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Thursday September 6, 2007

Shorts: World

Jewish woman eyes Moroccan parliament

A Jewish woman is campaigning for a seat in Morocco’s parliament.

Maggie Cacoun, a centrist politician known for her work on women’s rights, is considered among the front-runners in an election for the Rabat assembly to be held later this week.

Since details on her ethnic background emerged, Cacoun, 54, has been at pains to stress her patriotism as a Moroccan.

“I do not want to be treated as a Jew,” Cacoun said in one interview. “I did not seek permission to run from the Jewish community. The only person I consulted with was my husband, and he gave me his blessing.”

Most of Morocco’s Jews left decades ago, mainly for Israel or Europe, but the 5,000 or so who remain tend to voice satisfaction about living in the moderate Muslim Arab country. — jta

Cleanups don’t deter Toronto vandals

Vandals continue to spray-paint anti-Semitic slogans and other offensive graffiti in a Toronto neighborhood despite cleanup efforts by volunteers.

The vandals have left threatening notes and thrown rocks through the windows of local residents who have removed the graffiti from garage doors and other spaces.

“Figuratively speaking, the perpetrators have said, ‘Oh yeah?’ and it’s escalated, it’s a war now,” said Police Superintendent Paul Gottschalk, who has tripled police patrols in the east Toronto neighborhood.

Gottschalk said the graffiti is likely not the work of gangs. He noted that two lanky teens were seen hanging around a school that was spray-painted. “I’ll bet you it’s someone living right around the corner,” he said. — jta

Chabad center opens in Berlin

Berlin’s new Chabad house opened. The sanctuary and study rooms of the Szloma Albam House-Rohr Chabad Center, located in the former West Berlin, overflowed with guests for the Sunday, Sept. 2 event. The building project, which took several years to build, cost about $7 million. Most of the money came from private donations, according to Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal, director of the center.

Speakers included German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Tel Aviv; Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in New York City; and William Timken, the U.S. ambassador to Germany.— jta

Estonian capital gets new mikvah

The first new mikvah built in Estonia since World War II opened in the capital of Tallinn.

Some 100 guests attended a small ceremony last week marking the opening of the Mei Menachem Mikvah, according to a report by the Chabad.org news service. All the guests were Jewish women married to Jewish men.

Estonia has been without a mikvah since the Nazis destroyed it, along with its synagogues. The country’s first new synagogue since the war opened in Tallinn in May.

The mikvah, located in the Beit Bella Synagogue, is part of the process of revitalizing Jewish life in this tiny Baltic nation, said Estonia’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kot. — jta

Israeli stones grace new Berlin center

A little bit of Israel has been moved to Berlin: A gleaming new wall modeled after the famous one in the Old City of Jerusalem now graces the new Chabad Jewish community center in Berlin. Albam House is the first privately funded Jewish community center in Germany since World War II, said center director Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal.

Why bring 19 tons of Jerusalem stone to Berlin?

The Western Wall in Israel is “probably the most powerful symbol of the survival of the Jewish people,” Teichtal said. “Of course if someone asks, they should go to Israel. But we know there are 200,000 people of the Jewish faith in Germany, and we have to make it possible for them to learn.”

The new center, whose design by architect Sergei Tchoban was nominated for a prize, has a synagogue, classrooms and kosher facilities. The main donors were the Szloma Albam Foundation and the Rohr Foundation. “— jta

Zambian soccer player dies in Israel

A Zambian soccer player recruited by an Israeli team died during training. Chaswe Nsofwe, a striker who joined Hapoel Beersheba in August, collapsed on the pitch with heart failure Aug. 29. He was 27, and is survived by a wife and son in Zambia. Teammates said Nsofwe was a skilled goal-scorer who quickly fit in socially, despite his lack of Hebrew. A doctor saw no signs of health problems in the player. — jta

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