About us
Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org) reaches out and assists "lost Jews"
seeking to return to the Jewish people. These include the Bnei Menashe
of India, the Bnei Anousim of Spain, Portugal & South America, the
"Hidden Jews" of Poland and others.
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Please support Shavei Israel
We need your help to continue with our mission. You can volunteer or make a donation by following this link. We are an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
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Class at Machon Miriam  | Special Shavuot Campaign to aid Machon Miriam students
Each week, more than 100 men and
women from around the world gather to study at Shavei Israel's Spanish-language Machon Miriam Jewish Institute for
Return and Conversion in Jerusalem. They come from far-flung places such as
Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica.
Some, such as Yonatan from
Barcelona, are Bnei Anousim (people
whose ancestors were compelled to convert Catholicism more than 5 centuries ago
at the time of the Spanish Inquisition). Others, like Miriam from Peru, had
Jewish forebears who assimilated and nearly lost their identity.
What brings them together is a
desire to engage their heritage and return to their roots. At Machon Miriam
they find a warm and loving environment where they are able to deepen their
knowledge and faith as they prepare to rejoin the Jewish people.
Because most of our students
come to Israel with limited financial resources, Shavei does not charge them any tuition for the year-long program.
Nonetheless, many still confront
great difficulties in supporting themselves and their families as they prepare
to undergo a formal return to Judaism under the auspices of Israel's Chief
Rabbinate.
So with the approach of the
festival of Shavuot, when we
celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and its pivotal role as the
paradigm of Jewish education, we turn to you now and ask you to support
Yonatan, Miriam and the many other students who come to Israel through Shavei Israel by contributing generously
to the Machon Miriam Financial Aid Campaign.
Proceeds will be used to help
our students overcome the various challenges they face as they make the long
journey home to Zion and the Jewish people. Please click here today to
make your donation.
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Yaakov Wang  | Shavei profile: Yaakov Wang - a Chinese Jew finds his way home
When Yaakov Wang joined
friends for dinner growing up in Kaifeng, China, he was the only one who did
not order pork - a big deal in a country where that particular non-kosher dish
is a cultural and culinary norm. But for Wang, a member of Kaifeng's small Jewish
community, it was one of the only ways he knew to express his Jewish heritage.
Jews have lived in Kaifeng,
once one of the capitals of Imperial China, for over a thousand years, arriving
originally as merchants from Persia or Iraq plying their trade along the fabled
Silk Route. The community numbered as many as 5,000 at its peak in the Middle
Ages, but has since dwindled to just several hundred descendants. The last
synagogue closed 150 years ago.
Today, the Jews of Kaifeng
know relatively little about their heritage - but they continue to nourish the
dream of returning to the land of their ancestors and immigrating to Israel.
Wang was one of the lucky ones. With the help of Shavei Israel, he has been
studying in Hebrew, along with six other young men from Kaifeng, at Kibbutz Sde
Eliyahu in Israel's Jordan Valley.
Wang is passionate about
mastering Hebrew, in part thanks to the influence of his grandfather. "He
knew Jews had their own language," Wang explains, "but he didn't know
the language itself."
Over the last decade,
visitors to Kaifeng - including a number of young Israelis backpacking through
Asia - have brought books in Hebrew and Jewish ritual objects such as mezuzahs
and a shofar to China. In addition, Jews visiting from abroad have met with
members of Kaifeng's Jewish community and taught them more about Jewish
tradition and culture.
To read the
full story, please click here to continue to the Shavei.org
website.
On the Shavei Israel
YouTube site, you can see video of Kaifeng Jews singing songs in
Hebrew back in China. Wang is in the video (he's the young man in the back corner behind the
wine bottle). There is also a new video news report on Yaakov and the six other young men from Kaifeng studying at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in Israel - click here to view it.
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This month in social media
Here's some of what we posted on the Shavei Facebook site this month:- The latest issue of Viewpoint from the National Council of Young Israel includes articles on the Bnei Menashe and Kaifeng Jewish communities written by Shavei Chairman
Michael Freund.
- We have pictures from the Bnei Menashe Israeli Independence Day celebration in Manipur. Plus an article on the Arutz 7 website about the joyous day in India.
- Continuing with coverage of the Bnei Menashe, the U.K.'s Times Online profiles the community.
- A look at the Mountain Jews of the Eastern Caucasus and the dying Jewish language of Juhuri.
- After returning from Krakow, Poland, Michael writes about "the Eternity of Israel" in the Jewish Press.
- Coverage (including pictures) of the Shavei Israel seminar in Krakow for the hidden Jews of Poland.
- Passover in India - an article from the GlobalPost
- Link to a great article in The New York Times about the Kaifeng Jews.
- Our article (featured in the last issue of Roots) on Bnei Anousim Dr. Jonathan Curci.
 There are also several new videos on YouTube this month: - We posted two videos about the Shavei sponsored Bet Miriam community center for Bnei Menashe in Kiryat Arba (in both Hebrew and English).
- Michael Freund visited India and took two videos of a Bnei Menashe women's choir in the Manipur city of Churachandpur.
- We produced a new video about the Kaifeng Jews who have immigrated to Israel and are studying Hebrew and Judaism at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu (in English and Hebrew).
- There is also a new video about Shavei Israel's activities produced by
Jerusalem Educators Technology Seminars and featuring an interview with Michael Freund.
Remember, we have dozens of videos of "lost" Jewish
communities on our YouTube site. Visit us at http://www.youtube.com/user/ShaveiIsrael
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