GENEVA (JTA) — Israel ranks 22nd out of 174 countries in its social development.
The ranking places Israel ahead of Greece, Portugal and Mexico. Among developed nations, however, Israel is weak in education and poverty rates, according to the U.N. Human Development Index for the year 2000.
Israel’s standing is expected to fall in the 2001 report because of the intifada and the high-tech crisis.
Musicians lend a hand to flooded Terezin site
PRAGUE (JTA) — An upcoming concert will benefit the memorial at the site of the former Terezin transit camp.
The Terezin Chamber Music Foundation and the U.S. Embassy to the Czech Republic are co-sponsoring the Nov. 4 concert in Prague.
Terezin, also known as Theresienstadt, suffered damage worth tens of thousands of dollars from August floods, which also affected the Jewish Quarter in Prague. The concert will take place in the Prague Castle with a performance by the Hawthorne String Quartet, made up of four members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Prague Jewish exhibits reopen after flooding
PRAGUE (JTA) — Prague’s Jewish Museum reopened all but one of its permanent exhibitions last Tuesday. They had been closed to avoid flood damage. However, the Pinkas synagogue, which was the Jewish site most seriously damaged in the August floods, will remain closed for up to a year, said museum director Leo Pavlat.
The Old Jewish Cemetery, which stands beside the Pinkas synagogue, also reopened last Tuesday with a new route allowing greater access to gravestones.
Hate crimes in Russia increase dramatically
MOSCOW (JTA) — Hate crimes increased by 30 percent in Russia outside of Moscow in 2001, a report by a Jewish watchdog group says.
The 250-page report, “Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia and Religious Persecution in Russia’s Regions in 2001,” also states that the country’s criminal justice system is unable to respond effectively.
The Union of Councils for Jews in the former Soviet Union prepared the report, released Tuesday in Washington. The Russian version will be released in Moscow at a later date.