Israel Active

The Israeli government issued a call for help in cleaning Israel’s beaches from the tar dumped by an oil tanker into the Mediterranean. Over ll,000 volunteers joined IDF soldiers and paid workers in removing tar and rescuing injured wildlife from Rosh Hanikra to Ashkelon.

Czech PM Andrej Babiš opened a new diplomatic mission in Jerusalem - the second EU member state to do so, following Hungary, whose PM also attended the opening.  There is already a Czech cultural and trade center in Jerusalem. Both PMs then had a summit with Israel’s PM.

The late American philanthropist Dr Irving Moskowitz was responsible for hundreds of projects to return Jewish life to Israel’s capital city. He also established the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. The Jerusalem municipality is naming a city square after him in the Ma’aleh Zeitim neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Israel celebrated the centenary of the founding of the first moshav (Nahalal) in 1921. There are now 450 moshavim (cooperative agricultural villages and communities) in Israel. President Rivlin told of his late wife, Nechama’s mother who ran a moshav farm alone with her daughters.

Ancient artifacts can be discovered all over Israel. 11-year-old Zvi was hiking with his family when he stumbled upon a pottery figurine at Nahal Habesor in southern Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority identified it as a 2,500-year-old iron-age amulet and awarded Zvi a certificate of appreciation.

Pope Francis sent a warm message to Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin during his flyover of Israel on the way from Rome to Iraq. In the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, the Pope met with representatives of the three Abrahamic religions in Ur of the Chaldeans, the city where Abraham originated.

Twins Gili and Nadav Dekel have just together completed the commander's course in the IDF Artillery Corps. Twins Ben and Tom Sorer also completed the course together. Ben and Tom’s parents both served in the Corps. Finally, the Corps’ Lieutenant Ben Kitzoni awarded his sister Liel her Sergeant’s rank.

Coronavirus was not going to prevent Israeli superheroes from bringing Purim cheer to hospitalized Israeli children. Real life superheroes from elite units of the Border Police and Firefighters abseiled from the roof of Haifa’s Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital to deliver sweets to the delighted young patients.

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.