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A Holocaust survivor from tiny Rhodes shares her story in a new book
(New York Jewish Week) — Auschwitz survivor Stella Levi chose not to tell the story of what she endured during the Holocaust until she was well into her 90s and met the author Michael Frank.
“I didn’t want my identity to be fixed in that way. I didn’t want that number to be tattooed on my arm,” she explains. “I didn’t want to be a victim.”
On Wednesday evening, Frank read that passage from “One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World,” his new book based on the conversations he and Levi had over the course of 100 Saturday afternoons spent together at her Greenwich Village apartment. The New York Jewish Week hosted the live conversation with Frank and Levi — glamorous and whip-smart at age 99 — at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan. The New York Jewish Week’s former arts and culture editor, Sandee Brawarsky, moderated.
The book — a moving, personal account of the once-vibrant Sephardic Jewish community that had thrived on Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea — was just named one of the 10 best books of 2022 by the Wall Street Journal.
During the conversation, Frank and Levi shared a lighthearted rapport, occasionally speaking to one another in Italian, the language in which Levi was educated. (Her family, along with the rest of Rhodes’ Jewish community, spoke Judeo-Spanish.)
Some 350 guests filled the sanctuary at the Upper West Side’s B’nai Jeshurun to hear Levi share memories of her childhood in the Juderia — the Jewish quarter — of Rhodes; her harrowing, three-week journey to Auschwitz in July of 1944 and what she endured there; how she arrived in the U.S. and eventually built a life for herself in New York City.
Of the approximately 1,700 members of the island’s Jewish community who were deported by the Nazis, only some 150 survived.
And yet, despite the horrors she witnessed, Levi, from an early age, lived life to the fullest — moving to New York, learning English at Columbia University, serving on the board of Centro Primo Levi NY and helping keep the memory of the Rhodes Jewish community alive.
Rounding out the program were singer Daphna Mor and oud player Adam Good performing Sephardic songs, as well as a slideshow of vibrant artwork by Maira Kalman, who illustrated “100 Saturdays.”
To watch a recording of the event, which was presented in partnership with B’nai Jeshurun, the Jewish Book Council, Natan and the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience, click below.
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The post A Holocaust survivor from tiny Rhodes shares her story in a new book appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Indonesia’s Biggest Islamic Group Asks Chief to Resign Over Invitation to Pro-Israeli Speaker
Then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary general of the 60-million member Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, at his office in Jerusalem. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.
Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chief to resign for inviting a US scholar known for his support of Israel during the Gaza war to an internal event in August, according to meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters.
The leadership of NU, which is also the world’s biggest Islamic organization with around 100 million members and affiliates, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or be removed from his post, according to the minutes from a meeting on Thursday.
NU cited Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an International Zionism network” for an internal event and alleged financial mismanagement as reasons for his ouster.
Staquf, who has been NU’s chairman since 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NU official Najib Azca told Reuters the decision was linked to Staquf’s invitation to former US official and scholar Peter Berkowitz for an August training event.
Staquf has apologized for the invitation and called it an oversight as he had not carefully checked Berkowitz’s background, adding that he condemned Israel‘s “brutal genocidal acts in Gaza.”
Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel‘s campaign in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute allegations of genocide against Israel.
Berkowitz spoke at NU seminars about the history of Western political thought in August, his website showed.
Berkowitz did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment that reached him outside of office hours.
Indonesia, the world’s Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since the war broke out in 2023. It has long advocated for a two-state solution and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
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Protesters at Tel Aviv Rally Call for State Inquiry into Oct. 7 Failings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl. In Jerusalem on 16 October 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli protesters gathered on Saturday in Tel Aviv, to demand the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoint a committee to initiate a state inquiry on the security failings of October 7.
Saturday night rallies in Tel Aviv have been a fixture of the two-year-long war in Gaza that was triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, that saw the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Protesters charged that Netanyahu refuses to be held accountable for his share of responsibility in Israel’s blackest day. They likewise took exception to Netanyahu’s wish to select the members of the committee, arguing this represented subversion of the democratic process.
Protesters also demanded the return of remains of the three deceased hostages still remaining in Gaza: Ran Gvili, Dror or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.
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Ukraine ‘Ready to Discuss’ Trump Admin’s Plan to End War, as US Official Says Plan Not Up for Negotiation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Kyiv will engage with Washington’s 28-point plan to end the war with Russia and demonstrate it is open to substantive discussions, a senior Ukrainian official said on Saturday, even as an official from the US administration of President Donald Trump indicated that the plan was not up for negotiation.
“In the coming days in Switzerland we are launching consultations between senior officials of Ukraine and the United States on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement,” Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, wrote on his official Facebook account.
“Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This is another stage of the dialogue that has been ongoing in recent days and is primarily aimed at aligning our vision for the next steps,” he further added. “We value the involvement of the American side and its readiness for a substantive discussion. Ukraine will continue to act responsibly, professionally, and consistently — as required by our national security.”
This comes after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Friday that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom — or Washington’s backing — over a US peace plan that endorses key Russian demands.
Washington’s 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept restrictions on its military and renounce its bid to join NATO.
Meanwhile, Financial Times reported on Saturday that US army secretary Daniel Driscoll communicated in no uncertain terms to Ukrainian and European officials there was no room to negotiate on its plan and Washington would show little flexibility.
“We are not negotiating details,” he was quoted as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has previously refused to budge on Russia’s demands, said on Friday the US plan could be the basis of a final resolution to the nearly four-year-old conflict. He said Kyiv was against the plan but neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.