Israel Active

Yehoshua Soudakoff, Israel’s only deaf rabbi, is bringing the entire Torah to life for Israel’s 15,000 hearing impaired. He and his team are translating the Tanach (Five Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings) into visual format using Israeli sign language.

Because of Shabbat, Purim this year in Jerusalem was spread over 3 days and residents celebrated for a whole week. The pandemic meant multiple, socially distanced readings of the Megillah of Esther, listening on cell phones with outdoor meals & music, while wearing spectacular costumes.

Nathan always dreamed of joining the IDF, but at age 6, he was diagnosed with cancer. Years later, after recovering, he was barred from the IDF due to his medical history. But he persevered and Sgt. Nathan has just completed his training in the IDF Nahal Brigade's elite battalion.

The Israel Antiquities Authority discovered under the Western Wall plaza the single largest collection of ancient dice in Israel, and they’re identical to modern dice. It seems the Romans also cheated - one die contained two four-spot sides but no side with three spots.

The American Zionist Movement (AZM) has launched a Herzl 125 initiative to highlight important Zionist anniversaries in 2021-22. The 14th of February was the 125th anniversary of Herzl’s 1896 publication of Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) - the Zionist leader’s vision for a modern Jewish state in the land of Israel.

The stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall are receiving injections, with medical-like syringes. Each 2000-year-old stone is inspected six-monthly for signs of weathering. Those needing repair are delicately injected with a liquid, limestone-based grout to protect the wall for at least another 2000 years.

105-year-old Alex Ziloni was promoted to the rank of full Colonel in honor of his vital work to help establish Israel’s Air Force. In 1948 he secretly purchased 21 Auster planes from Britain, despite an embargo and the UK’s military support for the Arab forces.

A Holocaust survivor, her daughter and her grandchildren are formally returning to Judaism. The grandmother was born at the end of WW2 and brought to Israel at the age of two. In her teens she married an Arab, as did her daughter. All 3 generations went to a Rabbinical court to officially register as Jews.

Israel briefly opened Ben Gurion Airport to welcome 302 new Ethiopian immigrants. All went into 14-day quarantine, apart from one six-year-old boy who was transferred to hospital for planned emergency heart surgery.

Emma was about to return home to the USA after having to cut short her yearlong Israel experience due to the pandemic. At the boarding gate at Ben Gurion Airport, she broke down crying. On Dec 30 she returned to Israel with 47 other Americans on the final Aliya flight of 2020.