The Museum of Southern Jewish Experience is slated to open in fall 2020 in New Orleans. Exhibits will explore the ways Jews in the American south influenced and were influenced by the distinct cultural heritage of their communities. Content will cover 13 states and more than 300 years of history, including Colonial times, the Civil War, WWII, and the Civil-Rights Movement.

“This will be the only museum in the country to focus exclusively on the history and culture of Jews .

An ancient synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt, has been renovated, reopened and rededicated by the government. The renovation work on the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, built in 1881, started in 2017 after the two-story building suffered a partial collapse. The location is the home of the previous synagogue that historians say was erected in 1354 CE.

The synagogue is distinctive architecturally, known for its ruby columns and marble floors. The synagogue is said to be the last active Jewish house of worship in the coastal city of Alexandria, which at one time was home to about 40,000 Jews; today, only a handful are left.

Renovations included structural reinforcement of the building, restoration of the main façade, cleaning of brass and wooden objects, and development of security and lighting systems.

Thousands of people, some covered in Israeli flags and others singing Hebrew songs, poured into Lower Manhattan on Sunday, Jan. 5, in a show of solidarity for New York’s Jewish community in the wake of a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the region. The violence has shaken the Jewish community in the New York area and underscored the startling rise of hate crimes across the country, the New York Times said.

The most recent attack occurred inside a Hasidic rabbi’s home in Monsey, NY, when a man wielding a machete stabbed at least five people who had gathered for Hanukkah celebrations. In December, a shooter opened fire at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, NJ.

Demonstrators marched from Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn, where community leaders spoke of unity in the face of anti-Semitism. The march was organized by UJA-Federation of NY, the Jewish Community Relations Council of NY, ADL-NY, AJC-NY, and the New York Board of Rabbis.

Days before the march, 90,000 Jews gathered at MetLife Stadium and 20,000 thronged to Barclays Center to mark a traditional religious celebration, known as the Siyum HaShas, or “completion of the Talmud,” which carried extra meaning in light of the recent attacks.

The number of hate crimes reported last year in New York City rose around 20 percent, compared to 2018, police said.                     [Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Associated Press]

Facing a crowd of well-wishers in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh were the royal family, guests from around the world, and a rabbi. They were there to celebrate the belated bat mitzvah of Elior Koroghli of Las Vegas. Her father, Ray (Rahamim), is a Persian Jew, and her mother Susie (Sarah Bracha) is the Washington, DC-born granddaughter of His Majesty King Monivong, who ruled Cambodia until his death in 1941. Elior’s bat mitzvah was the first-ever Jewish milestone celebrated by the Cambodian royal family.

The celebration in Cambodia this year was the brainchild of Susie Koroghli, who wanted her children, who live a full Jewish life in Las Vegas, to also know of their royal and cultural roots.

Susie Koroghli’s journey to Judaism is an unlikely one. Her father, Thay Sok, served as a Cambodian diplomat to the United States; Susie, known as Sathsowi Thay, grew up in a Buddhist home. Ray left Iran to study in America, and met Susie, who began a journey of self-discovery that resulted in her conversion to Judaism.

The family often hosts as many as 30 guests for a Shabbat meal, and many more for Jewish holidays.

Twenty-five Jewish members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined a growing coalition of public figures urging President Donald Trump to fire White House senior advisor Stephen Miller over emails leaked last month that show he pushed white nationalist talking points ahead of the 2016 election.

In an open letter released Dec. 20, the lawmakers called on Trump to dismiss Miller from his administration because “his documented support for white nationalist and virulently anti-immigrant tropes is wholly unacceptable and disqualifying for a government employee.”

The 25 lawmakers are led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla).

Britain’s Prince Charles has accepted an invitation by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to take part in the fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, scheduled for Jan. 23. The event, titled “Remembering the Holocaust, fighting Anti-Semitism,” is a joint project by the world Holocaust Forum Foundation and Yad Vashem. It will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

The United Kingdom also revealed that the Prince’s itinerary will include a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories, where he will be a guest of the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

Prince Charles last visited Jerusalem in 2016 to attend the funeral of Shimon Peres on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. He also represented the queen at the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin.