Community Magazine August 2019

84 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE co mm unity HIGHL IGHTS On July 14, 2019 the seventh annual Hatzalah carnival took place. The fundraiser was booming with young families and volunteers, all coming out to enjoy the day and to support an invaluable community resource. This year saw the largest event of its kind to date! About six thousand people attended the carnival, which took place at the JCC in Deal, NJ. Many community members worked hard to make this event a special one, including 150 volunteers that worked the event and countless community businesses that donated prizes. The day was so memorable for all who participated. There was face painting, clowns, a petting zoo, pony rides, bouncy houses, county rides, and so much more! Hatzalah volunteers also gave children tours of ambulances, while firemen gave tours of a fire truck. Prizes were everywhere you turned at this event! A large variety of games were played, and each winner went home with a plush animal or a fun toy. There was a Chinese auction, which featured an assortment of packages including a swing set, a women’s package, a BBQ, jewelry, and a men's package. Finally, therewas the Community Prize Board! This exciting ideaensured that everyplayerwas awinner. A multitude of community businesses donated prizes, each one with the value of $36 and up. To play all you had to do was donate $36 to Hatzalah and you were given an envelope that contained a surprise gift. “The 2019 Hatzalah Carnival was truly a success. We are so grateful for the incredible turnout. We enjoy putting together this event and spending the day b’simha with our fellow community members,” said one of the carnival committee members. Marcelle Haroun, mother of the current head of Cairo’s tiny Jewish community, died last month at the age of 93. Her death leaves five Jews known to be living in Cairo. The five remaining are her daughter, Magda, who is the head of the vastly shrunken community, and four granddaughters. The AFP news service reported in March 2017 that there were also 12 Jews living in the coastal city of Alexandria. Haroun was married to lawyer and politician Shehata Haroun, known as a Jewish anti-Zionist who was a member of the Communist Party of Egypt, according to the report. Egypt was home to some 80,000 Jews when Israel was founded in 1948. Thousands began leaving in the ensuing years, and many more in two waves, in 1956 and 1967. The Harouns remained, considering themselves Egyptian first. “The Jewish Community in Cairo (JCC) has regretfully lost Marcelle Haroun, one of its pillars who will be sorely missed,” read the statement announcing her death. Portugal has approved about one third of approximately 33,000 applications for citizenship under its 2015 law for descendants of Sephardic Jews, according to official data. Applications based on the 2015 law, primarily from Israel, Turkey, Brazil, and Venezuela, are behind a 10 percent increase in applications in 2018. 41,324 such requests were made in 2018, the Publico Magazine in Portugal reported last month. It was the highest tally in at least five years. The report did not say how many applications have been declined. Israel, which used to provide Portugal with no more than a few dozen new citizens per year before 2015, provided 4,289 applications in 2018, the second-highest number of any country after Brazil. Israelis submitted more applications for naturalization than even former Portuguese colonies like Cape Verde (4,259) and Angola (1,953). Citizens of Turkey, who in past years had made few applications for Portuguese citizenship, accounted for 1,141 applications. Venezuelans submitted 562 such requests. The Foreigners and Borders Service told Publico the increase came about primarily due to the law about descendants of Sephardic Jews passed in 2015. Portugal passed that law shortly before Spain passed a similar law, which is more restrictive and ends in October 2019. Thousands of descendants of Sephardim have obtained Spanish citizenship. Portugal’s law is open-ended. Both countries said the law was to atone for the Church-led persecution of Jews in the 15th and 16th centuries, known as the Inquisition. Thousands Attend the Seventh Annual Hatzalah Carnival Portugal Okays 10,000 Requests for Citizenship by Descendants of Sephardic Jews One of the Last Jewish Women in Egypt, Matriarch Marcelle Haroun, Dies at 93