Israel Active

When running in the 2019 Dead Sea Marathon, Shachar David’s heart stopped, and he collapsed. MDA paramedic Meir Furmanski was running nearby and performed CPR to save Shachar’s life.  In this year’s Dead Sea Marathon, both Meir and Shachar ran side by side.

Israel’s entry to the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is “Feker Libi”, or “My Beloved” in Amharic – the Ethiopian language spoken by the ancestors of 19-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli singer Eden Alene. Most of the song’s lyrics are in English, with some Hebrew, Arabic and Amharic.

Thanks to abundant winter rains, many Israelis are outdoors admiring the fields of pink, purple, red and yellow made up of - kalanit (anemone), rakefet (cyclamen), narkis (narcissus), tourmus (lupine) and pereg (poppy). Some rare desert flowers haven’t bloomed for some 25 years.

The “Israel Start-Up Nation” cycling team made history by competing in the United Arab Emirates Tour, becoming the first Israeli team to participate in the Middle East’s top cycling race.

March events include Lionel Richie concert, Purim Desert Carnival, InDNegev Purim Carnival, Lunar Purim, Fattal Rock Festival in Eilat, Jerusalem Marathon, Tel Aviv Mud Run and many more. See links for Purim events in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Gefen Publishing has published two new books about SpaceIL’s project to send the Beresheet spacecraft to the Moon. “To the Moon on a Plastic Bottle” by Dan Raviv and Linor Bar-El is for regular readers. “The Little Spacecraft” by Dr Mom and Shana Koppel is for children and their parents.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Center Stage - Israel’s permanent theater for English Language productions in Ra’anana - is presenting (on March 14) a staged reading of “The Best of Momologues” - an original comedy about Motherhood. Bring a Mom to get the second ticket at half price!

Israel’s Vegan-Friendly and the nonprofit Meatless Monday held a culinary innovation conference at Tel Aviv Port to showcase vegetarian and vegan food trends and developments to over 1000 chefs, catering companies, restaurateurs and food service professionals in Israel.

Haredi orthodox Israeli mother of five, Beatie Deutsch (reported previously) won the Miami women’s half-marathon race, beating over 20,000 other runners. She is training to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, but she will not compete as the Marathon is scheduled for a Shabbat.

British artist Beverley-Jane Stewart is currently exhibiting her collection of paintings at Tel Aviv University’s Cimbalista Jewish Heritage Center until 20th Feb. “Halls of Prayer, The Spirit of British Jews” includes synagogues in London’s East End, Central London and elsewhere.