Israel Active

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.

Israeli archeologists recently discovered an ancient Hebrew amulet on Mount Ebal, overlooking Shechem (Nablus), at the site of Joshua’s Altar. It is inscribed with the Hebrew letter Alef and a popular Egyptian motif. The Israelites may even have brought it from Egypt!

Your editor gave a virtual presentation last week to members of Temple Israel of Natick and others, entitled “Israel – Beyond Imagination”.  Watch the recording here.

At his recent Bar Mitzvah, Rafael was presented with a certificate of appreciation and excellence by Israel’s United Hatzalah. A week earlier, Rafael, the son of a UH volunteer, successfully performed the Heimlich Maneuver to save his 4-year-old sister when she choked on a piece of candy.

Student “Ambassadors” at Haifa’s Reali Hebrew School have been posting selected articles from the VeryGoodNewsIsrael newsletter onto their website.  Read them here.