Israel Active

The National Library of Israel is to display the notebooks of “Mr. Shushani,” or “Monsieur Chouchani,” who taught Elie Wiesel and the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. He had a photographic memory of the Bible and Talmud and traveled the world while keeping his real identity secret.

235 new immigrants from the Bnei Menashe community in Manipur, Northeast India landed in Israel on Aliyah Day. More than 4,000 Bnei Menashe already live in Israel. They claim descent from one of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel that was exiled by the Assyrian Empire more than 27 centuries ago.

13th Oct was Aliyah Day and the number of new Olim (immigrants to Israel) from North America are on track to top 4,500 in 2021 - the highest in 20 years. Most new arrivals are coming from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida and California.

An ancient Crusader encampment has been uncovered in the area of the Tzipori Springs in the Galilee. Also, an Israeli scuba diver found a meter-long Crusader sword on the seabed off the Carmel Coast. The Crusaders initiated several military campaigns in the Middle East between the 11th and 13th centuries.

A huge complex of 1,500-year-old winepresses has been uncovered by archaeologists in the city of Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. The 4th-5th century CE facility could produce some two million liters of wine a year and is the largest known example from the period.

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient gold and amethyst ring during an excavation conducted in Yavne, the city that became the center of Rabbinic study after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. The ring was found in a site dating to the 7th century CE, but it could have originated from a much earlier time.

(Apologies for the pun) A 2700-year-old toilet cubical from the First Temple period has been discovered in the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem. A royal mansion excavated from the era of the Kings of Judea (7th century BCE) features a private toilet and an ancient septic tank.

Thousands of Jews worldwide who study a page of Talmud (Oral Law) each day (Daf Yomi) recently finished the tractate Beizah, which means “egg”. To mark this milestone, a chicken farm in Kedumim, Israel, printed the words recited at the end of completing a tractate, directly onto their eggs.

Around one million people visited the Western Wall during the High Holy Day season this year. Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz said it was “proof of the Jewish nation’s connection with the Western Wall, which unites us all through preserving tradition and its holiness."

Excellent Hashana Rabba OU lecture by Michael Eisenberg. He highlights how Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were innovators. Maybe Jews and Israelis inherited these characteristics!