Israel Active

Prayers for rain have worked. The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is at a 16-year high - just short of the upper red line. At that level, the Dganya Dam should be opened to prevent flooding. A little more rain is forecast, plus the melting snow from Mount Hermon should push it over the line.

Immigration to Israel continues despite the coronavirus pandemic. 961 immigrants have arrived in Israel since the beginning of March., They included 72 Ethiopian immigrants from the Falash Mura community.  All new immigrants have to spend their first 2 weeks in self-isolation.

Israel showed again that it doesn’t abandon its citizens. El Al planes have brought back 40 from Ghana, 600 from Ukraine (on 4 flights), including 160 mostly Arab-Israeli students from Odessa. Other missions include from Italy, Ethiopia, Thailand and Croatia.

Itzik Garber piloted one of 4 El Al planes that flew 16 hours and over 12,000km to Peru to rescue 1,000 Israelis stranded by the coronavirus outbreak. After a 4-hour break on the ground, Captain Garber flew his Boeing 787 Dreamliner with hundreds of Israelis for another 15 hours back home to Israel.

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin went on-line to give parents a break. He said, “Read along with me, the whole family or just the children (and take the time for a coffee, without your phone).” He then read the children’s book “A Room for Rent,” by Leah Goldberg.

Barkai Center for Practical Rabbinics and Community Development has set-up a food-distribution system using WhatsApp groups, for homebound Israelis. Over 250 volunteers deliver cooked meals three times a week to vulnerable, elderly residents in each of Modi’in’s 13 neighborhoods.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has approved $2 million in special grants to 15 Israeli hospitals for respiratory equipment and other lifesaving machinery. It has also purchased 20 special testing devices for Magen David Adom.

Israeli NGO Ezer Mizion has celebrated an historic milestone of one million registrants for its Bone Marrow database. Before the founding of the registry in 1979 a patient had only an 8% chance of finding a match. Today it is 76%. Israel has the highest number of registered of donors per capita.

Even a virus epidemic can’t stop an Israeli religious Jewish wedding.  The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem conformed to Ministry of Health restrictions by using its balconies for the guests of the bride and bridegroom. The video conveys some of the joy of the celebration.

Archeologists have unearthed the Canaanite city of Lachish , that was conquered by the Israelite army, led by Joshua. “And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel,” (Joshua 10:32).