Israel Active

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).

Dr. Yinon Shivtiel, senior lecturer at Safed Academic College, has identified hundreds of caves in the Galilee used by Jews during the Great Revolt against the Romans almost 2,000 years ago. Described by Josephus, they contained coins, jars, lamps and parts of arrows.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC that his country plans on opening a Chamber of Commerce economic office and a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.

From 1620 to 2020 Americans have cemented their ties to the Land of Israel. In the US there are 18 Jerusalems, 32 Salems (the original Biblical name of Jerusalem) and 83 Shilohs (where the tabernacle stood).