International Holocaust Remembrance Day - January 27, 2011
On January 27 we mark the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp AUSCHWITZ. We lost 2.500.000 of our brothers and sisters through the cruelty of the Nazis in this camp. AUSCHWITZ is the symbol of the suffering of our people. We will never forget our brothers and sisters.
This day of memory is a reminder for us always to be alert and aware that there is always a threat to our people.
One of the lessons of the Holocaust is to understand that only if we the Jewish people stand united, we will survive in this hostile world.
On a day like this we want to remember all our Jewish athletes, the Maccabeans the Hakoahnes, who vanished.
We want to remember our Viennese Jewish athletes. We, their descendants, their children and grandchildren, wish they could see us coming to their hometown to be part of the European Maccabi Games in July 2011.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly this year, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas (aka "Abu Mazen") denied the ancient Jewish presence and connection to the Land of Israel. While violating the PA's international agreements by refusing to negotiate with Israel and trying to fast-track to Palestinian statehood, Abbas in New York greeted the world "from Palestine, the Land of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ."
Dear Friends, We celebrate Succot from the evening of Wednesday October 12th until the afternoon of Wednesday October 19th and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah from the evening of Wednesday October 19th until the afternoon of Friday October 21st (in the Diaspora; in Israel it is just one day).
Message from Rabbi Carlos Tapiero - Yom Yerushalaim 2011
Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day celebrates the city's liberation by the Israel Defense Forces during the 6 Day War 44 years ago. Our Millennial City, the capital of Jewish Civilization since its founding by King David, capital of the First Jewish Commonwealth destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.e., and of the Second, destroyed by the Romans in 70 c.e., was reunified and restored to the sovereignty of the Jewish State.
Dear Friends, We celebrate Shavuot from the evening of Tuesday, June 7 until the afternoon of Thursday, June 9thin the Diaspora; and from the evening of Tuesday, June 7th until the afternoon of Wednesday June 8 in Israel.
Message from Rabbi Carlos Tapiero - Lag Ba Omer 2011
Lag Ba Omer -
Mourning, Hope and National Redemption
Rabbi Akiva, the greatest rabbi of the Mishnah and spiritual leader of the Jewish people, knew that the end of his life was near. The great revolt of Bar Kochvah- "son of the Star", now called Bar Koziba, "the son of deception" - had failed, resulting in the brutal deaths of more than half a million Jews in the Land of Israel and persecution of the Jewish People throughout the length and breadth of the Roman Empire.
Message from Rabbi Carlos Tapiero - Yom Ha'atzmaut 2011
Israel's 63rd Independence Day
In the 6 decades of Israel's independence, any Jew who wants to live here is automatically entitled to do so. Through the work of our National Institutions - the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization - we have grown used to the fact that any Jew, after a short bureaucratic procedure, is enrolled as citizen and joins his or her destiny with that of the Jewish State.
Purim, probably the most joyous festival in the collective practice of our people, celebrates the salvation of our ancestors under Persian rule during the reign of King Ahasuerus – in Hebrew, "Achashverosh" – some 2.400 years ago. It marks the first time in our national history, in the era of the Second Temple, we were in danger of mass slaughter at the hands of a dictator, Haman, and his followers.
Message from Rabbi Carlos Tapiero - Tu Bishvat 2011
Tu Bishvat – the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shvat - celebrates "the New Year of Trees", meaning the renewal of the natural cycle in the Land of Israel, represented by the flowering of the shkediah - the almond tree during the peak of the Israeli winter.
