An aerial night view rendering of the proposed Abrahamic Family House, including, from left, a mosque, a church, and a synagogue, on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. The three houses of worship will stand together as a symbol of the kind of religious tolerance for which the United Arab Emirates wants to be known, and is meant to be seen as a sign of hope.                                             Adjaye Associates image

“A Polish teenager in southeastern Poland began keeping a diary months before the advent of WWII,” Joanna Berendt wrote in the New York Times. Berendt explained how the girl, Renia Spiegel, chronicled life under two totalitarian regimes: the Soviets who advanced from the east, and the Nazis who came from the west.

The diary, kept in a safe deposit box in New York City for decades by Renia’s sister, Elizabeth Bellak, has been described as a counterpart to Anne Frank’s diary, a valuable historical document and a poignant coming-of-age story. The sister said she couldn’t bear to read it, knowing that Renia had been shot dead by the Nazis when she and her parents were discovered in hiding. But Elizabeth’s daughter, Alexandra, recognized the historical value of the diary, and sought a publisher.

Now, the 700-page journal, titled Renia’s Diary,  has been published in English and released to bookstores in 13 countries, including Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States.

A 2,600-year-old seal bearing a Hebrew name was uncovered recently in earth excavated in 2013 from beneath Robinson’s Arch at the foundations of the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem. The seal bears a name and also a role — the most prominent in the courts of the kings of Judah and Israel. The seal, which was used to sign documents, bears the Hebrew name and title “Adoniyahu asher al habayit.” The term, which means royal steward, is used throughout the Bible to describe the most senior official serving under a king of Judea or Israel.

The Israel Antiquities Authority conducted the initial excavation. The seal signifies a link in the long chain of Jewish history in Jerusalem, said Doron Spielman of the City of David Foundation, which operates the site where the seal was discovered.

Eliyahu Yanai photo, City of David

Bloomberg Philanthropies has partnered with the Israeli Ministry of the Interior and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation to expand Hazira, a new effort to advance civic innovation in Israeli Municipalities.

Hazira, currently active in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beersheva, will expand the I-Teams program to 12 new cities in Israel over five years. The aim is to encourage innovation in order to provide city leaders with reliable ways to adapt and implement solutions that improve the lives of residents. “Cities have to find creative ways to address complex challenges with limited resources. Innovation teams help them do that,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York has announced that a shofar hidden and blown in the Auschwitz concentration camp 75 years ago will be added to the museum’s traveling exhibit, “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” The shofar was given from one prisoner to another with the message: “I’m going to die. If you live, take this shofar. Tell them we blew the shofar at Auschwitz. Prisoner Chaskel Tydor survived, and took the shofar with him to Israel and then to America. His daughter is loaning the shofar to show the great lengths imprisoned Jews went to practice their religion during the Holocaust, she said. The exhibit is on view until Jan. 3, 2020.

Bloomberg Philanthropies has partnered with the Israeli Ministry of the Interior and the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation to expand Hazira, a new effort to advance civic innovation in Israeli Municipalities.

Hazira, currently active in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beersheva, will expand the I-Teams program to 12 new cities in Israel over five years. The aim is to encourage innovation in order to provide city leaders with reliable ways to adapt and implement solutions that improve the lives of residents. “Cities have to find creative ways to address complex challenges with limited resources. Innovation teams help them do that,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has donated the money it received from winning the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news reporting to the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. On Shabbat morning, Oct. 27, 2018, 11 Jewish worshippers at the synagogue were shot and killed by a gunman. It was the deadliest attack in American Jewish history.

The publication won the $15,000 prize in April. The Pulitzer is one of journalism’s highest honors.