All text and Images used with permission from the author, Rabbi Barbara Aiello.
Continue reading “Introducing Rabbi Barbara Aiello’s Book “Aging Jewishly””Introducing Rabbi Barbara Aiello’s Book “Aging Jewishly”
Jewish Mosaic of Singapore with Irene Shaland
Travel to Singapore, a small city-state and one of the unique destinations in Asia for Jewish history aficionados. Discover the little-known Jewish story composed of the amazing mosaic of cultures – Baghdadi, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Armenian, and Persian.
Continue reading “Jewish Mosaic of Singapore with Irene Shaland”Introducing Rabbi Barbara and Her Book: The Cat That Ate the Cannoli
All quoted text and Images used with permission from the author, Rabbi Barbara Aiello.
“Discovering Rabbi Barbara and her book … turned a light on so many parts of my own family’s traditions, and opened my eyes to the anusim stories in my own grandparents from Calabria. I read it with tears the first time, and reread it with more tears, finding more details that I missed the first time. Thank you Rabbi Barbara! – Corbin”
Continue reading “Introducing Rabbi Barbara and Her Book: The Cat That Ate the Cannoli”Program Hosted by Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on December 9, 2020
Join us for a Free Virtual Program Hosted by Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage: Global Response to the Holocaust: The Islands and the Boot: Cuba – Calabria (Italy) – Malta – Corsica. Presented by Irene Shaland, the author of “The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories.”
Continue reading “Program Hosted by Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage on December 9, 2020”Irene Shaland’s Cuba article published by Mosaic magazine
Irene Shaland’s Cuba article The Island within an Island: The Cuban Jewish Story of Survival was published on August 22nd by the Sephardi Ideas Monthly, a magazine of the American Sephardic Federation and Center for Jewish History Research of New York. On August 23rd, the essay was also published by the Mosaic, a magazine dedicated to advancing philosophical discussions related to Jewish history and Judaism. See the excerpts below:
Read more Jewish history stories in Irene Shaland’s latest book:
Book of Jewish Short Stories: The Dao of Being Jewish
Introducing Irene Shaland’s latest book, a collection of Jewish short stories:
“The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories.”
Link to eBook Edition: https://amzn.to/2HhwSng
Link to Paperback Edition: https://amzn.to/2T1u5kK
Link to Large Print Edition: https://amzn.to/2Cqhi6l
This book is full of Jewish survival stories and fascinating tales. It shines the light on the history of Jewish communities in ten countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa.” – GTA Books.
Two and a half millennia ago, a small party of Jews explored new trading routes for King Solomon, settled in the south of India, and lived there peacefully until today. Similarly, during the ancient Roman period, many Jewish merchants traveled to China over the Silk Route and some made it their permanent home.
Also, before the Edict of Expulsion in 1492, Sicily was home to over 50 Jewish communities, possibly numbering 50,000 people. So, how did the Diaspora bring these wandering Jews to so many places around the globe? And why did Jews live happily in India and China for centuries and not experience antisemitism, while the story of the Jews in Europe went from persecutions and massacres to unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust? Finally, why do we see the rise of antisemitism and violence again in the 21st century?
You will find answers to these questions and much more in the current edition of Irene Shaland’s artfully illustrated book The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories. She collected these fascinating stories while visiting ten countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa and interviewing the locals in their homes, synagogues, and even cemeteries. Now, Irene Shaland’s book, replete with her husband’s photos, takes you on your own exciting journey of discovery from Austria and the Czech Republic to Scandinavia, from India and China to Sicily and Sardinia, and from East Africa to Stalinist Russia.
Learn more about Irene Shaland.
The “Jewish Question” in Vienna (excerpt from The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories)
Don’t look for the Steinedererinnerung in your guidebook: the murdered Jews of Austria have neither a Rick Steves nor a Frommer. And Vienna, basking in its Baroque and Art Nouveau splendor, would rather have you waltzing from Schonbrunn palace to Sachertorte’s shops instead of searching out the synagogues and homes of long-gone Jews. An Austrian sarcastic proverb, as noted by Magrit Reiter in her conference presentation “Antisemitism in Austria after the Shoa,” declares that Germans were the “better Nazis,” while Austrians were definitely the “better anti-Semites.”
Continue reading “The “Jewish Question” in Vienna (excerpt from The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories)”The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories Released
New book of stories from Irene Shaland is now available in paperback. In The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories Irene Shaland presents a collective Jewish narrative from various parts of the globe. She takes the reader on a fascinating journey, both familiar and unknown, from Europe to Asia and Africa, from Vienna to Delhi and Nairobi. The fate of the brilliant Jewish community of Vienna annihilated during the Holocaust shines a disturbing light on the stories of the current rise of Antisemitism in Scandinavia and throughout Europe.
Continue reading “The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories Released”A Personal Story about the Holocaust
Please continue reading to find the link to this story about the Holocaust.
Judaica Research and Education Center in St. Petersburg, Russia
I recently attended an Educators meeting at the Jewish Federation building in Beachwood. The meeting centered on a fascinating exhibit of old photographs from shtetls or Jewish Villages before World War I. Titled “The Way We Looked,” the Beachwood exhibit marks the first time these photographs have been shown in North America. The collection was loaned to Cleveland by the Center for Judaica Studies from St. Petersburg, Russia. The co-curators of this exhibit, two scholars from the Center, Drs. Alexander Ivanov and Valery Dymshitz, presented an exciting lecture/slide show based on their in-depth research.
Continue reading “Judaica Research and Education Center in St. Petersburg, Russia”