Israel Active

An entire IDF unit has donated its hair to Zichron Menachem – an Israeli charity that supports children with cancer.  Children with cancer often lose their hair when being treated with chemotherapy. Hair donations are used for hairpieces to help children feel beautiful.

Mark Halawi (see previously) has just received his Israeli citizenship. He was born and raised in Kuwait but moved to Jerusalem (via Jordan, Syria and Canada) when he discovered that his mother was Jewish and had married a Muslim during the British Mandate.

Israel has signed an agreement to boost imports of Jordanian agricultural products during this coming year following Rosh Hashana. Every seventh year is “Shmita”, the time that Torah states that land in Israel belonging to Jews must rest and lie fallow.

Israeli NGO Shurat Hadin of legal volunteers has had an overwhelmingly positive response to its Weissblum Internship Program to train Israel's next generation of leaders in the public-legal arena. Last year was only for Israelis, but this year anyone can apply – and applications are flooding in.

A total of 145 ShinShinim (gap-year emissaries) depart this month for communities around the world on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Israel. They all volunteered to spend their time pre-IDF service, working with Jewish organizations to help strengthen world Jewry’s relationship with Israel.

An Israeli girl found a 1,500-year-old coin at the Korazim archaeological park – the site of an ancient Jewish village near the Sea of Galilee. The coin dates to the Talmudic period between the 4th and 5th centuries CE - the peak period of the Jewish village at Korazim.

The first 12 of this year’s anticipated new 300 lone soldiers were among new immigrants who have just arrived on a Nefesh b’Nefesh Group Aliyah Flight. They will become Israeli citizens and then enlist in the Israel Defense Forces, joining some 3,500 existing lone soldiers already serving in the IDF.

Israel Prize winner and Israeli Presidential candidate Miriam Peretz has just donated NIS 50,000 to the “Special in Uniform” program, which helps Israelis with special needs serve in the IDF. Miriam lost two sons in IDF active service and her husband to cancer. She also has two autistic grandchildren.

Excavations in Jerusalem’s City of David have revealed a layer of destruction that has been dated to the eighth century BCE, during the Kingdom of Judah. It corresponds to a massive earthquake as recorded in the books of the prophets Amos and Zechariah.

Muslim-majority Azerbaijan has opened a trade representation office in Tel Aviv. Israel's Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said the historic event “will doubtless serve as a focal point for Israeli entrepreneurs in fields including energy, medicine, water treatment, agriculture and investments.”