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Aruba’s new rabbi comes out of retirement to lead a congregation in ‘paradise’
ORANJESTAD, Aruba (JTA) — One of Alberto Zeilicovich’s first duties as a Conservative rabbi was to officiate the funeral of a 20-year-old congregant, murdered by a drug cartel while enjoying a night out with his friends at a disco.
It was the late 1980s in Medellin, Colombia, and Zeilicovich had entered the pulpit at the height of the Colombian drug wars and the reign of notorious kingpin Pablo Escobar. Two years later, he would bury another member of the congregation murdered by the cartel.
“We felt fear,” Zeilicovich, who goes by Baruch, said about his six years in Medellin. “The president of the congregation told me you cannot walk on Shabbos to the synagogue. ‘You should come with a car.’ I asked, ‘Are you afraid someone is going to kidnap me?’ He said, ‘No, I am afraid somebody will kill you.’”
To give him a break, a congregant sent Zeilicovich on a trip to Aruba and Curacao, islands where, he recalled, he could “unplug a little bit from a situation that was very dangerous.”
That 1990 trip would ultimately result in the other bookend of his career: Zeilicovich recently came out of retirement to begin a three-year contract as the rabbi of Beth Israel Synagogue, a small synagogue on the Dutch island of Aruba in the southern Caribbean Sea. He had visited the island at least once a year for the past 32 years.
Temple Beth Israel, a Conservative-style synagogue in Oranjestad, Aruba, was consecrated in 1962. (Dan Fellner)
“First, the people are very friendly,” he says of Aruba, which has a population of about 100,000 and is officially called a “constituent country” of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. “Second, it’s a very safe place. And third, the island is a paradise. Everything is so beautiful.”
The synagogue, located in the island’s capital city of Oranjestad, is not affiliated with any movement of Judaism but operates in the style of the egalitarian Conservative movement. It is just a block from one of Aruba’s signature white-sand beaches and a five-minute drive to Eagle Beach, perhaps its most famous.
While Zeilicovich no longer needs armed security guards to accompany him to synagogue as he did in Medellin, he still brings to the pulpit the difficult life lessons he learned during those tumultuous years in Colombia.
“Being in Medellin made me realize how a rabbi should teach the congregation about what are the most important things in life,” he says. “That shaped me in understanding what the role of a rabbi should be — a facilitator for everybody to be a better Jew, a better person.”
Zeilicovich, who speaks five languages, was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he experienced antisemitism and life under an oppressive military regime. He studied at a rabbinical seminary in Buenos Aires before completing his ordination at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
Following his six years in Medellin, Zeilicovich moved to a synagogue in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, before rabbinical stints in Puerto Rico, Texas and most recently New Jersey, where he announced his retirement from Temple Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn in late 2020.
Zeilicovich and his wife Graciela had moved to Israel when he got a phone call from Daniel Kripper, a friend and fellow Argentine who was retiring as the rabbi of Aruba’s Beth Israel.
“He called me and said, ‘Baruch, what are you doing in Israel?’ I said I’m going to the beach. He said, ‘Why don’t you come to the beach in Aruba where you can have a congregation again?’ And I said, ‘Why not?’”
According to Richenella Wever, a member of the Beth Israel board, Zeilicovich has been a good fit with the synagogue’s diverse congregation. “His way of thinking, teaching and his ability to connect the Torah with daily life is amazing,” she said.
Jewish life in Aruba dates back to the 16th century, when immigrants arrived from the Netherlands and Portugal. In 1754, Moses Solomon Levie Maduro, who came from a prominent Portuguese Jewish family in Curacao, settled in Aruba, where he founded the Aruba branch of the Dutch West Indies Company. Maduro paved the way for more immigrants but the island’s Jewish population has always remained small. It’s now about 100.
In 1956, the Dutch Kingdom officially recognized the Jewish community of Aruba; Beth Israel was consecrated six years later. The synagogue calls itself a “Conservative egalitarian temple keeping Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions.” In addition to Beth Israel, there is a Chabad chapter on the island that opened in 2013.
With a membership of just 50 local families and a few dozen overseas residents, Beth Israel has limited resources. A Dutch law stipulating that the salaries of clergy in Holland’s overseas territories be paid by the government helps the synagogue remain solvent.
“This is really unique,” says Zeilicovich. “You can be a minister of an evangelical church, a Roman Catholic priest, an imam from a mosque or a rabbi from a synagogue — the government pays the salary.
“When I want to brag about myself, I say I am an employee of the Crown of Holland,” he added with a laugh.
Zeilicovich says the Aruban government has been highly supportive of the Jewish community, even erecting a life-sized bronze statue in 2010 of Anne Frank in Queen Wilhelmina Park in downtown Oranjestad.
A bronze statue of Anne Frank stands in the Queen Wilhelmina Park in downtown Oranjestad, Aruba, at left; at right, a T-shirt for sale in the Beth Israel gift shop in Aruba reads “Bon Bini,” meaning “welcome” in Papiamento, the local language. (Dan Fellner)
“That means they have respect for the Jewish community,” he says. “And they are very sympathetic with us about the Holocaust.”
Zeilicovich says a typical Friday night Shabbat service attracts about 20 people, about one-third of whom are tourists. Some arrive on the many cruise ships that dock just a mile away from the synagogue; others stay at condos or at one of Aruba’s posh resorts.
If there aren’t enough worshippers for a prayer quorum of 10 on Saturday mornings, a Torah study group meets instead. The synagogue’s small sanctuary can hold 60 worshippers, and is normally full for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur each fall.
“We are a friendly, welcoming congregation,” Zeilicovich says. “We are family — mishpocha. When you come here, we try to make you feel that way.”
Indeed, a popular item in the synagogue’s small gift shop is a T-shirt imprinted with the words “Bon Bini Shalom.” Bon Bini means “welcome” in Papiamento, the Portuguese-based Creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean.
Zeilicovich says one of his priorities as the new rabbi is to improve the synagogue’s marketing efforts and revamp its website. He adds that Aruba’s Jewish community often is overshadowed by Curacao, its Dutch neighbor to the east that is home to the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas.
“We are behind in marketing,” he said. “And we understand we are missing a huge opportunity.”
For now, Zeilicovich is enjoying his time in Aruba and can’t help but marvel at how his life has changed since his days as a rabbi in Medellin when just getting from his home to the synagogue was a dangerous ordeal.
“I think about that and look to heaven and say, ‘God, thank you.’”
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UAE Leaves OPEC in Blow to Global Oil Producers’ Group
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, April 22, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday said it was quitting OPEC, dealing a blow to the oil producers’ group as an unprecedented energy crisis caused by the Iran war exposes discord among Gulf nations.
The exit of the UAE – one of the group’s biggest producers – weakens OPEC’s control over global oil supplies and widens a rift between the UAE and its neighbor Saudi Arabia, effectively the leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
It could also free the UAE to increase output once exports via the Gulf resume as it would no longer be governed by OPEC quotas.
In his first public comments since the announcement, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei told Reuters in a telephone interview that the decision was taken after examining the country’s energy strategies.
He said the UAE had not discussed the issue with any other country.
“This is a policy decision, it has been done after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production,” Mazrouei said.
UAE WILL LEAVE ON MAY 1
He also said the world would demand more energy, implying the UAE would be positioned to meet that need.
Oil prices on international markets trimmed gains on Tuesday following the UAE‘s announcement it would on May 1 leave OPEC and OPEC+, which brings together OPEC and allied producers.
Mazrouei said he did not expect much immediate market impact from the news because of constraints in the Strait of Hormuz.
OPEC Gulf producers have been struggling to ship exports through the Strait, a chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, because of Iranian threats and attacks against vessels.
As Gulf supplies have become stuck, the International Energy Agency said OPEC+’s share of global oil output fell to 44% in March from about 48% in February. It is likely to fall further in April as production shut-ins become more pronounced – and then further in May as the fourth biggest producer leaves the group.
A WIN FOR US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP?
The UAE‘s exit represents a win for US President Donald Trump, who in a 2018 address to the UN General Assembly accused the organization of “ripping off the rest of the world” by inflating oil prices.
Trump has also linked US military support for the Gulf with oil prices, saying that while the US defends OPEC members, they “exploit this by imposing high oil prices.”
Analysts said it was also positive for consumers and the broader economy.
“This opens the door for the UAE to gain global market share when the geopolitical situation normalizes,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at ADCB.
Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad, noted the UAE‘s significance as one of the few members of OPEC, apart from Saudi Arabia, with spare production capacity that allows it to add extra oil to the market.
“Outside the group, the UAE would have both the incentive and the ability to increase production, raising broader questions about the sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s role as the market’s central stabilizer,” he said.
WIDENING RIFT BETWEEN UAE AND SAUDI ARABIA
Once firm allies, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have developed a simmering rivalry, clashing on issues from oil policy and regional geopolitics to the race for foreign talent and capital.
The UAE is a regional business and financial hub and one of Washington’s most important allies. It has pursued an assertive foreign policy and carved its own sphere of influence across the Middle East and Africa.
Especially after coming under attack during the Iran war, the UAE has strengthened its relationships with the United States and Israel, with which it opened ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords. It views the relationship with Israel as a lever for regional influence and a unique channel to Washington.
Some Gulf leaders, meanwhile, met in person on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, a summit that a Gulf official said aimed to craft a response to the thousands of Iranian missile and drone strikes their nations have faced since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February.
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University of California Regent ‘Disgusted’ by UCLA Student Government for Condemning Israeli Hostage Event
Former hostage Omer Shem Tov speaks, as people celebrate at the “Hostages square,” after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 9, 2025. Photo: Shir Torem via Reuters Connect
A member of the University of California system’s governing body has lambasted the Los Angeles campus’ student government for writing an open letter which condemned a university-sponsored event headlined by an Israeli who survived being kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas in the aftermath of the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Jay Sures, who sites on UC’s Board of Regents, on Friday sent a searing letter to UCLA’s Undergraduate Student Association, saying he was “disgusted and appalled” by their condemnation of the April 14 event and refusal to consider different opinions.
“Talk about a missed opportunity. Rather than hearing the perspective of a 23-year-old peer abducted by terrorists at a music festival … those of you who voted for the letter of condemnation chose not to listen at all,” Sures wrote. “You claim you want balance in programming and more than a ‘single narrative’ from speakers at UCLA. Balance, by definition, inherently involves equal consideration of more than one point of view. By condemning this speaker’s public appearance on our campus, your words and actions make clear you have no interest in balance at all.”
He added, “That is the biggest double standard of all.”
UCLA’s undergraduate student government issued its missive after learning that Omer Shem Tov would be speaking on campus as a guest of the campus’ Hillel International chapter.
Shem Tov, who was a college student at the time of his abduction, endured 505 days as a prisoner of Hamas and was one of 168 people who survived captivity throughout the duration of the war in Gaza. He has been speaking across the US about his experience, and his scheduled talk at UCLA stood to be routine until the student government resolved to argue that his being on campus would threaten Muslim students.
“While we affirm the humanity of people impacted by violence, we reject the selective platforming of narratives that obscure the broader reality of ongoing state violence,” said the letter, which also included false accusations of a genocide of Palestinians. “Institutional sponsorship of this event reflects a troubling disregard for Palestinian life and contribute to a campus climate in which Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students are further marginalized, silenced, and harmed.”
It continued, “Universities must not be complicit in the production or amplification of one-sided narratives that erase systems of oppression and occupation. USAC has and continues to stand in unwavering solidarity with Palestinian students and all those impacted by state violence and displacement.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists kidnapped 251 hostages during their Oct. 7 onslaught, which included systematic sexual violence against Israeli civilians and the murder of 1,200 people — the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Sures was not the only member of the University of California community who spoke out against UCLA’s student government,
“Members of the UCLA student government have once again shown they are anti-dialogue, anti-learning, anti-truth, anti-student, and anti-Jewish and antisemitic in condemning our beautiful event last week with Omer Shem Tov,” Hillel at UCLA told the Daily Bruin in a statement.
Meanwhile a Jewish member of the student government who helped organize the event with Shem Tov alleged that the body intentionally elected to vote to release the letter on a day she could not be present.
In another stinging rebuke, UCLA issued its own statement praising the event, which went on as planned, for promoting a “message … of resilience and respect for human rights and dignity.”
UCLA has taken efforts to combat campus antisemitism and anti-Zionist extremism, but it stands against the current of an overwhelmingly anti-Zionist student body and faculty.
In February 2025, some 50 members of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, joined by Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, amassed on the property of Sures’s private home and threatened that he must “divest now or pay.” As part of the demonstration, the students imprinted their hands, which had been submerged in red paint to symbolize the spilling of blood, all over Sures’s garage door and cordoned the area with caution tape.
That same month, a Jewish faculty group at the university issued an open letter calling attention to a slew of indignities to which they have been subjected since the Oct. 7 attack. It enumerated a litany of falsehoods spread about Jews by a task force created to study anti-Arab bigotry on the campus — including that Jewish faculty have conspired to undermine academic freedom with “coordinated repression,” promoted the interests of conservative groups, and harmed minority students by opposing “racial justice.”
Several months later, the university announced a grand initiative to fight antisemitism head on, calling the current moment an “inflection point.”
Said UCLA chancellir Dr. Julio Frenk, “Building on past efforts and lessons, we must now push ourselves to extinguish antisemitism, completely and definitively. The principles on which UCLA was founded — and which we continue to advance — point us toward a clear course of action: We must persevere in our fight to end hate, however it manifests itself.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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King Charles Promotes US-UK Unity in Speech to Congress Amid Iran Tensions
Britain’s King Charles addresses a joint meeting of Congress, next to US Vice President JD Vance and US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, April 28, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/Pool
Britain’s King Charles told the US Congress on Tuesday that despite an age of uncertainty and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, the UK and the US will always be staunch allies united in defending democracy, at a time of deep divisions between the two long-time allies over the war with Iran.
“Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm, and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries,” Charles told US lawmakers during a rare speech to a joint meeting of the US Senate and US House of Representatives, and after a prolonged standing ovation at his entrance with Queen Camilla.
Charles’ address came on the second day of a four-day state visit to the US during a tense time in relations between the two countries, after US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for what Trump says is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.
“I come here today with the highest respect for the United States Congress – this citadel of democracy created to represent the voice of all American people to advance sacred rights and freedoms,” Charles said.
Trump has said Starmer, who has won some plaudits at home for not joining the Iran offensive, was no Winston Churchill, while he belittled a later offer of military assistance to defend allies in the region.
Before his speech Charles met with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers after a morning visit to the White House with Camilla that included a closed-door meeting between the king and Trump. The events are part of a visit to the US designed to underscore ties forged between Britain and its former colony over the 250 years since American independence.
The king was only the second British sovereign to address the US Congress. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, spoke to both houses in 1991.
TRUMP UNDERSCORES FRIENDSHIP
Earlier, during a ceremonial outdoor reception at the White House, Trump stressed the friendship that has evolved between Britons and Americans since their days as adversaries during the War of Independence and the “wounds of war” it caused.
“The soldiers who once called each other Redcoats and Yankees became the Tommies and the GIs who together saved the free world as brothers in arms and brothers in eternity,” the president said in a reference to World War II as hundreds of guests gathered on the South Lawn with the Washington Monument in the distance.
After escorting the king and queen to their limousine for departure from the White House, Trump told reporters, “It was a really good meeting. He’s a fantastic person. They’re incredible people and it’s a real honor.”
Addresses to joint meetings of Congress are generally reserved for the closest US allies or major world figures. The last was by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in July 2024.
As tensions between the two countries have grown over the US-Israeli offensive against Iran, an internal Pentagon email suggested Washington could review its support for Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Christian Turner, had said that the only “special relationship” the US has is with “probably Israel” and that he disliked the phrase because it is “quite nostalgic” and it has a “lot of baggage about it.”
Asked about the report, a foreign office spokesperson said Turner was making “private, informal comments” to a group of teenage British students who visited the US in early February. “They are certainly not any reflection of the UK government’s position,” the spokesperson said.
TRUMP CRITICAL OF ALLIES
Trump’s administration has repeatedly criticized many of the US-led military alliance’s other members for not offering more assistance to US operations against Iran and pressed European countries into sharing more of the financial burden for supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
While written on the advice of the British government, much of the language and tone in the speech came from Charles himself, a Buckingham Palace source said.
Charles’ visit comes after a gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday that was attended by Trump, his wife, and much of his cabinet. They were rushed to safety by law enforcement.
Asked earlier at the White House how she was doing following the incident, Melania Trump replied: “Very well, thank you.”
Tuesday night’s state dinner will be the first at the White House since Trump had the East Wing torn down to make way for his planned ballroom. The East Wing for decades has been the official entrance for guests arriving for state dinners and other functions, and with the area now a construction zone, they will have to take a different route into the building.
Charles presented Trump with a framed facsimile of the 1879 design plans for the president’s Resolute Desk, the originals of which are in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
The Resolute Desk, located in the Oval Office, was created from the timbers of the British exploration ship HMS Resolute and presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria.
Trump gave the king a facsimile of a 1785 letter by John Adams, describing his reception by King George III as the first US ambassador to Britain at St. James’s Palace and their mutual pledges of friendship following American independence.