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Shavei Profile: A Priest No More - Baruch Garcia rediscovers his Jewish roots in Barcelona

Baruch Garcia
Baruch Garcia

 

Baruch Garcia was in his fourth year studying to become a priest in Barcelona, Spain, when he realized that he had another, much stronger calling - to reclaim his Jewish roots as a Bnei Anousim (a descendant of Spanish or Portuguese Jews forced to convert to Catholicism in the Middle Ages). 

  

With great courage, he left behind everything he thought he knew about himself and today is a leader in the Bnei Anousim community, attending religious services, organizing meetings of other Bnei Anousim in isolated villages, and translating the weekly Portion of the Week that Shavei Israel sends to him into Spanish.

 

Now, at age 40, he tells his story he tells his story for the first time.

Rabbi Ellis conducting the havdalah service in Katowice
Rabbi Ellis conducting the havdalah service in Katowice

A Jewish festival in southern Poland

 

humus making workshop in southern Poland, in a town with scarcely more than 100 Jews? That was just one of the culinary and cultural events at the "Sababa" festival held in Katowice last month. 

 

Shavei Israel's emissary to the region, Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis, participated in the event by conducting the havdalah service at the conclusion of Shabbat.

 

Sababa means "cool" in modern Hebrew slang and the local organizers set out to showcase the Jewish heritage of the Katowice region which, before the Nazis invaded in 1939, was home to over 10,000 Jews. Today, there are only 120 Jews officially registered as members of the Jewish community, but an estimated 1,000 "hidden Jews" and possibly more reside in the area.

 

Click here to read more about the festival and to see some exclusive photos from havdalah taken by Krzystof Krzeminski, a local professional photographer and member of the Katowice Jewish community.

Place your vote now in our exclusive Bnei Menashe photo contest! 

Sukka in Bnei Menashe community of Sijang
Sukka in Bnei Menashe community of Sijang

 

We are now entering the second week of our Bnei Menashe photo contest. One of the highlights of the holiday of Sukkot for the Bnei Menashe in India is the annual sukka competition, which Shavei Israel has sponsored since 2010. 

  

You now have the opportunity to vote for your favorite Bnei Menashe sukkot. We have pictures of sukkot from 11 diferent Bnei Menashe communities.

    

Visit our Facebook page here to participate! 

 

We'll be sending the results back to India. Knowing that the wider Facebook world is participating "virtually" in the sukka competition this year will be immensely gratifying to the Bnei Menashe.

 

You can see even more pictures here on our website.

Roots #71 - Oct. 30, 2012

  

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Shavei Israel reaches out and assists Lost Tribes and "Hidden 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. We welcome your support.  

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