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ATHENS — The Greek Jewish community has issued a statement expressing its gratitude to the government and the Greek Orthodox Church for helping save Jews during the Holocaust.

The statement came after Turkey, under fire from Athens for its treatment of its Kurdish minority, accused Greece of turning Jews over to the Nazis.

During the war, the Greek people "protected and helped fugitive Greek Jews as much as possible, putting their own lives in danger," according to a recent statement issued by the Central Jewish Board of Greece, an umbrella organization of all Greek Jewish communities.

Greeks from all walks of life helped save Jews from the Holocaust, according to community officials.

For example, when the Nazis called on the bishop of the Greek island of Zakinthos to submit a list of all the Jews living there, the bishop delivered a list with only one name on it — his own.

South African Jews to fast for victims

JOHANNESBURG — Rabbis in Johannesburg are calling on their congregants to observe a half-day fast and to give tzedakah on Monday in the wake of a recent spate of tragic Jewish deaths here.

The rabbis were expected to make their appeal at services this evening.

During recent weeks, there were two murder victims, one carjack victim and two suicides.

In addition, a woman and her two daughters were killed in a car accident.

In 1997, there were eight Jewish murder victims, according to the Union of Orthodox Synagogues of South Africa.

A rising crime rate has been one of the main causes of Jewish emigration from South Africa in recent months.

Toronto library gets rare Hebrew text

TORONTO (JTA) — A rare Jewish mystical manuscript that dates from the early 1400s has been obtained by the University of Toronto library.

The manuscript from the Zohar, the central book of Jewish mysticism, is the "crowning jewel" in a large collection of outstanding Hebrew manuscripts and printed books recently obtained by the university, according to Barry Walfish, a Judaica specialist for the library.

The collection was a gift from Albert Friedberg, an Orthodox Jew in Toronto who has been collecting rare Hebrew manuscripts and books for at least half of his 50 years.

Modern scholarship has assigned authorship of the Zohar to Moses de Leon, who apparently wrote it in the late 13th century. Only two known Zohar manuscripts predate the newly acquired Zohar, but both are fragmentary, while Friedberg's contains the full text.

In all, Friedberg donated 35 manuscripts, about 100 printed books of exceptional quality, and three dozen fragments from the Cairo Genizah, ancient texts that were discovered in the Egyptian capital in the late 19th century.

The collection also includes two rare manuscripts by the biblical commentator Rashi — a commentary on the Torah and a commentary on the Prophets. Both are of German provenance, date from the 13th century and are considered of great scholarly importance since Rashi manuscripts from that period are very rare.