Israel Active

Israeli archaeologists thought they were unearthing a Persian era building in Jerusalem’s City of David. Then they reached the floor of the building and saw on it a crushed vessel that dated from the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The Chabad youth movement in Israel has expanded its “Get Chesed” program. Teens and university students volunteer for weekly visits to thousands of survivors and other elderly Israelis, helping to distribute food packages, run errands, and spend time to help ease their loneliness.

Israeli charity Leket’s 2021 achievements include salvaging 25 million kg of unwanted crops from 600 farmers to feed over 55,000 poor families. They and their partners also rescued over 1.3 million surplus hot meals to deliver to the needy. 18,000 volunteers helped in this life-preserving work.

Marc Chagall’s stained-glass windows at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center were dedicated on 6th Feb 1962. Chagall said on that day, “This is my modest gift to the Jewish people who have always dreamt of biblical love, friendship and peace among all peoples.”

When the on-call surgeon at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital got stuck in the recent snowstorm, the Department director stepped in to save the life of a 3-year-old toddler. And volunteers from Israeli NGO United Hatzalah came in an emergency all-terrain vehicle to rescue a bride and groom stranded by the snow.

Hadera police awarded certificates to volunteers from the Israel Dog Unit (IDU), for helping save the life of 84-year-old Pavel who went missing in nearby Or Akiva. The orthodox Jewish team, with Tess the dog, located Pavel on Shabbat morning and summoned the emergency services to save him.

The Kosovo Embassy in Jerusalem hosted a commemorative event for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kosovo’s Ambassador to Israel, Ines Demiri, is Jewish. Kosovo is 95% Muslim, and Muslim Albanian-Kosovars rescued many Jews from the Shoah.

The new US-based nonprofit TalkIsrael Foundation aims to help Israel improve its image in the world. It will engage young pro-Israel activists to promote accurate, truthful, and positive coverage and news about Israel on social media and positively influence the hearts and minds of young people.

A JNF-KKL scroll presented to David Ben-Gurion in 1949 has been found at the Ben-Gurion House in Tel Aviv. It describes key events in the history of Zionism but was never seen before, having been closed in its wrapping for years. It will now be put on display for the public.

Doctors finally traced the cause of Adi’s back pain that began 3 months after she attended her friend’s wedding in Psagot, Samaria. A CT scan revealed that she had been hit by a 5.56mm bullet that narrowly missed vital organs. Doctors surgically removed the bullet.