World news-roundup: 15 percent of New York yeshivas refused inspectors access

Country: United States

A three-year investigation into New York’s yeshivas found that 15 refused access to inspectors and many do not teach secular studies, despite it being a legal requirement. Naftuli Moster, the founder of the Jewish pressure group that lodged the original complaint, said the yeshivas ‘believe they are above the law’.

Country: Romania

Police have arrested a 37-year old man in connection with an incident in which the former home of late Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel was daubed in anti-Semitic graffiti. The perpetrator wrote ‘public toilet,’ ‘Nazi Jew lying in hell with Hitler’ and ‘Paedophile’ on Wiesel’s house in Sighet in eastern Romania.

Country: Uganda

A new Jewish maternity centre catering for Uganda’s 2,000-strong Jewish community has delivered its second baby, just days after opening. The Shifra and Puah Center, which serves the Abayudaya community of early 20th century converts, includes an incubator, and was set up with the help of an Israeli midwife.

Country: El Salvador

For the first time in 500 years, the tiny Central American states of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have got their own permanent rabbi. Based in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, Chilean Rabbi Elisha Salas will now extend his working with the Bnei Anousim community, thought to number several thousand.