Israel Active

In perhaps the most important archaeological discoveries of all time in Israel, inscriptions on seven stones from 709 BCE, found in the City of David, have been translated. In Paleo-Hebrew, they relate the main achievements of Hezekiah King of Judah who reigned from 726 BCE.

A “Flight of Miracles” during Hanukkah brought 100 Ukrainian immigrants to Israel, in the ongoing humanitarian effort by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), the Jewish Agency, the Joint (JDC) and ZAKA. They join nearly 14,000 Ukrainians who have made Aliya since February.

Israeli Pinhas Buchris’ life story reads like a movie script. One of 7 sons to poor Tunis immigrants, he learned to read at age 10; graduated from the Technion; fought at Entebbe; brought cyber-security to IDF’s 8200 Unit; initiated Iron Dome; founded startups; got rich; returned from near death and more.

During Hanukkah 23-year-old Tzur was reunited with the Magen David Adom medics who saved him from drowning 21 years ago. Two-year-old Tzur was unconscious for 4 days, and the doctors said his chances of recovery were slim. Then, just as his parents lit the first candle for Hanukkah, Tzur woke up.

United Hatzalah EMT Rafael was attending a family Hanukkah party when his grandmother choked on some food. Family members held her upright as Rafael used the Heimlich Maneuver to dislodge the food. Rafael’s Safta restarted breathing and was taken to hospital for further checks.

In August a terrorist shot a pregnant woman in the stomach. Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center had to deliver her premature baby of 26-weeks. On erev Hanukkah, as mother and healthy son left the hospital, her husband said, "Blessed is He who performed a miracle for us in this place.”

LEGO Store Tel Aviv in the Dizengoff Center contains what is believed to be the largest-ever LEGO menorah. It comprises between 131,000 and 136,000 bricks, is 4.52 meters tall and 4.7 meters wide.

Jerusalem’s festive lights were enchanting – both in the Botanical Gardens and on the Streets of Jerusalem.

Three children from Kibbutz Parod in the northern Galilee found a 2,000-year-old oil lamp in the kibbutz grounds. It sheds light on the size of the ancient Jewish community of that area as the discovery was outside the site where the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting a dig.

Here is a translated part of Moshe Solomon’s maiden Knesset speech, “The young boy who was once a shepherd in Shira, Ethiopia, stands here today in the Knesset of Israel, one of the 120 members of the Great Assembly of our time.”  Please read the rest – it is most inspiring.