Comments (0)Some 100 Cantors Touring Poland
June 29, 2009Vienna
JTA Wire Service
As many as 100 cantors from North America, Israel and Europe are on an unprecedented concert tour of Poland.
This week’s trip is part of a Cantors Assembly mission called “Poland to Israel: A Journey Through Time,” and the group will go on to Israel after its Poland engagements.
Appearances in Poland kick off Tuesday with performances in Warsaw at the National Opera House and at the site of the Warsaw Ghetto during the ceremony kicking off construction of the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The cantors also will sing at the Nozyk Synagogue, the only Warsaw synagogue to have survived World War II intact.
Cantors Ivor Lichterman of Tucson, Ariz., and Joel Lichterman of Denver, the sons of Nozyk Synagogue’s last prewar cantor, are part of the group.
The cantors will lead a memorial service Thursday at Auschwitz-Birkenau before heading to Krakow for the annual Festival of Jewish Culture. They also will perform July 5 at Krakow’s Philharmonic Hall to celebrate American Independence Day.
Nathan Lam, chairman of the Cantors Assembly of the United States and the senior cantor at Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, is co-chairing the mission. Support for the tour also comes from the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture.
Egypt Temporarily Opens Rafah-Gaza Border
Egypt opened its Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip for three days.
The crossing opened Saturday, allowing 100 Palestinians seeking medical treatment, students and visa holders to leave Gaza, the French news agency AFP reported.
Some 5,000 Palestinians are expected to cross over in the next three days.
Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing after Hamas’ takeover of Gaza two years ago, but opens it occasionally.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was present for the opening, called the closing of the terminal two years ago “a mistake.” He said “the suffering of Gaza residents is extreme—words cannot describe it.”
Haniyeh said Hamas was ready to operate the crossing in conjunction with the Egyptians.
U.N. Panel Opens Gaza Hearings
A United Nations panel investigating alleged human rights violations during Israel’s military operation in Gaza opened public hearings.
The two days of hearings beginning Sunday at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency headquarters in Gaza City are being overseen by South African Jewish prosecutor Richard Goldstone, who heads the delegation, which arrived Friday in Gaza.
Palestinian witnesses and victims will testify, as will emergency workers, according to reports.
The panel will hold similar hearings in Geneva next month, to which Israeli witnesses and victims are invited since the panel has been barred from Israel.
In early June the panel visited Gaza, forced to enter through Egypt since Israel refused to cooperate, claiming bias. The committee was unable to enter southern Israel to gather evidence.
The panel plans to have a final report available for the U.N. Human Rights Council by mid-September.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.