Israel Active

During Hanukkah, the Hasmonean Museum in Modi'in will display a box of 15 silver coins from the Maccabean revolt 2,200 years ago. They were discovered in May this year in caves in the Judean desert, probably the property of one of the Jews involved in overthrowing the Syrian-Greek rulers.

29-year-old Carlota Valenzuela began a 6,000 km pilgrimage from Finisterre, Spain to Jerusalem, Israel on 2nd Jan 2022. 10 months later she was greeted at the Jaffa Gate by Israel’s Noga Sher-Greco, Director of Religious Tourism. On the way, Carlota met with the Pope in Rome.

To celebrate their coming of age, 21 boys and nine girls came from all over Israel for a guided tour and Bat / Bar Mitzva ceremony at the Kotel. It was organized by Young Israel in Israel’s Judaic Heritage Program for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, the Jewish Agency and World Mizrachi.

Stuart Rosenblatt, head of the Irish Jewish Genealogical Society, is donating his treasure trove of records on Irish-Jewish families, spanning centuries, to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The records comprise over 70,000 names, including that of this newsletter editor.

8th-grade pupils from the Rabin Middle School were on an Israel Antiquities Authority field tour in Azor, about 7 km southeast of Tel Aviv when they discovered a 3,000-year-old scarab. It likely depicts a local Canaanite receiving authority from an Egyptian ruler.

As part of preparations for Hanukkah, the Western Wall Plaza is again to feature a giant Menorah for the public candle-lighting ceremonies. It is some two meters high and wide, made entirely of cast bronze, and weighs approximately one ton. The lighting ceremonies will be broadcast live.

A rare 'sling bullet' from the Hasmonean period has been found in Yavne. It is inscribed with the names of two Greek deities Heracles and Cronus, intended to bring the Syrian-Greek army good fortune.  As we know, from celebrating Hanukkah, it was the Jewish army that was victorious.

A man injured in the recent terrorist attack in Jerusalem was saved from death when a piece of shrapnel was stopped by the Book of Psalms (Tehillim) in his top pocket. The shrapnel came to rest at Verse 7 of Psalm 124 - “Our soul has escaped like a bird evading the grasp of its captors.”

Israeli food security charity Meir Panim (see previously) has launched a free shuk (Arabic and Hebrew for “market”) in Jerusalem and Tzfat, providing fresh produce for those in need. Free shuks already operate in Or Akiva and Tiberias. There are also free restaurants in all four cities, plus Dimona.

Israel commemorated the "Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Countries and Iran" with an exhibition at the United Nations. It documents the history of the Jews in Arab countries and Iran, and the post-1947 emigration of hundreds of thousands to Israel.