Tag Archive for Poland

| September 2, 2013
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Jewish group says Vatican assisting in overturning Poland kosher slaughter ban

World Jewish Congress reports Pope is to host meeting to address Poland’s current ban on ritual animal slaughter.

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The World Jewish Congress has said the Vatican is getting involved in a divisive issue in Poland over its ban on the ritual slaughter of animals, which has incensed Jews.

Pope Francis poses with a delegation of members of the World Jewish Congress.

Pope Francis poses with a delegation of members of the World Jewish Congress, including its President Ronald S.Lauder, fourth from right next to the pontiff, at the Vatican, Monday, Sept. 2, 2013. – Photo: AP

 

The group said Monday that Pope Francis instructed the Vatican office in charge of relations with Jews to host a meeting next week to discuss the ban, which Jews consider a violation of their religious freedom. Continue Reading »

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| September 2, 2013
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Polish Jews petition kosher slaughter ban in Constitutional Court

Slaughter without stunning first, was made illegal in Poland as of January 1st. About 80 Polish firms, mainly selling kosher & halal products, will participate in an independent lawsuit against the state.

By JTA

 

 

Representatives of Poland’s Jewish communities have petitioned the Polish constitutional court to reverse a ban on kosher and halal slaughter methods.

File:Warszawa t konstytucyjny.jpg

Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

A statement released Friday by the Union of Jewish Religious Communities said the petition concerned “a collision of two laws,” a reference to two laws passed in 1997, one permitting ritual slaughter and the other prohibiting it.

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| August 26, 2013
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Hidden WWII Torah scroll in Polish monastery is returned

The mayor of Dabrowa Tarnowska gave the scroll to conservationists, and today it can be seen in the prayer hall of the former synagogue in southern Poland.

By JTA

 

WARSAW, Poland — A Torah scroll that since 1942 has been hidden in a Tuchow monastery was returned to the synagogue in Dabrowa Tarnowska in southern Poland.

A Torah scroll, a sheepskin document dating from 1155-1225 - Photo: Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna

This Torah scroll is a sheepskin document dating from 1155-1225 – Photo: Alma Mater Studiorum Universita’ di Bologna

The Torah was returned earlier this month but reported for the first time on Saturday.

It had been brought to the monastery in Tuchow, approximately 60 miles from Krakow, by an anonymous person who asked the Redemptorist priests to hold the scrolls until the synagogue in Dabrowa again became a place of prayer, according to Father Kazimierz Piotrowski of the Redemptorist monastery in Warsaw.

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Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| July 28, 2013
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Polish General accused of unethically preferring Israel-made drones

Poland’s General Waldemar Skrzypczak’s security clearance was withdrawn over his alleged illicit preference based on close personal ties with the head of Israel’s drone manufacturer.

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Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister General Waldemar Skrzypczak has been stripped of his security clearance over suspicions that he gave preferential treatment for acquiring Israeli military equipment and over his close personal ties with Yedidia Yaari, the head of Israeli armaments maker Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Skylark drone

A miniature drone, the Skylark. Photo by IDF Spokesman

The Polish Military Counterintelligence Service leveled the accusations at General Skrzypczak as the ministry planned to add a unit of unmanned aerial vehicles, based partly on Israeli-made aircraft, to the Polish Air Force. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 27, 2013
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Op-Ed: Poland’s goal of good Jewish relations remains clear

Polish democracy may take a few  missteps every once in a while, but its goal of good Jewish relations remains clear by their actions and investments.

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — For the past decade, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture and I myself, as Poland’s honorary consul in the Bay Area, have been involved directly in furthering the renaissance of Jewish life in Poland. The renaissance is viewed as a “miracle” in Poland and around the world.
shechita ritual

shechita ritual – Photo: Nati Shohat/Vosizneias.com

At my foundation, we receive communications every day from all corners of the globe congratulating and thanking us for our leadership in the rebirth of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Continue Reading »

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| July 24, 2013
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Polish Religious Minister asks Jews to sue over ritual slaughter in Constitutional Court

Boni met with two Jewish representatives Monday in Warsaw and asked them to challenge a de facto ban on ritual slaughter that has been in effect since January. The Polish parliament earlier this month defeated a bill that would have allowed ritual slaughter.

By JTA

 

A Polish government minister asked Jewish and Muslim representatives to petition the country’s Constitutional Court to sort out conflicting laws that have led to a ban on ritual slaughter.

Michał Boni, Polish Minister responsible for Religious Affairs

Michał Boni, Polish Minister responsible for Religious Affairs

According to a statement Monday by the office of Michal Boni, the Polish minister responsible for religious affairs, the minister asked the representatives to petition the court with regard to the 1997 Act on the Relation of the State to the Jewish Communities in Poland, which states that ritual slaughter may be performed in accordance with the needs of the local Jewish community.

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| July 12, 2013
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Polish Parliament votes to uphold ban on Kosher slaughter

Decision harms both Jews, Muslims. “The completely untrue idea that such slaughter is cruel, or even intentionally cruel, has triumphed,” said Polish Jewish community leaders.

By SAM SOKOL
 

 

The Polish parliament voted on Friday to uphold a ban on Kosher slaughter in the country. A government sponsored bill aimed at legalizing the practice of shechita, Hebrew for ritual slaughter, was shot down in the Sejm in a vote of 222 to 178.

shechita ritual

shechita ritual – Photo: Nati Shohat/Vosizneias.com

The ban went into effect in January. Combined with a decline in meat exports due to Poland’s implication in the European-wide horse meat scandal, the end of local ritual slaughter has caused harm to the eastern European country’s cattle ranchers and exporters.

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| February 15, 2013
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Polish call to Ashton: Make Efforts to Acknowledge Hizbullah as Terror Group

Polish MEP Michal Tomasz Kaminski has called on EU’s Ashton to step up Europe’s efforts to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization and stop their operations in EU member states as bases for money-laundering & fundraising.

By Elad Benari

 

Polish MEP Michal Tomasz Kaminski on Thursday called on EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to step up Europe’s efforts to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization after last week’s Bulgarian’s report that the Lebanese group was behind the terror attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas in July 2012.

Hezbollah rocket launcher

Hezbollah rocket launcher, used to kill Israeli civilians, in violation to the Geneva Conventions

The European Jewish Press (EJP) reported that in a written question to Ashton, ahead of Monday’s meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers where the issue is likely to come under discussion, Kaminski asked why the EU remains “reluctant to call Hizbulllah by its proper name”, after Ashton’s official response to the Burgas findings expressed “the need for a reflection over the outcome of the investigation.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 15, 2013
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Polish Culture Ministry ends grant for Holocaust journal

Holocaust Studies and Materials has been funded by the Ministry of Culture since its inception 8 years ago. The Center for Holocaust Research filed an appeal against the ministry’s decision to discontinue assistance.

By JTA

 

WARSAW — Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage will not continue funding a Holocaust journal.

Polish Center for Holocaust Research

 

The decision not to renew funding for the journal Holocaust Studies and Materials, published by Polish Center for Holocaust Research, was announced last week.

The Ministry of Culture provides grants for what it considers to be the most important national magazines. This year, however, the ministry changed the rules by which it allocates grants. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| January 21, 2013
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Italian students go to Poland to study the Holocaust

More than 700 students from 60 high schools & universities in southern Italy’s Puglia region made the trip.

Italy mandates Holocaust education in its public schools, and hundreds of students take part in educational trips to Auschwitz throughout the year.

By JTA

 

ROME  – Hundreds of Italian students traveled to Poland on special trips organized to mark international Holocaust Memorial Day.

Participants on a Holocaust educational trip set placards in memory of loved ones who perished in the Holocaust, Auschwitz, Poland. – Photo: Reuters

Some 130 high school students from all over Italy flew to Poland Sunday on the annual “Voyage of Memory” to Auschwitz and Krakow sponsored by the Italian Education Ministry in collaboration with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.
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| October 3, 2012
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18th Century Jewish headstones recovered from Vistula River in Poland

The 17 headstones pieces from the Jewish cemetery in Brodno were recovered from the bottom of the Vistula River.

By JTA

 

Pieces of Jewish gravestones found at the bottom of Poland’s longest river have been returned to a Jewish cemetery.

The 17 gravestone pieces from the Jewish cemetery in the Brodno district were found at the bottom of the Vistula River, which is at a record low water level due to drought.

Historians salvage 17th century marble and alabaster decorative structures in the Vistula River.

Historians salvage 17th century marble and alabaster decorative structures in the Vistula River. – Photo by AP

In addition to the gravestones, fittings of the Royal Palace in Warsaw including a fountain, vases and marble steps, which the Swedes tried to take out of the city in the seventeenth century, were also discovered. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| June 29, 2012
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Israelis line up for Polish citizenship

Number of Israeli citizens hoping to gain Polish citizenship has increased since Poland joined EU. Israelis say they view Polish passport as ticket to European prosperity

Itamar Eichner

 

Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, the Polish Embassy building in Tel Aviv has become a site of pilgrimage for a growing tide of Israelis who are seeking to claim Polish citizenship.

European passport Photo: Index Open

European passport - Photo: Index Open

Over 10,000 Israelis have applied to become citizens of their parents’ and grandparents’ homeland and received the sought-after document, according to the Polish Embassy in Israel.

According to data published on the occasion of the annual Business Opportunities in Poland conference, some 20,000 Israelis also hold Polish citizenship, some 50 percent of whom became Polish citizens after Poland joined the EU. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags:
| April 13, 2012
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Polish Football Club Brands Anti-Semitic T-Shirts

Anti-Semitic t-shirts are being sold outside the Polish football club, Widzew Lodz; “This is Widzew terrain, entry to Jews is forbidden”

 

Tee shirts with anti-Semitic slogans are being sold outside the Polish football club, Widzew Lodz, Polskie Radio reported on Thursday.

The items have been on sale in a pavilion next to the club’s official shop.

“This is Widzew terrain, entry to Jews is forbidden,” reads the slogan on one Tee shirt.

“Curl hunters,” referring to the side curls of Chassidic Jews, is written on the other, adopting the age-old anti-Semitic slur.

A woman working in the shop told Gazeta Wyborcza daily that such items sell well and make a decent profit, noted Polskie Radio. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| March 19, 2012
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Jewish Cemetery Vandalized in Poland

Perpetrators spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic images and slogans on graves, a Holocaust memorial and entrance to the Jewish cemetery

Polish police are investigating the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in northeastern Poland, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported.

Perpetrators spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic images and slogans on graves, a Holocaust memorial and entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Wysokie Mazowieckie near Bialystok, said Monika Krawczyk, the CEO of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

One of the slogans read “Here is Poland — not Israel,” which, according to Krawczyk, is a slogan used by Polish neo-Nazi groups. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| March 12, 2012
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Righteous Polish Gentiles Honored in Commemorative Coins

Poland issuing commemorative coins to honor Polish families killed by the Nazis for their efforts to save Jews in the Holocaust.

 

Poland is issuing commemorative coins to honor three Catholic-Polish families who were killed by the Nazis becaue of their efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported (JTA).

The National Bank of Poland is schedule to issue two coins, on March 15, honoring of the Ulma, Kowalski and Baranek families.

The coins come in denominations of two zlotys, worth about 65 cents, and 20 zlotys, worth about $6.50, the JTA explained.

Wincenty and Łucja Baranek, who lived in the village of Siedliska, were shot and killed on March 15, 1942 after the Nazis discovered eight Jews hiding in their home. Continue Reading »

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