, too late," and called it a "crime and a scandal" that the West — Germany in particular — did not want to send hard-currency reparations to Jewish victims living in the former Communist bloc. "In this part of the world, 80 to 90 percent of Jews died and were never compensated," he said. Singer also vowed action regarding the so-called Hungarian Gold Train, a shipment of Jewish property seized by the Nazis that fell into U.S. hands at the end of World War II, but which was never returned to its rightful owners. Singer said he would press the Bush administration to deal with this issue. "It is the beginning, not the end" of restitution efforts, Singer promised. Read more »
Far right party tries to rehabilitate war criminal
BUDAPEST, Jan. 30 (JTA) – Hungarian Jewish leaders are protesting a call by a far-right party to retry the case of the nation's executed wartime prime minister. The leaders said they were "deeply shocked" after the Hungarian Justice and Life Party – which holds 12 seats in the nation's 386-seat Parliament and is known by its Hungarian acronym MIEP – questioned the sentence imposed on Laszlo Bardossy. Executed in 1946 for war crimes, Bardossy was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews. "Bardossy was one of the darkest figures of Hungary's history in World War II, whose decisions led to the death of hundreds of thousands of our brethren," the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities said in a statement. The federation also said it is considering filing international protests. Lorant Hegedus, MIEP's deputy chairman, accused local Jewish leaders of using the threat of international pressure against Hungary's chief prosecutor, who has been asked to review the case. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office, wrote a letter to the Hungarian government, calling on it to reject the demand for the posthumous rehabilitation of Bardossy. "We join the Hungarian Jewish community in protesting this step and hope that the government will have the good sense to reject this demand, which not only makes a mockery of the just conviction of a major war criminal, but also deeply insults the memory of his many victims," Zuroff wrote. A spokesman for the Hungarian Prosecutor's Office said it will take several months to review the case. Bardossy declared war on the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, England and the United States during his 11 months as Hungarian prime minister, from 1941 to 1942. Under his government, anti-Jewish laws were passed based on the German model. The laws banned mixed marriages and physical intimacy between Jews and non-Jews. Historians say some 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust. With approximately 100,000 Jews today, the Hungarian community is the largest in Central Europe. Bardossy's name is connected to the transfer in 1941 of 15,000 "homeless" Jews to Kamenets-Podolsk, which was then in the Soviet Union. There, at least 10,000 were killed by the Germans. In 1945, the Hungarian People's Court, which after the war sentenced to death almost 200 people for war crimes, found Bardossy guilty of complicity in the murder of Hungarian Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk and Novi Sad in Yugoslavia, and he was hanged in 1946. Istvan Csurka, MIEP's leader, has called "Bardossy's martyrdom a foundation stone for the building of the new Hungary." The far right has already tried several times in the last 10 years to rehabilitate Bardossy, but this is the first time the MIEP has taken any official steps. Maria Ormos, a leading Hungarian historian, said that postwar decisions by the People's Court can be questioned from a legal point of view, but "the historic responsibility of Bardossy cannot be disputed." Hungarian Chief Rabbi Laszlo Deutch has also weighed in on the issue. "Even if we cannot prevent the legal rehabilitation of men of evil and war criminals, it is our duty to raise our voice in protest and thereby honor the memory of our martyrs,'' he said at a recent ceremony to mark the Jan. 18, 1945, liberation of the Budapest Ghetto by Soviet troops. Read more »
Hungarian Jews get official recognition
BUDAPEST, Dec. 27 (JTA) – Hungary has signed an accord with local Jewish leaders "to promote the political, social and economic stability of Hungarian Jewry." The signing ceremony took place last Friday, the first day of Chanukah, in the nation's Parliament. The government has already signed similar agreements with the Catholic, Lutheran, Evangelical, Baptist and Serbian Orthodox churches. In each case, the accords grant official recognition to the religious denomination. Among its measures, the accord with the Jewish community states that the Hungarian government will back efforts to have Holocaust studies taught in the schools and to have victims of the Holocaust "regularly and in due manner remembered." Peter Tordai, the president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, told JTA that the government also agreed to erect a memorial honoring Jewish Holocaust victims. Existing Holocaust memorials were erected by the Jewish community. Tordai praised the accord as the first undertaken by the government with Hungarian Jewry since 1849. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 05/24/12 @ 04:11PM EST
- Jewish groups called on Israel to protect African migrants in Israel after riots in Tel Aviv.
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning campaign donations under investigation by federal authorities.
- A new survey suggests that Germans have lost some love for Israel over the past three years.
- An Arab-Israeli immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan.
- Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million.
- U.S. Jewish groups condemn anti-African violence in Tel Aviv
- Mandel returns funds under investigation
- Obama’s same-sex marriage nod echoes historic Catholic-Jewish debate
- Survey: Israel losing ground with Germans
- Israeli Arab guilty of murder in Michigan
- Israel’s Arava firm finances $204 million for solar projects
- Israel will solve African migrant problem, Netanyahu assures
- Senate distinguishes between Palestinian refugees and descendants
