Israel Active

20 young North American Jews with Asperger’s Syndrome have just experienced Israel together on a special Taglit-Birthright tour. They also met Israelis with Asperger’s at Shekel, an umbrella organization for Israelis with special needs.

A major Lebanese supermarket chain is selling Israeli goods, contrary to the 64-year-old Arab boycott of the Jewish State. Amazingly, according to a Tel Aviv University report, Israel’s exports to Middle Eastern markets in 2011 were over $6 billion, about 13 percent of overall Israeli exports.

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School invoked much empathy from Israeli leaders and organizations. Both President Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu sent condolences. Israel Humanitarian Aid donated boxes of fresh food to first responders in Newtown. And Hadassah has raised funds to plant a grove of 3,000 trees in Beersheva River Park, Israel, in memory of the 26 victims.

New and veteran immigrant (olim) families, who have a special needs child or adult at home in Israel have been granted further access to a government and private sector outreach services. As of last month, they will now receive increased rent subsidies.

Behind the scenes of Iron Dome production, alongside Rafael's engineers, mentally disabled employees manufacture parts of the state-of-the-art system. For over a year, Rafael has employed three residents of a hostel run by the Social Affairs Ministry for people with mental disabilities, in the production of the Iron Dome system, as part of the company's community outreach program.

This current article features Leket Israel, an organization that salvages non-saleable crops from farmers and unused food from caterers and ships them to 200 soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other institutions. Leket has a budget of $7.5 million, has 90 staff and 45,000 volunteers a year.

The Sami Shamoon College of Engineering in Ashdod has launched a five-year degree program in civil and software engineering, which has been tailor-made for the lifestyle requirements of its 100 ultra-Orthodox participants – 70 men and 30 women.

Shefa Weinstein is CEO of Israeli start-up Shopetti – one of the 13 start-ups participating in the second round of companies enrolled in the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure. An American immigrant to Israel, she will shortly launch “the next big thing in online shopping”.

This year’s Israel Air Force Flight Academy graduates included Tamar, the IDF’s first religious woman navigator. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Tamar is an example of the equality between the sexes in Israel and proof that in the IDF there is place for all parts of Israeli society.”

The Technion Sparks program enables 200 Israeli-Arab Druse high school students to take special science and technology courses at Israel’s Technion Institute. The project is the brainchild of Brig.-Gen. Hasson Hasson – the first Druse to serve as a military aide to a President of the State.