Israeli Spacecraft Stumbles On Moon Landing
A small Israeli spacecraft, named Beresheet (Genesis) appears to have crashed on the moon on April 11. “We didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” said Morris Kahnm, an Israeli entrepreneur and president of SpaceIL, the nonprofit that undertook the mission.
If the historic mission had succeeded, the robotic lander would have been the first on the moon built by a private organization, and it would have added Israel to just three nations — the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China — to have accomplished that feat.
But the craft stumbled on the last part of its journey, the landing, the riskiest part. At the end, with the main engine cutting in and out, communication was lost, and nothing more was heard from Beresheet. The mission cost about $100 million, the New York Times reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who attended the launch at the mission’s command center in Yehud, Israel, said, “If at first you don’t succeed, you try again.”
In February Beresheet had orbited the moon, an accomplishment that has been done by only five nations and the European Space Agency.
The annual Shabbat 1800 dinner went off without a hitch at Binghamton University, uniting a diverse group of college students and some faculty members, as it has been doing for a quarter of a century. In fact, it has held the national record for gathering the most Jewish students in one place for a Shabbat meal and celebration. But this year topped them all, with a total of 1,850 participants, Jewish News Service reported. To date, more than 50 college campuses throughout North America and abroad have replicated this Shabbat dinner model since its inception at BU in 1994. Photo/Chabad of Binghamton
Important Painting Stolen By Nazis Is Returned To Heirs
A painting stolen from the family of art collector Adolphe Schloss by Germans during the WWII occupation of France will be returned to his descendants in New York, the French consulate said in a statement. The painting, Dutch artist Salomon Koninck’s 1639 “A Scholar Sharpening His Quill,” was part of an important collection of Flemish and Dutch works owned by Schloss, a Jewish man who lived in Paris. Its return on April 1, facilitated by FBI agents, took place at the French consulate. Millions of items owned by Jews and in art galleries were confiscated under the Nazi-aligned French Vichy government’s anti-Semitic laws during the German occupation. Manhattan prosecutors regularly submit requests to return goods stolen during the war.
Rabbis Offer Pastoral Care To Jewish Soldiers In German Military
For the first time in nearly a century, Germany’s military will consist of rabbis, making pastoral services available to some 300 Jews serving in the Bundeswehr. “This is an important signal at a time when anti-Semitism, religious polarization and narrow-mindedness are on the march in many places,” said Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
“It is a great development,” Yehuda Teichtal, rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin, told Jewish News Service (JNS). “It will surely have a positive effect not only on Jewish people, but on the entire military as well,” he said.
Nazi concentration camp survivor Petro Mishuk of Ukraine passes the camp entrance with the slogan “To Each His Own” prior to a minute of silence in memory of the victims at commemoration ceremonies for the 74th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, on April 11. On April 11, 1945, units of the 3rd U.S. Army reached Ettersberg Hill.
AP Photo/Jens Meyer
Shard Discovered In Beersheva Reveals Proof Of Jewish Life There
The remains of a Jewish settlement of the Second Temple period, including the shard of a rare oil lamp depicting a menorah with nine branches, have been discovered for the first time in Beersheva, revealing proof of Jewish day-to-day life there, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with the menorah, limestone vessels used by Jews for ritual purity were uncovered.
The site, dated from the first century C.E. until the Bar-Kochba Revolt in 135 C.E., also appears to contain underground hidden passageways used by Jewish rebels. The site is located along the southern border of the ancient kingdom of Judah, next to a road that led from Tel Beersheva to the southern coastal plain.
Holocaust Train Car Arrives In New York For Museum Exhibit
A crane lowered a train car onto tracks outside the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York — a boxcar that carried Jews and others to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. It will be featured alongside several hundred Holocaust artifacts for one of the largest exhibits on Auschwitz, opening on May 8, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, some 74 years after liberation.
The memorabilia in the exhibit, titled “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago, Not Far Away,” includes a gas mask used by the SS; a helmet and a dagger belonging to Heinrich Himmler, who oversaw the concentration and death camps; and a desk belonging to Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss, among other items.
The exhibit will run through Jan. 3, 2020.
American Jewish Illustrators Is The Theme of JAHM 2019
Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), a national commemoration of the contributions that American Jews have made to the nation’s history and culture, has announced a theme for the May 2019 celebration: American Jewish Illustrators. This year’s theme highlights those Jews who have helped create the nation’s beloved children’s books, iconic graphic novels and their superheroes, and syndicated comics and illustrations.
First established by presidential proclamation in 2006 and renewed every year since, JAHM encourages people of all backgrounds to learn and draw inspiration from the more than 360-year history of Jewish life in this country.
In 2018, the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) became the home of JAHM. Located on historic Independence Mall in Philadelphia, NMAJH is the country’s only institution dedicated to telling the story of American history through the lens of the Jewish experience.
For more information about exhibits supporting the JAHM theme, visit the museum’s website NMAJH.org/
Characters In Beards, Black Suits And Side Curls Are Netflix Stars
When the venerable New York Times devoted a full page to a Netflix series about a family of Haredim, The Shofar decided it was time to take a look at “Shtisel,” an Israeli series in which the characters are, as Times writer Joseph Berger described them, “black-hatted, side-curled men and bewigged women of ultra-Orthodox Judaism.”
This insular subculture, unfamiliar even to many Jews let alone other faiths, vividly portrays the traditions and customs of the observant while endearing its viewers to the characters and everyday stories that occupy all families of all faiths. “Shtisel” tells the many intertwined stories of the Shtisel family, led by Shulem Shtisel, a proud Torah scholar, and his children, Akiva, as yet unmarried in spite of intense matchmaking, and Giti, a mother of six with an scheming husband. Together, the family’s storylines tell tales not so much of religious life in Jerusalem, but rather of universal drama — unrequited love, unfaithful husbands, and unfulfilled goals in the slog of daily life.
Watching the show, one is so caught up with the human drama and its comic asides that although the beards and black hats are there, they become secondary to the narrative. The response on social media has been so strong since the show started streaming on Netflix in December that the creators are contemplating a third season.
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