r.
Digest
A U.N. For Religions?
One of Israel's two chief
Rome/JTA
rabbis renewed calls for a Jerusalem-
based "religious United Nations" to
promote dialogue.
Rabbi Yona Metzger was attending a
weeklong interreligious conference
organized by the Milan Archdiocese
and the St. Egidio community, a
Catholic social action group.
"We should form a permanent
assembly of religious leaders, like the
U.N. General Assembly, for interna-
tional political and diplomatic rela-
tions, with its permanent center in
Jerusalem," Metzger told the opening
session.
The ADL investigates and
exposes anti-Semitism
a plane crash last month that is being
investigated as a possible terrorist
attack.
—
Blood Center Backed
New
U.S. donors are giv-
York/JTA
ing $10 million to Israel's national
blood center.
The National Blood Services Center
of Magen David Adorn is responsible
for collecting, processing, testing and
distributing blood units and blood
products throughout Israel.
The donation by American Red
Magen David for Israel will help fund
the blood center's expansion plans. The
center currently collects 270,000 blood
units a year from volunteers. The pro-
posed plans would nearly double the
amount of testing and blood storage
possible for Israel.
Russian Victims Honored
Italian Jews are paying
Rome/JTA
tribute to the hundreds of victims of
recent terrorism in southern Russia.
During ceremonies marking the
annual European Day of Jewish
Culture, community leaders mourned
the dead and expressed solidarity with
the survivors.
"In these times, lacerated by vio-
lence, culture is democracy's only
defensive weapon," Amos Luzzatto,
president of the umbrella Union of
Italian Jewish Communities, said at the
Culture Day's opening ceremony in
Pisa, which held a moment of silence
for the victims.
—
—
Synagogue Rededicated
Hundreds of people
Moscow/JTA
attended events over the weekend
marking the inauguration of a renovat-
ed Moscow synagogue.
Agudas Chasidei Chabad Synagogue,
whose 19th-century building was
returned to Jews bty the government in
1991, was completely restored in a
multimillion-dollar renovation project.
In addition, the downtown Moscow
synagogue inaugurated its brand-new
multifunctional community center
built next to the synagogue. The syna-
gogue, which includes classrooms, a
bookstore, a lecture hall, a mikvah and
a restaurant, has been one of the prime
centers of Jewish life in the Russian
capital.
The shul also runs a kosher store and
provides kosher food packages to hun-
dreds of needy and elderly Jews every
day.
One of the facilities in the new
building was dedicated to the memory
of Tengiz Yakobashvili, a leading donor
in the renovation project, who died in
Jewish Theater In Kiev
Kiev,
Ukraine/JTA — The European
Day of Jewish Culture was marked in
Kiev by the opening ceremony of a
theater festival. The five-day
Wandering Stars International Festival
of Theater Art was sponsored by the
American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee and the local Jewish corn-
munity.
Professional and amateur theater
troupes from Ukraine, Russia and
Israel will participate in performances
and exhibitions on the history of
Jewish theater. The festival is co-organ-
ized by Ukrainian Jewish groups,
Ukrainian groups and the Ukrainian
government.
Since September 11, 2001, a new wave of
anti-Semitism has been spreading across
the world. The Anti-Defamation League is
at the forefront of the battle.
Call and tell us how you want to get involved.
Phone: 248-646-2440
The Anti-Defamation League . Michigan Region
E-mail: detroit@adlorg
Fax: 248-646-2462
www.acilorg
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—
French Cite Spielberg
Jacques Chirac praised
Paris/JTA
Steven Spielberg's work in preserving
the memory of the Holocaust.
The French president made his com-
ments during a ceremony in which the
American filmmaker received France's
Legion of Honor. Presenting Spielberg
with the award at a ceremony in the
Elysee Palace, Chirac said that thanks
to Spielberg's work, "that which risked
being lost with the gradual disappear-
ance of witnesses to the darkest hours
in the history of humanity could now
be preserved."
Spielberg's Shoah Foundation has
collected close to 40,000 Holocaust
survivor accounts.
Spielberg praised Chirac for his
efforts in combating anti-Semitism in
France while warning that "we have to
work very, very hard so that people
glorify differences and not condemn
them."
—
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