Continent celebrates Jewish culture with home cooking

From dancing with the devil to dining out on European Jewish history, as ever we bring you the highs and oh-so-lows of Jewish news from around the world – dated 15 September.

Spain

More than two dozen Spanish towns and cities have celebrated their Jewish heritage on the European Day of Jewish Culture by focusing on the contribution of Jewish women. A scientific conference in Barcelona contrasted to a food festival in Cuenta, which celebrated the cooking of Sephardic housewives.

Iraq

A satirical show (pictured) broadcast on an Iraqi TV channel caused outrage after showing Satan mating a Jewish woman to produce the jihadist terrorist group Islamic State. Large swathes of the country have fallen to IS militants in recent weeks, and videos of the group beheading western hostages have been released.

France

The recent success of French far-right party Front National can at least partly be attributed to support from Jews, new figures show. Founded by anti-Semite Jean-Marie Le Pen, FN is now led by his daughter, Marine. Her stance on radical Islam has gone down well among French Jews, whose support for FN has tripled.

United States

A death row inmate is suing the state of Connecticut for not providing him with kosher meals. Steven Hayes, 51, a convicted murderer and rapist, says it’s a breach of his human rights. He is seeking $15,000 in punitive and compensatory damages for ‘intentional infliction of pain, suffering and weight loss’.

Hungary

A leader of Budapest’s main synagogue has been kicked out after accepting a government position with Prime Minister Victor Orban, who Jewish groups accuse of trying to whitewash the Hungarian state’s Holocaust-era complicity. Nine out of ten board members voted to remove Gusztav Zoltai. The tenth abstained.

Portugal

Portugal’s national airline TAP has named its newest plane after Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a diplomat who saved 30,000 Jews from the Holocaust. Mendes served as consul in Bordeaux, France, in 1940, where he gave visas to refugees fleeing the Nazi advance before being suspended and ejected for his actions.