The country has only one rabbi, Avi Feldman, who initiated the Chabad Lubavitch of Iceland in 2018. Feldman and the community members have worked hard to gain Iceland’s formal approval of their presence.
Iceland has finally recognized Judaism as a religion. The process took over a year and, despite being home to a small Jewish community, Iceland has never before acknowledged the religion. Recognition was finally awarded on March 8.
“For Iceland to formally recognize the world’s oldest religion is in itself very significant,” Feldman explained.
The decision is so significant because it allows Jews to pay taxes towards their own religious institutions. Jewish marriages, baby-naming, and funerals will also be accepted by the civil law.
While once Iceland was mostly isolated, immigration to the country has steadily increased. Some of these immigrant are Jews who escaped northward during and after the Holocaust. According to Jewish community member Julian Burgos, “After World War II Jews began coming here in small numbers, but it was always a small community.”
When Rabbi Feldman first arrived in Iceland, the Jewish community had merely 100 members. However, “We meet local Jews whom we didn’t know previously every single week,” he said. Since then, the rabbi has found at least 300.
While most of the Jews live in the country’s largest city, Reykjavík, the rabbi said he has discovered scattered populations in the smaller cities of Akureyri and West Fjord. There are even Jews living in some of the fishing villages in the country’s outskirts.
With the growth of the Jewish community, Feldman has fought to support its culture and community in Iceland. The country’s first Holocaust memorial service was held in January 2020. Soon after that, the community danced through the street with their first Torah scroll. A menorah was erected on Hanukkah in the city’s center.
This official approval of Judaism “Will help Jewish life here grow and become even more active,” Feldman exclaimed.
His wife, Mushky added, “The Jewish people of Iceland have waited a long time for this to happen. The determination of the people in the community to get this done is really impressive…There’s a bright future for Jews under the Northern Lights.”
The EU’s drugs regulator said on Thursday that it had found the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine was “safe and effective” and was not linked to an increased risk of blood clots.
Around a dozen countries had suspended the use of the vaccine and were awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) safety committee.
“The committee has come to a clear scientific conclusion: this is a safe and effective vaccine,” Emer Cooke, the head of the Amsterdam-based EMA, told a press conference.
“Its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19 with the associated risks of death and hospitalisation outweigh the possible risks,” she said.
“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots.”
Cooke added: “If it was me I would be vaccinated tomorrow.”
The EMA said however that it “could not rule out definitively” a connection to a particularly rare type of clotting disorder and would update the vaccine’s product information.
“During the investigation and review we began to see a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious clotting disorder and this then triggered a more focused review,” she said.
“Based on the evidence available, and after days of in depth analysis of lab results, clinical reports, autopsy reports and further information from the clinical trials, we still cannot rule out definitively a link between these cases and the vaccine.”
The new warning in the vaccine information would draw attention to the “possible rare conditions” to help patients and healthcare professionals “stop and mitigate any possible side effects.”
The EMA was launching a further probe into the rare cases, she added.
Iceland has finally recognized Judaism as a religion. The process took over a year and, despite being home to a small Jewish community, Iceland has never before acknowledged the religion. Recognition was finally awarded on March 8.
The country has only one rabbi, Avi Feldman, who initiated the Chabad Lubavitch of Iceland in 2018. Feldman and the community members have worked hard to gain Iceland’s formal approval of their presence.
“For Iceland to formally recognize the world’s oldest religion is in itself very significant,” Feldman explained.
The decision is so significant because it allows Jews to pay taxes towards their own religious institutions. Jewish marriages, baby-naming, and funerals will also be accepted by the civil law.
While once Iceland was mostly isolated, immigration to the country has steadily increased. Some of these immigrant are Jews who escaped northward during and after the Holocaust. According to Jewish community member Julian Burgos, “After World War II Jews began coming here in small numbers, but it was always a small community.”
When Rabbi Feldman first arrived in Iceland, the Jewish community had merely 100 members. However, “We meet local Jews whom we didn’t know previously every single week,” he said. Since then, the rabbi has found at least 300.
While most of the Jews live in the country’s largest city, Reykjavík, the rabbi said he has discovered scattered populations in the smaller cities of Akureyri and West Fjord. There are even Jews living in some of the fishing villages in the country’s outskirts.
With the growth of the Jewish community, Feldman has fought to support its culture and community in Iceland. The country’s first Holocaust memorial service was held in January 2020. Soon after that, the community danced through the street with their first Torah scroll. A menorah was erected on Hanukkah in the city’s center.
This official approval of Judaism “Will help Jewish life here grow and become even more active,” Feldman exclaimed.
His wife, Mushky added, “The Jewish people of Iceland have waited a long time for this to happen. The determination of the people in the community to get this done is really impressive…There’s a bright future for Jews under the Northern Lights.”
Madison had been considering the move to a fully fine-free model since 2019, and in August ended most fines and zeroed out overdue accounts, ending the use of a collection agency. The library had been charging 25 cents a day for overdue adult items.
The …
Lucknow: “As artists, singers, flautists, we never see any differences due to religion with our counterparts,” said Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia on being asked about the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb and his experience of performing with other artists during a panel discussion with author-biographer Sathya Saran and singer Rekha Bharadwaj on the concluding day of Metaphor The Lucknow Lit Fest on Thursday. “Mujhe ye koi bataa de hum mein se kaun alag hai (Tell me who among us is different). Music brings us together, we perform at a temple as well as gurdwara. We are all alike. Music, or any form of art, doesn’t come out of religion, it comes from our soul and experiences,” he added. They discussed Chaurasia’s autobiography ‘Breath of Gold’ penned by Sathya Saran, and the musician’s life and trysts. Coming from a family of ‘pehelwans’, Chaurasia picked the path of music at a young age. Now 82, he says his ability to adapt, learn, and re-learn made him the artist he is. Sharing a personal anecdote when he was spotted by legendary music composer Baba Allauddin Khan, who asked him to come to Maihar but the fear of his father not allowing him to take music lessons stopped him. Khan told him to find his daughter Annapurna Devi if he ever wanted to learn music. “It took me three years to convince her to teach me. I would learn from her and take lessons late at night after finishing my film recordings,” he added. He also spoke of his love for spiritual places, which inspire him to create music, and the power of meditation, which has become the most serene and quintessential element of his daily life.
SYDNEY — The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has cast a light on the transformative effect of Bahá’í community-building activities on the lives of young people in Mount Druitt, a neighborhood in Sydney. In an article titled “The struggle for their streets,” the ABC describes how Bahá’í educational initiatives in Mount Druitt are “empowering young people to be the change they want to see in the community.”
The article highlights the vibrant community life that is taking shape through gatherings for prayer, discussion, and music, which has recently given rise to an initiative, titled “Manifold”, to produce songs that express the youth’s highest aspirations for their society.
Slideshow 4 imagesIn-person gatherings held according to safety measures required by the government. The vibrant community life in Mount Druitt has recently given rise to an initiative, titled “Manifold”, to produce songs that express the youth’s highest aspirations for their society.
Speaking with the Bahá’í World News Service, Siobhan Marin, the journalist who wrote the article, shares her motivation for covering the story: “It’s always a joy to travel to different parts of Sydney and to meet communities who aren’t often represented in the news with the aim of sharing their story.”
Ms. Marin explains that this neighbourhood had recently been negatively portrayed in the media, and her hope is to offer something different. “I was interested in how the local community, particularly youth, are using music and social activities to change the narrative.
Slideshow 4 imagesPhotograph taken before the current health crisis. The article highlights the vibrant community life that is taking shape in Mount Druitt through gatherings for prayer, discussion, and music.
“It struck me that the members of Manifold, and others in the community, are not only demonstrating a more positive pathway to youth—one that doesn’t involve drugs, alcohol or violence—they’re also highlighting the goodness that already exists in the area. It was heartwarming to hear about efforts to help younger generations flourish.”
She adds: “And, from the sounds of it, these efforts are not only benefiting kids in the community, they’re also strengthening social cohesion and a sense of pride and respect for the area—amongst the older generations, too.”
(Photo: Yoli Schwartz / Israel Antiquities Authority)Excavations in Muraba’at Cave.
Israeli researchers have unveiled dozens of newly discovered Dead Sea Scroll fragments of biblical texts dating back nearly 2,000 years, the first such find in 60 years.
The fragments are thought to have been hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome, have been found in an Israeli desert, NBC News reported on March 16.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that a four-year archaeological project uncovered portions of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, including the books of Zechariah and Nahum.
It was the first such discovery in 60 years.
Most of the scroll fragments are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands, The Times of Israel reported.
(Photo: Yaniv Berman / Israel Antiquities Authority)10,500 year old basket.
Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts.
The fragments from the Prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same “Cave of Horror” in Nahal Hever, which is some 80 meters (260 feet) below a cliff top.
The Israel Antiquities Authority press release said, the cave is “flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff.
In addition to the new biblical scroll fragments from the Books of the Minor Prophets, the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket, the oldest complete basket in the world.
There was also a 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep.
A CT scan revealed the child’s age was between 6 and 12 — with the skin, tendons and even hair partially preserved, NBC reported.
Among the recovered texts, which are all in Greek, is Nahum 1:5–6, which says: “The mountains quake because of Him, And the hills melt.
“The earth heaves before Him, The world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His wrath? Who can resist His fury? His anger pours out like fire, and rocks are shattered because of Him.”
Since 2017, the IAA has spearheaded an unprecedented rescue operation to salvage ancient artifacts from caves throughout the Judean Desert.
That effort stems from rampant looting that has occurred in the area since the much-heralded — and lucrative — discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bedouin shepherds some 70 years ago, said the IAA.
“The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind,” said Israel Antiquities Authority’s director Israel Hasson, who led the widespread rescue operation, in the IAA press release.
(Photo: Shai Halevi / Israel Antiquities Authority)The Scrolls Fragments before conservation in the IAA Lab.
The Georgia man accused of killing eight people at three Atlanta-area spas was, on the surface, like legions of other young men spread out across the South — involved in his church, devoted to his family, and a hunter.
It wasn’t until after Robert Aaron Long, 21, was arrested Wednesday that a secret he considered shameful came spilling out.
“He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction,” Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said.
The spas that Long allegedly targeted — and the mostly-Asian women who worked there and were killed there — were “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” Baker said.
Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday that Long, who has been charged with eight counts of murder, “may have frequented some of these places in the past.”
In an interview later with CNBC’s Shepard Smith, Reynolds said it doesn’t appear Long had any prior brushes with the law and they’re not aware if he’s ever been treated for sex addiction.
“I know he’s gone through a mental health evaluation here at the jail, that’s just standard protocol, but anything prior to that is still part of the investigation and, quite frankly, I don’t know,” he said.
So far, investigators have downplayed suggestions the shootings were also motivated by racial hatred. But at a time of rising anti-Asian American violence, which critics say former President Donald Trump fanned by insisting on calling Covid-19 the “China virus,” few were buying that assertion. Officials said that based on what Long told investigators, the attacks Tuesday did not appear to be motivated by race.
“It’s clear to me that his targets were no accident,” Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said Thursday on MSBNC.
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Baker himself is now under fire for promoting T-shirts with anti-Asian themes in the past. Reynolds defended Baker and said Thursday in a statement, “his personal ties to the Asian community and his unwavering support and commitments to the citizens of Cherokee County are well known to many.”
The tragic chain of events started around 5 p.m. Tuesday when four people were killed near Acworth in Cherokee County, authorities said. Less than an hour later, four women were killed in two shootings in Atlanta in Fulton County.
Long was arrested after his parents saw a photo of him released by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office as a suspect and notified the authorities.
His arrest stunned the tight-knit congregation at the Crabapple First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, which the suspect attended and where his father is an important lay leader, according to The Washington Post.
“We are grieved to hear the tragic news about the multiple deaths in the Atlanta area,” said a statement signed by the “elders of the Crabapple First Baptist Church.” It said, “We are heartbroken for all involved. We grieve for the victims and their families, and we continue to pray for them. Moreover, we are distraught for the Long family and continue to pray for them as well.”
Elder Jerry Dockery and other church leaders have not responded to requests for comment.
Long, who went by his middle name Aaron and is from Woodstock, Georgia, was described on the church website as a member of the Student Ministry Team.
His former youth minister, Brett Cottrell, told The Washington Post that Long was part of a high school group that met for Bible study once a week and that he helped run a backyard Bible club with songs and games for children.
Cottrell, who has not led the youth ministry since 2017, said he’s not sure how involved Long has been with the church now. But he said the Long family regularly attended Sunday services. He said the congregation was mostly white, but there were a few Asian American and Black members.
“There’s nothing that I’m aware of at Crabapple that would give approval to this,” Cottrell told the Post of the shootings. “I’m assuming it’s as shocking and numbing to them as it has been to me.”
Long’s former classmate at Sequoyah High School in Canton recalled that he brought a Bible to school every day and would walk around holding it in his hands.
He was “super nice, super Christian, very quiet,” Nico Straughan, 21, told The Associated Press. “He went from one of the nicest kids I ever knew in high school to being on the news yesterday.”
In a Facebook post that was seen by The Daily Beast and has since been taken down, Long described how he came to Jesus in the seventh grade after hearing the biblical story about the prodigal son at a Christian youth group meeting. And in an Instagram post that has also been taken down, Long described his world this way:
“Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God,” it said on the tagline, The Daily Beast reported. “This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life.”
But Long also had an interest in bow hunting and a photograph of him posing with a freshly killed deer was posted on the website of Backwoods Bowstrings, an archery business located in Woodstock.
Business owner Shannon Gott, 54, said Long came into the store about once a year to buy arrows and other gear. He said that his photo wound up on the site last year because they encourage customers to send them shots of successful bow hunts.
“I don’t want to be associated with this idiot in any way, nor my people associated with him,” Gott said.
Gott, who later removed the photo from the site, said he intends to post an apology on Facebook “to the families that this affected.”
“We have now taken it down and we will post nothing else from this person,” he said.
The apology went up Thursday.
“Backwoods Bowstrings sincerely regrets the loss associated with one of our previous customer’s actions, and apologizes for any grievance had from having this deer harvest photo in our social media galleries,” the statement, in part, read.
