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Avi Kumar

Avi Kumar

Avi Kumar is a Sri Lanka native based in the United Arab Emirates who writes on global Jewish topics and the Holocaust and speaks 11 languages.

Asked how it feels to be a nonagenarian Israel Defense Forces reservist in action, Ezra Yakhin told JNS that “it is very important for us to fight for our country. I feel excellent.”
The Balkan nation recently welcomed its second Chabad rabbi, and a third synagogue is being planned.
Members of the tribe, who claim descent from the biblical Menashe, told JNS what it has been like taking refuge in military camps.
Emirati students greeted visiting Jewish colleagues from New York in Hebrew.
“Jews have been persecuted for centuries, and they showed a lot of solidarity and compassion as they were able to relate to us,” said Jamileh Naso, president of the Canadian Yazidi Association.
The United Arab Emirates serves as a “bridge” forging bilateral ties between Israel and Africa, says former minister Ayoob Kara.
“Long before the Holocaust, we said, ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ every year during the Passover seder,” said Itzik Mizrachi, 90.
David Caspi, 84, recalled the experience in two wide-ranging interviews with JNS.
Jewish parallels abound in the show that just finished its third season.