Israel Active

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!

The National Library of Israel has released many rare photos of Sukkot (Tabernacles) being celebrated during the 1973 Arab Israeli war. Many soldiers built improvised sukkahs (booths) on jeeps and other military vehicles - some even in enemy territory.

Despite the pandemic, immigration to Israel has increased by 31% over the same period last year to over 20,000. From the USA the increase was 41%, from France 55% and South Africa 56%.

Nefesh b’Nefesh has awarded grants to seven winners of their 2021 “Initiative for Zionist Innovation” (IZI). They are ProSheva, Olim Portal for Environmental Networking & Integration, Yakar Tel Aviv, Givat Shmuel Community, NCSY Israel, Be'erot Beit Midrash, and Kochav Darom Community.

81-year-old Polish Catholic Priest discovered that his mother gave him as a baby to a Christian neighbor for safekeeping during the Shoah. Then one year, just before Rosh Hashana, he met with an Israeli Rabbi and now lives as a Jew in Jerusalem, working for the Yad Vashem museum.